PAS-C01 Design of SAP Workloads on AWS Practice Question
An SAP administrator is setting up an SAP HANA system replication across two AWS Availability Zones (AZs). The primary and secondary instances use EBS volumes for data and log storage. What is the best practice for ensuring data consistency and minimizing data loss during a failover?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often choose asynchronous replication (Option C) because they mistakenly prioritize performance over data consistency, failing to recognize that SAP HANA synchronous replication is the only mode that guarantees zero data loss across AZs in a system replication configuration.
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
✓
Enable synchronous replication mode in SAP HANA.
SAP HANA synchronous replication mode ensures that a transaction is committed on both the primary and secondary instances before an acknowledgment is sent to the application. This guarantees zero data loss (RPO=0) during a failover, because the secondary always has an identical copy of the committed data. For cross-AZ deployments, this is the best practice to maintain data consistency while still providing high availability.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Take frequent EBS snapshots of the primary volume and restore them on the secondary.
Why it's wrong here
Snapshots are not real-time and can lead to data loss.
- ✓
Enable synchronous replication mode in SAP HANA.
Why this is correct
Synchronous replication ensures data consistency and minimal data loss.
- ✗
Use asynchronous replication mode for better performance.
Why it's wrong here
Asynchronous replication may cause data loss during failover.
- ✗
Configure the EBS volumes as Multi-Attach to allow both instances to access the same volume.
Why it's wrong here
Multi-Attach is not used for HANA system replication.
Visual reference
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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