PAS-C01 Technology Practice Question
An SAP ERP system on AWS is experiencing performance degradation. A review shows that the Amazon EBS volumes used for SAP transport directories are gp2 with high throughput but high latency. The SAP team needs improved I/O performance without changing the total storage capacity. Which action should be taken?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often choose gp3 (Option A) thinking it always improves latency, but gp3 still shares resources and cannot match the consistent low latency of io2 Block Express for demanding SAP workloads.
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
✓
Change the volume type to io2 Block Express with provisioned IOPS.
Io2 Block Express volumes provide consistent, high-performance IOPS with sub-millisecond latency, which directly addresses the high-latency issue with gp2 volumes. This option improves I/O performance without changing storage capacity, as required by the SAP team. gp2 volumes suffer from burst bucket limitations, leading to high latency under sustained throughput, while io2 Block Express offers provisioned IOPS for predictable performance.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Change the volume type to gp3 and increase baseline IOPS.
Why it's wrong here
gp3 may still have variable latency; io2 is better for consistent performance.
- ✗
Move the transport directories to instance store volumes.
Why it's wrong here
Moving transport directories to instance store volumes fails because instance store data is ephemeral, disappearing on instance stop or termination, which violates the requirement for persistent SAP transport directories that must survive reboots and maintain data integrity. This option is tempting because instance store volumes offer very low latency and high throughput for temporary, high-performance workloads, making them the correct choice for scenarios like SAP buffer caches or swap space where data loss is acceptable.
- ✗
Enable EBS throughput optimization on the EC2 instance.
Why it's wrong here
Throughput optimization improves throughput, not latency.
- ✓
Change the volume type to io2 Block Express with provisioned IOPS.
Why this is correct
io2 provides consistent low latency and high IOPS, ideal for SAP transport directories.
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 |
Go deeper
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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