PAS-C01 Design of SAP Workloads on AWS Practice Question
An SAP application server on an EC2 instance is unable to connect to the SAP HANA database on another EC2 instance. Both instances are in the same VPC and security groups allow traffic. What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse security groups (stateful, instance-level) with Network ACLs (stateless, subnet-level) and assume that if the security group allows outbound traffic from the app server, the connection should work, forgetting that the database's security group must also allow inbound traffic on the specific HANA port.
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 security group for the database instance does not allow inbound traffic on the HANA port
The most likely cause is that the security group attached to the SAP HANA database instance does not have an inbound rule allowing traffic on the SAP HANA database port (typically 3<span>00</span>15 for HANA system DB or 3<span>NN</span>13 for tenant DBs). Even if the security group for the application server allows outbound traffic, the database security group must explicitly permit inbound TCP traffic from the application server's security group or IP address on the correct HANA port. Without this rule, the database will reject the connection at the instance level.
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 VPC does not have an Internet Gateway
Why it's wrong here
Internet is not needed for internal communication.
- ✓
The security group for the database instance does not allow inbound traffic on the HANA port
Why this is correct
HANA uses port 3XX13; must be allowed.
- ✗
Network ACLs are blocking traffic
Why it's wrong here
NACLs are stateless but security groups are more common issue.
- ✗
The route table does not have a local route
Why it's wrong here
Default local route exists.
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