PAS-C01 Design of SAP Workloads on AWS Practice Question
An SAP system on AWS uses a shared file system via Amazon EFS for transport directory (/usr/sap/trans). The system experiences slow batch jobs. Monitoring shows high read latency on EFS. Which action would most likely reduce latency?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse EFS performance modes with storage tiers (e.g., Standard vs. Infrequent Access) or assume that increasing compute power (Option A) will fix storage latency, when in fact the bottleneck is the file system's throughput ceiling, not the application server's CPU or memory.
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
✓
Use EFS Max I/O performance mode or Provisioned Throughput
EFS Max I/O performance mode is designed to scale to higher levels of aggregate throughput and IOPS with lower latencies for workloads like SAP transport directories that experience high concurrency and throughput demands. Provisioned Throughput allows you to specify a higher throughput level independent of the amount of data stored, directly addressing the high read latency issue. This is the most effective action because it optimizes the file system's performance characteristics for the SAP batch job workload.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use a larger EC2 instance for the application server
Why it's wrong here
Does not address EFS performance.
- ✗
Migrate the transport directory to Amazon S3
Why it's wrong here
S3 is not a POSIX file system.
- ✓
Use EFS Max I/O performance mode or Provisioned Throughput
Why this is correct
Max I/O increases IOPS; Provisioned Throughput increases throughput.
- ✗
Move the transport directory to instance store volumes
Why it's wrong here
Instance store is ephemeral and not shared.
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Same concept, more angles
2 more ways this is tested on PAS-C01
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. An SAP system uses Amazon EFS for shared file storage for transport directories. The system is deployed across multiple Availability Zones. Which EFS performance mode is most suitable for this workload?
easy- A.Max I/O performance mode.
- B.Provisioned Throughput mode.
- ✓ C.General Purpose performance mode.
- D.Bursting Throughput mode.
Why C: General Purpose performance mode is the most suitable for SAP transport directories because it provides the lowest latency for file operations, which is critical for the frequent, small I/O operations typical of SAP transport processes. Max I/O mode, while offering higher throughput for large sequential I/O, introduces higher latency that can degrade SAP performance. General Purpose mode is the default and recommended mode for most EFS workloads, including SAP shared file systems.
Variation 2. An SAP system is running on AWS and uses Amazon EFS for the /sapmnt directory. The system is experiencing high latency during file operations. Which configuration change could improve the performance of the EFS file system?
medium- ✓ A.Enable the Max I/O performance mode on the EFS file system.
- B.Change the performance mode from Max I/O to General Purpose.
- C.Migrate the /sapmnt directory to an Amazon EBS volume.
- D.Increase the provisioned throughput of the EFS file system.
Why A: The Max I/O performance mode is designed for highly parallel, throughput-intensive workloads like SAP /sapmnt, which involves many concurrent file operations. It scales to higher levels of aggregate throughput and IOPS by distributing data across multiple servers, reducing latency under heavy load. General Purpose mode, while suitable for latency-sensitive workloads, cannot match the parallel throughput capabilities required by SAP systems.
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.