PAS-C01 Design of SAP Workloads on AWS Practice Question
Exhibit
Refer to the exhibit.
```json
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": ["ec2:Describe*"],
"Resource": "*"
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"ec2:StartInstances",
"ec2:StopInstances"
],
"Resource": "arn:aws:ec2:us-east-1:123456789012:instance/i-0abcd1234efgh5678"
}
]
}
```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?
⚠ Common exam trap
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.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
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.
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.
- ✗
The script does not have the correct region specified.
Why it's wrong here
Region is specified in ARN.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every PAS-C01 question from scratch — 1,616 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.