The correct answer is to use an Application Load Balancer with health checks and Route 53 failover routing. This configuration achieves SAP HANA automatic failover across AZ with ALB and Route 53 by having the ALB monitor the health of HANA database instances in each Availability Zone; when a primary instance fails, the ALB stops routing traffic to it, and Route 53’s failover routing policy automatically directs DNS traffic to the healthy secondary zone, all without manual intervention. On the AWS Certified SAP on AWS Specialty PAS-C01 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of combining Layer 7 load balancing with DNS-level failover to meet SAP HANA HA requirements while minimizing operational overhead—a common trap is choosing a single EC2 instance or manual DNS updates, which lack automation. Remember the memory tip: “ALB checks the pulse, Route 53 flips the switch” to recall that health checks drive the automatic failover.
PAS-C01 Operations and Maintenance Practice Question
This PAS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of operations and maintenance. 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 needs to ensure that a critical SAP system on AWS is highly available with automatic failover across Availability Zones. The system uses an SAP HANA database with replication. Which configuration meets these requirements with minimal operational overhead?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use an Application Load Balancer with health checks and Route 53 failover routing
Option C is correct because using Amazon Route 53 with health checks and an Application Load Balancer provides automatic failover with minimal overhead. Option A is wrong because a single EC2 instance in one AZ does not provide high availability. Option B is wrong because manual DNS update is not automatic. Option D is wrong because ELB alone cannot handle failover without health checks.
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.
✗
Use a DNS failover record with manual update
Why it's wrong here
Manual update is not automatic.
✗
Use a Network Load Balancer with static IP addresses
Why it's wrong here
ELB alone cannot handle failover without health checks.
✓
Use an Application Load Balancer with health checks and Route 53 failover routing
Why this is correct
Provides automatic failover across AZs.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Deploy a single EC2 instance in one Availability Zone
Why it's wrong here
Single instance does not provide high availability.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
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.
Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
→Underline the problem statement mentally.
→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 PAS-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Operations and Maintenance — This question tests Operations and Maintenance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use an Application Load Balancer with health checks and Route 53 failover routing — Option C is correct because using Amazon Route 53 with health checks and an Application Load Balancer provides automatic failover with minimal overhead. Option A is wrong because a single EC2 instance in one AZ does not provide high availability. Option B is wrong because manual DNS update is not automatic. Option D is wrong because ELB alone cannot handle failover without health checks.
What should I do if I get this PAS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which PAS-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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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
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