PAS-C01 Technology Practice Question
An SAP administrator is troubleshooting a performance issue on an SAP HANA database running on AWS. The HANA data volume is an EBS io1 volume with 10,000 provisioned IOPS. The administrator notices that the average queue length is consistently above 10, and the average latency is 20 ms. Which TWO actions will most likely improve performance?
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
✓
Increase the provisioned IOPS on the io1 volume to 20,000.
Options B and C are correct. Increasing provisioned IOPS on the io1 volume (Option B) directly addresses the high queue length and latency by providing more I/O capacity. Moving the database to a larger EC2 instance type (Option C) increases the dedicated EBS bandwidth, removing a potential throughput bottleneck at the instance level. Option A (NVMe instance store) is not suitable for persistent SAP HANA data. Option D (RAID 0) can increase IOPS but adds complexity and does not fix insufficient provisioned IOPS or instance bandwidth. Option E (gp3 with 10,000 IOPS) does not increase IOPS compared to the current io1 volume.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Migrate the volume to an instance with NVMe instance store.
Why it's wrong here
Instance store is ephemeral and not suitable for persistent data.
- ✓
Increase the provisioned IOPS on the io1 volume to 20,000.
Why this is correct
More IOPS reduces queue depth and latency.
- ✓
Move the database to a larger EC2 instance type that supports higher EBS bandwidth.
Why this is correct
Larger instances have higher EBS bandwidth, reducing bottlenecks.
- ✗
Configure multiple EBS volumes in a RAID 0 stripe to increase IOPS.
Why it's wrong here
This could help, but it is not listed as a best practice for HANA; also, it adds management overhead.
- ✗
Change the volume type to gp3 with 10,000 IOPS.
Why it's wrong here
gp3 max is 16,000 IOPS but may not improve latency significantly.
Quick reference
RAID Level Comparison
| RAID Level | Min Disks | Fault Tolerance | Read | Write | Usable Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAID 0 | 2 | None | Excellent | Excellent | 100% |
| RAID 1 | 2 | 1 disk | Good | Moderate | 50% |
| RAID 5 | 3 | 1 disk | Good | Moderate | 67–94% |
| RAID 6 | 4 | 2 disks | Good | Lower | 50–88% |
| RAID 10 | 4 | 1 disk per mirror | Excellent | Good | 50% |
RAID is not a backup strategy — it protects against disk failure but not against accidental deletion, ransomware, or site-level events.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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