PAS-C01 Operations and Maintenance Practice Question
An SAP system is running on EC2 instances with EBS volumes. The administrator wants to automate the creation of point-in-time snapshots of the EBS volumes for disaster recovery. Which AWS service is best suited for this?
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
✓
Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager (DLM)
Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager (DLM) is specifically designed to automate the creation, retention, and deletion of EBS snapshots for backup and disaster recovery. Option A (AWS Backup) can also back up EBS volumes but is a broader service; DLM is more tailored for EBS snapshot lifecycle management. Option B (Amazon S3 Lifecycle policies) manages object lifecycle in S3, not EBS snapshots. Option D (AWS CloudFormation) provisions infrastructure but does not directly automate snapshot creation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
AWS Backup
Why it's wrong here
Also works but DLM is more cost-effective for EBS snapshots.
- ✗
Amazon S3 Lifecycle policies
Why it's wrong here
For S3 objects, not EBS snapshots.
- ✓
Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager (DLM)
Why this is correct
DLM automates creation and retention of EBS snapshots.
- ✗
AWS CloudFormation
Why it's wrong here
Infrastructure as code, not scheduling snapshots.
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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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.