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. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 SAP administrator is creating an IAM policy for an automation script that needs to start and stop a specific SAP HANA EC2 instance. The policy is shown in the exhibit. However, the script fails with an authorization error when trying to start the instance. What is the most likely cause?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "most likely"
Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The ARN in the resource element does not match the actual instance ID.
The policy uses a resource ARN that specifies a particular instance ID. If the ARN does not match the actual instance ID of the SAP HANA EC2 instance, the `ec2:StartInstances` action will fail with an authorization error because IAM evaluates the resource ARN against the instance being started. AWS IAM policies require an exact match between the resource ARN in the policy and the instance ID for actions that operate on specific resources.
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.
✗
The policy is missing an effect for the specific instance.
Why it's wrong here
Effect is Allow.
✗
The policy does not include ec2:DescribeInstances action.
Why it's wrong here
ec2:Describe* includes DescribeInstances.
✓
The ARN in the resource element does not match the actual instance ID.
Why this is correct
The instance ID in the policy is likely different from the actual instance.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The script does not have the correct region specified.
Why it's wrong here
Region is specified in ARN.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often overlook the exact ARN matching requirement and assume the error is due to missing permissions or region misconfiguration, rather than a simple mismatch in the instance ID within the resource element.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
IAM resource ARNs for EC2 instances follow the format `arn:aws:ec2:region:account-id:instance/instance-id`. The instance ID must exactly match the ID of the target instance, including case sensitivity. If the automation script uses a different instance ID (e.g., due to a typo or a recreated instance), the policy will deny the action even if the region and account are correct. This is a common issue when instances are terminated and replaced, as the new instance receives a different ID.
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
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
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: The ARN in the resource element does not match the actual instance ID. — The policy uses a resource ARN that specifies a particular instance ID. If the ARN does not match the actual instance ID of the SAP HANA EC2 instance, the `ec2:StartInstances` action will fail with an authorization error because IAM evaluates the resource ARN against the instance being started. AWS IAM policies require an exact match between the resource ARN in the policy and the instance ID for actions that operate on specific resources.
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: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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