PAS-C01 Design of SAP Workloads on AWS Practice Question
This PAS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of design of sap workloads on aws. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
An organization runs SAP S/4HANA on AWS with a single-host HANA database on an EC2 instance. The company wants to implement high availability (HA) for the HANA database within the same AWS Region. The HA solution must ensure automatic failover with minimal data loss. The SAP application servers are already distributed across multiple Availability Zones (AZs). The database administrator proposes using SAP HANA System Replication (HSR) with synchronous replication. However, the network latency between the primary and secondary HANA instances is consistently between 2 ms and 4 ms. What should the administrator do to ensure that the HA solution meets the requirements?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "primary"
Why it matters: Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Deploy both HANA instances in the same Availability Zone to reduce network latency.
Option D is correct because SAP HANA System Replication (HSR) with synchronous mode requires network latency typically below 1 ms to avoid transaction commit delays and replication timeouts. With consistent 2–4 ms latency, synchronous replication would cause unacceptable performance degradation and potential replication failures. Deploying both HANA instances in the same Availability Zone (AZ) reduces latency to sub-millisecond levels, enabling synchronous replication to meet the automatic failover and minimal data loss requirements.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Increase the HANA replication timeout value to accommodate the latency.
Why it's wrong here
Timeout is not the issue; the issue is the impact on transaction commit times.
✗
Use asynchronous replication instead and accept the risk of data loss.
Why it's wrong here
Asynchronous replication may result in data loss, which the requirement wants to minimize.
✗
Continue with synchronous replication; the latency is acceptable for HA.
Why it's wrong here
Latency of 2-4 ms may cause performance degradation in synchronous mode.
✓
Deploy both HANA instances in the same Availability Zone to reduce network latency.
Why this is correct
Same AZ reduces latency, making synchronous replication feasible.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "primary" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume synchronous replication is always the best choice for HA, ignoring the strict latency threshold required for HANA synchronous replication to function without performance impact.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
SAP HANA synchronous replication uses a log shipping mechanism where the primary waits for an acknowledgment from the secondary before committing a transaction. With 2–4 ms round-trip latency, each commit is delayed by at least 4–8 ms, which can cause application timeouts and replication queue buildup. In practice, AWS recommends placing HANA primary and secondary in the same AZ for synchronous replication, or using a multi-AZ deployment with asynchronous replication if cross-AZ latency exceeds 1 ms.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Design of SAP Workloads on AWS — This question tests Design of SAP Workloads on AWS — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Deploy both HANA instances in the same Availability Zone to reduce network latency. — Option D is correct because SAP HANA System Replication (HSR) with synchronous mode requires network latency typically below 1 ms to avoid transaction commit delays and replication timeouts. With consistent 2–4 ms latency, synchronous replication would cause unacceptable performance degradation and potential replication failures. Deploying both HANA instances in the same Availability Zone (AZ) reduces latency to sub-millisecond levels, enabling synchronous replication to meet the automatic failover and minimal data loss requirements.
What should I do if I get this PAS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "primary". Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
This PAS-C01 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PAS-C01 exam.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.