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 is experiencing high write latency on the database layer. The DB is running on an r5.8xlarge instance with EBS gp2 volumes. The SAP team notices that the EBS volume write queue depth is frequently above 16. What is the MOST likely cause and what change should be made?
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 volume is too small for the workload. Increase the volume size to gain baseline IOPS.
The correct answer is C because gp2 volume baseline IOPS scales linearly with size (3 IOPS per GiB). An r5.8xlarge instance supports EBS optimization, so the bottleneck is not the instance. With a write queue depth frequently above 16, the gp2 volume is likely too small to provide sufficient baseline IOPS, causing the queue to back up. Increasing the volume size raises the baseline IOPS, reducing queue depth and write latency.
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 instance type does not support EBS optimization. Switch to a network-optimized instance.
Why it's wrong here
r5 instances support EBS optimization.
✗
The EBS volume is not optimized for SAP. Use io1 with high provisioned IOPS.
Why it's wrong here
Not necessarily needed; size increase may suffice.
✓
The volume is too small for the workload. Increase the volume size to gain baseline IOPS.
Why this is correct
Larger gp2 volumes have higher baseline IOPS, reducing queue depth.
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 gp2 volume does not provide enough burst IOPS. Migrate to gp3.
Why it's wrong here
gp3 may not solve burst credit depletion issue.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume high write queue depth always requires switching to provisioned IOPS (io1/io2) or gp3, when in fact simply increasing gp2 volume size to raise baseline IOPS is the most direct and cost-effective fix for a small gp2 volume.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
gp2 volumes provide a baseline of 3 IOPS per GiB, up to a maximum of 16,000 IOPS (for volumes > 5,334 GiB). A small gp2 volume (e.g., 100 GiB) has only 300 baseline IOPS, which can easily be saturated by SAP database writes, causing queue depth to spike above 16. Increasing the volume size to, say, 1,000 GiB raises baseline IOPS to 3,000, directly reducing queue depth without requiring a volume type change. In real-world SAP on AWS, write-heavy workloads often need larger gp2 volumes or io2 Block Express for consistent low latency.
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 volume is too small for the workload. Increase the volume size to gain baseline IOPS. — The correct answer is C because gp2 volume baseline IOPS scales linearly with size (3 IOPS per GiB). An r5.8xlarge instance supports EBS optimization, so the bottleneck is not the instance. With a write queue depth frequently above 16, the gp2 volume is likely too small to provide sufficient baseline IOPS, causing the queue to back up. Increasing the volume size raises the baseline IOPS, reducing queue depth and write latency.
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.