PAS-C01 Operations and Maintenance Practice Question
Network Topology
An SAP HANA database is running on an EC2 instance with an attached gp2 volume of 500 GiB. The exhibit shows the volume attributes. The database performance is degrading during peak hours. What is the most likely cause?
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 volume's burst balance has been depleted due to sustained high I/O.
Gp2 volumes use a burst bucket that provides credits for I/O above the baseline of 3 IOPS per GiB. For a 500 GiB volume, the baseline is 1500 IOPS. Sustained high I/O consumes burst credits, and once depleted, performance drops to baseline, causing degradation. Option A is incorrect: IOPS are not solely size-dependent; gp2 offers 3 IOPS/GiB baseline, and 500 GiB provides 1500 baseline IOPS, which may be sufficient. Option B is incorrect: EBS optimization is an EC2 instance feature, not a volume attribute; the issue is with the volume itself. Option D is incorrect: while gp3 offers higher baseline performance, the immediate cause here is burst balance depletion, not volume type.
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 volume is sized too small; it needs to be at least 1 TB to provide sufficient IOPS.
Why it's wrong here
500 GiB provides 1500 baseline IOPS, which may be sufficient for many workloads.
- ✗
The volume is not EBS-optimized.
Why it's wrong here
EBS optimization is an instance feature, not a volume attribute.
- ✓
The volume's burst balance has been depleted due to sustained high I/O.
Why this is correct
gp2 volumes have burst credits; when exhausted, IOPS drop to baseline.
- ✗
The volume type is gp2 and should be changed to gp3 for better performance.
Why it's wrong here
gp3 may offer better performance, but the immediate cause of degradation is likely burst balance exhaustion.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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