PAS-C01 Design of SAP Workloads on AWS Practice Question
This PAS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of design of sap workloads on aws. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 system on AWS experiences intermittent connectivity issues between the SAP Central Services (SCS) instance and the application servers. The SCS instance is in a private subnet in us-east-1a, and the application servers are spread across us-east-1a and us-east-1b. Security groups allow traffic on all required ports. What is the MOST likely cause of the intermittent connectivity?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "most likely"
Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The network ACLs are blocking the traffic.
Network ACLs are stateless and must explicitly allow both inbound and outbound traffic on ephemeral ports. If the outbound rules for the SCS subnet's NACL do not allow return traffic on high ports (e.g., 1024–65535), or if the application servers' subnet NACL blocks inbound traffic from the SCS instance, connections will intermittently fail. Security groups are stateful and automatically allow return traffic, but NACLs are not, making them the likely culprit for intermittent connectivity across different Availability Zones.
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.
✗
The route tables do not have a route for the SCS subnet.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect routing would cause persistent, not intermittent, failure.
✓
The network ACLs are blocking the traffic.
Why this is correct
Network ACLs are stateless and can cause intermittent issues if inbound rules allow but outbound rules deny return traffic.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The Internet Gateway is misconfigured.
Why it's wrong here
Internet Gateway is not involved in private subnet communication.
✗
The VPC peering connection is not established correctly.
Why it's wrong here
No VPC peering is mentioned.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume security groups are the only firewall layer and forget that network ACLs are stateless and require explicit rules for return traffic, especially when instances span multiple Availability Zones where subnet-level ACLs differ.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Network ACLs evaluate rules in order by rule number and apply to all traffic crossing the subnet boundary. For SAP SCS communication, the SCS instance typically uses ports like 32xx (e.g., 3200 for message server) and the application servers respond on ephemeral ports. If the NACL outbound rule on the SCS subnet does not allow destination ports 1024–65535 for TCP/UDP, or the inbound rule on the app server subnet does not allow source ports from the SCS, packets are silently dropped, causing intermittent failures that can be hard to trace without VPC Flow Logs.
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.
TExam Day Tips
→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 exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Design of SAP Workloads on AWS — This question tests Design of SAP Workloads on AWS — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: The network ACLs are blocking the traffic. — Network ACLs are stateless and must explicitly allow both inbound and outbound traffic on ephemeral ports. If the outbound rules for the SCS subnet's NACL do not allow return traffic on high ports (e.g., 1024–65535), or if the application servers' subnet NACL blocks inbound traffic from the SCS instance, connections will intermittently fail. Security groups are stateful and automatically allow return traffic, but NACLs are not, making them the likely culprit for intermittent connectivity across different Availability Zones.
What should I do if I get this PAS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
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
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.