CCNA Design of SAP Workloads on AWS Questions — Page 6 of 6

376

Multi-Selectmedium

An SAP administrator is designing a backup strategy for SAP HANA on AWS. Which THREE practices should be implemented to ensure reliable backups?

Select 3 answers

A.Store backups in Amazon S3 One Zone-IA

B.Disable encryption on backup targets to reduce latency

C.Take consistent EBS snapshots of HANA volumes after quiescing the database

D.Enable S3 Versioning on the backup bucket

E.Automate backups using AWS Backup with a backup plan

AnswersC, D, E

Consistent snapshots ensure data integrity.

Why this answer

Consistent EBS snapshots of HANA volumes after quiescing the database ensure crash-consistent backups, which are essential for SAP HANA's data integrity. Quiescing flushes all in-memory data to disk and freezes I/O, allowing the snapshot to capture a point-in-time state that HANA can recover from without corruption. Without quiescing, snapshots may be inconsistent and lead to database failures during restore.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates may think S3 One Zone-IA is acceptable for backups due to lower cost, but AWS explicitly recommends Standard or Standard-IA for critical backups, and the exam tests awareness of durability requirements for SAP workloads.

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377

MCQmedium

An SAP administrator is deploying an SAP ASCS instance using CloudFormation. The deployment fails because the instance cannot be reached from other SAP components. Based on the exhibit, what is the most likely cause?

A.The instance type m5.large is not certified for SAP ASCS.

B.The security group does not allow inbound traffic on the required SAP ports.

C.The instance lacks an IAM role to join the SAP domain.

D.The root volume is too small and uses gp2, which is not supported for SAP.

AnswerB

The template does not specify inbound rules; without proper security group rules, other components cannot connect.

Why this answer

The SAP ASCS instance must be reachable by other SAP components (e.g., PAS, AAS) on specific ports for services like the SAP Message Server (port 36xx/TCP) and SAP Enqueue Server (port 32xx/TCP). The exhibit shows the security group lacks inbound rules for these ports, so traffic from other components is blocked, causing the deployment to fail. Without proper inbound access, the ASCS instance cannot participate in the SAP system's communication, leading to the unreachability error.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often focus on instance certification or storage requirements, overlooking the fundamental network connectivity issue caused by missing security group inbound rules for SAP-specific ports.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because the m5.large instance type is certified for SAP ASCS on AWS, provided it meets the SAPS and memory requirements for the workload. Option C is wrong because SAP ASCS does not require an IAM role to join an SAP domain; IAM roles are used for AWS API access, not for SAP domain membership (which uses SAP-specific authentication). Option D is wrong because the root volume size and gp2 type are supported for SAP on AWS; gp2 is a valid EBS volume type for SAP, and the root volume size (e.g., 20 GiB) is typically sufficient for the OS and SAP binaries, though additional volumes are used for data.

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378

MCQeasy

A company is planning to run SAP applications on AWS. The security team requires that all data transmitted between the SAP application servers and the SAP HANA database be encrypted in transit. The SAP HANA database is on an EC2 instance in the same VPC. The application servers are also in the same VPC. Which configuration should the company implement to meet the encryption requirement with minimal impact on performance?

A.Use AWS PrivateLink to connect the application to the database

B.Enable SAP HANA TLS/SSL encryption for the database connections

C.Use VPC peering between the application and database subnets

D.Set up a VPN connection between the application and database servers

AnswerB

TLS/SSL encryption secures data in transit between SAP application and database servers.

Why this answer

Enabling SAP HANA TLS/SSL encryption encrypts data in transit between application and database servers directly, with minimal performance impact as it is built into the SAP HANA client-server protocol. Option A is incorrect: AWS PrivateLink is used for private connectivity to services across VPCs or to AWS services, not for encrypting internal traffic within the same VPC, and introduces unnecessary complexity. Option C is incorrect: VPC peering connects separate VPCs but does not encrypt traffic by default; it also is not needed when both servers are in the same VPC.

Option D is incorrect: a VPN connection adds network overhead and is designed for connectivity across networks or the internet, which is unnecessary and suboptimal for same-VPC communication.

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379

Multi-Selecthard

Which THREE factors must be considered when choosing an EC2 instance type for SAP HANA production workloads?

Select 3 answers

A.Burstable CPU performance (T3 instances)

B.GPU compute capability

C.EBS-optimized support for consistent I/O

D.SAP certification of the instance type

E.Memory (RAM) size required by SAP HANA

AnswersC, D, E

Necessary for HANA performance.

Why this answer

SAP HANA is an in-memory database that requires consistent, low-latency I/O for data persistence and log writes. EBS-optimized instances dedicate network bandwidth to EBS traffic, eliminating contention with other network traffic and ensuring predictable I/O performance, which is critical for production SAP HANA workloads.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates may assume burstable instances (T3) are suitable for any workload due to their cost-effectiveness, but SAP HANA requires sustained performance and SAP certification, which T3 instances lack.

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380

MCQeasy

A company is deploying SAP S/4HANA on AWS and needs to back up the HANA database to Amazon S3. The database is 1 TB and changes frequently. The backup must be completed within 4 hours. What is the most efficient backup method?

A.Take EBS snapshots of the HANA data volumes and copy them to S3.

B.Export the HANA database to a file and manually upload to S3 using AWS CLI.

C.Use AWS Backup to schedule HANA database backups to S3.

D.Configure SAP HANA Backint agent to stream backups directly to Amazon S3.

AnswerD

Backint provides efficient, integrated streaming backups to S3.

Why this answer

SAP HANA Backint for Amazon S3 is the most efficient backup method because it enables direct, integrated streaming of HANA backups to S3 without intermediate files or manual steps. This reduces backup time and complexity. Option A (EBS snapshots) captures entire volumes, not a database-consistent backup, and requires additional steps to copy to S3.

Option B (manual export and upload) is slow and error-prone for a 1 TB database. Option C (AWS Backup) supports HANA but is less integrated than Backint and may not meet the 4-hour window efficiently. Therefore, configuring the SAP HANA Backint agent to stream directly to S3 is the best choice.

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381

Multi-Selecthard

A company is deploying a mission-critical SAP S/4HANA system on AWS. They need to ensure the highest level of availability and minimize data loss. Which TWO strategies should they implement? (Choose two.)

Select 2 answers

A.Use EC2 Spot Instances for the primary application server

B.Configure automated EBS snapshots every 5 minutes

C.Use Amazon RDS Multi-AZ for the HANA database

D.Set up HANA System Replication in synchronous mode across two Availability Zones

E.Deploy the ASCS and PAS instances in a cluster with Pacemaker across AZs

AnswersD, E

Synchronous replication ensures no data loss and automatic failover.

Why this answer

HANA System Replication in synchronous mode ensures that every committed transaction is written to the primary and replicated to a secondary HANA instance before the commit is acknowledged. This provides near-zero data loss (RPO=0) and, combined with automatic failover, supports high availability across Availability Zones.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse Amazon RDS Multi-AZ with SAP HANA database replication, but SAP HANA is not supported on RDS and must be managed directly on EC2 with HANA System Replication.

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382

Multi-Selecthard

Which THREE of the following are best practices for securing SAP systems on AWS?

Select 3 answers

A.Encrypt EBS volumes using AWS KMS.

B.Use security groups to restrict traffic between SAP application and database tiers.

C.Use IAM roles for EC2 instances to access AWS services.

D.Place all SAP instances in public subnets for easier access.

E.Store AWS credentials in the SAP application code for API access.

AnswersA, B, C

Encryption protects data at rest.

Why this answer

Encrypting EBS volumes using AWS KMS is a best practice because it ensures data at rest is protected with encryption keys managed by AWS Key Management Service. This is critical for SAP systems that handle sensitive business data, as it meets compliance requirements and prevents unauthorized access to the underlying storage. KMS integration with EBS provides transparent encryption with minimal performance impact, and key rotation policies can be enforced automatically.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates may assume placing SAP instances in public subnets simplifies access for administration or external integrations, but AWS explicitly requires private subnets for production workloads to enforce network isolation and security group control.

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383

MCQhard

A company runs SAP S/4HANA on AWS in a single region with a multi-AZ setup. The SAP HANA database uses HANA System Replication (HSR) for high availability. The primary HANA instance is in us-east-1a and the secondary is in us-east-1b. The application servers are split across both AZs. Recently, during a maintenance window, the primary HANA instance failed unexpectedly. The secondary automatically took over. However, after the failover, the application servers in us-east-1a are experiencing higher latency when connecting to the database, while application servers in us-east-1b have normal latency. The network team confirms that the inter-AZ latency is within normal limits. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the increased latency?

A.The secondary HANA instance is using a different instance type with a single Elastic Network Interface (ENI), which limits throughput.

B.The placement group that includes the application servers and the database is now split across AZs, reducing performance.

C.The application servers in us-east-1a are now connecting to the HANA database in us-east-1b, which adds inter-AZ latency.

D.The EBS volumes attached to the old primary instance are still being replicated to the secondary, causing network congestion.

AnswerC

Previously, all connections were within the same AZ; after failover, half the servers must connect across AZs.

Why this answer

After the failover, the secondary HANA instance in us-east-1b became the active database. Application servers in us-east-1a must now connect across AZs to reach the database in us-east-1b, incurring inter-AZ latency. Although the network team confirms normal inter-AZ latency, the additional network hop and physical distance between AZs still introduce higher latency compared to same-AZ connections, which explains the observed increase.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates may assume inter-AZ latency is negligible or that the network team's confirmation of 'normal limits' means latency is not the issue, but in SAP HANA workloads, even 1-2 ms of additional latency can cause noticeable performance degradation for cross-AZ database connections.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because the instance type and number of ENIs affect network throughput, not latency; a single ENI does not inherently cause higher latency, and HSR failover does not change the instance type of the secondary. Option B is wrong because placement groups are not used for SAP HANA multi-AZ setups; they are designed for low-latency within a single AZ, and splitting a placement group across AZs would not be configured in this architecture. Option D is wrong because EBS volume replication is not part of HSR; HSR uses log-based replication over the network, and EBS volumes are not replicated between instances; the old primary's volumes are irrelevant after failover.

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384

MCQhard

A company is deploying SAP S/4HANA on AWS and needs to ensure that the system can survive a single Availability Zone failure. Which architecture meets this requirement?

A.Store the database files on Amazon S3 and mount them to the EC2 instance

B.Deploy an active-passive setup with the primary in one AZ and a standby in another AZ, using replication

C.Use Amazon RDS Multi-AZ for the SAP HANA database

D.Deploy a single EC2 instance in one Availability Zone with EBS snapshots

AnswerB

Active-passive with cross-AZ standby ensures availability if one AZ fails.

Why this answer

An active-passive SAP HANA setup with the primary in one Availability Zone (AZ) and a standby in another AZ, using HANA System Replication (HSR) in synchronous mode, ensures zero data loss and automatic failover if a single AZ fails. This architecture meets the SAP S/4HANA requirement for high availability (HA) across AZs, as HSR replicates data at the database level, and the standby can take over within minutes.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse Amazon RDS Multi-AZ with SAP HANA HA, but RDS Multi-AZ is a managed service for non-SAP databases and does not support SAP HANA, which requires self-managed HSR on EC2 for cross-AZ failover.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because Amazon S3 is an object storage service that cannot be mounted as a file system to an EC2 instance for SAP HANA database files; SAP HANA requires block storage (e.g., Amazon EBS) with low latency and consistent I/O, and S3 lacks the necessary POSIX file system semantics and performance characteristics. Option C is wrong because Amazon RDS Multi-AZ does not support SAP HANA as a database engine; RDS supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server, and MariaDB, but SAP HANA must be deployed on EC2 instances with HSR for HA. Option D is wrong because a single EC2 instance with EBS snapshots provides backup and point-in-time recovery, but it cannot survive an AZ failure since there is no standby instance in another AZ; recovery from snapshots takes minutes to hours and involves data loss, not automatic failover.

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385

MCQeasy

A company wants to use an SAP-certified AMI for a non-production SAP system to reduce deployment time. Which AWS service provides access to SAP-certified AMIs?

A.EC2 Image Builder

B.AWS Systems Manager

C.AWS Marketplace

D.AWS Service Catalog

AnswerC

Marketplace provides SAP-certified AMIs for quick deployment.

Why this answer

AWS Marketplace is the correct service because it provides access to SAP-certified AMIs that have been pre-configured and validated by SAP for running SAP workloads on AWS. These AMIs are published by AWS and SAP partners, ensuring compliance with SAP's certification requirements and reducing deployment time for non-production systems.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates may confuse AWS Marketplace with EC2 Image Builder or AWS Service Catalog, assuming that any AMI management or catalog service can provide certified images, but only AWS Marketplace hosts the official SAP-certified AMIs.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because EC2 Image Builder is used to create and maintain custom AMIs, but it does not provide access to pre-existing SAP-certified AMIs. Option B is wrong because AWS Systems Manager is a management service for operational tasks like patching and automation, not a repository for certified AMIs. Option D is wrong because AWS Service Catalog allows organizations to create and manage a catalog of approved IT services, but it does not host SAP-certified AMIs directly; it can only reference AMIs from sources like AWS Marketplace.

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386

MCQhard

An architect is designing a disaster recovery (DR) solution for an SAP ERP system on AWS. The primary site is in us-east-1 and the DR site is in us-west-2. The SAP application uses an Oracle database. The RTO is 4 hours and RPO is 1 hour. Which solution meets these requirements with the least operational overhead?

A.Set up Oracle Active Data Guard between the primary and DR regions

B.Take daily EBS snapshots of the database volumes and copy them to us-west-2, then restore using the snapshots

C.Use AWS Backup to copy EC2 AMIs and RDS snapshots to us-west-2 every hour

D.Configure AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication from the primary Oracle database to a standby in us-west-2

AnswerD

DMS provides continuous replication, meeting RPO of 1 hour, and can be automated for failover.

Why this answer

AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication provides continuous change data capture (CDC) from the primary Oracle database to a standby in us-west-2, meeting the 1-hour RPO and 4-hour RTO with minimal operational overhead. DMS handles schema conversion, replication, and failover without requiring manual intervention or complex Oracle licensing, making it the most efficient choice for cross-region DR.

Exam trap

AWS often tests the misconception that native Oracle replication tools like Data Guard are always the best choice for DR, but the question emphasizes 'least operational overhead,' and DMS avoids the licensing and management burden of Active Data Guard while still meeting the RPO/RTO.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because Oracle Active Data Guard requires Oracle Database Enterprise Edition with the Active Data Guard option, which adds significant licensing costs and operational complexity for managing Data Guard brokers, log transport, and failover scripts on EC2. Option B is wrong because daily EBS snapshots cannot achieve a 1-hour RPO, as snapshots are taken only once per day and the restore process from snapshots takes hours, exceeding the 4-hour RTO. Option C is wrong because AWS Backup copying EC2 AMIs and RDS snapshots every hour still results in a maximum RPO of 1 hour only if snapshots are taken exactly on the hour, but restoring from AMIs or RDS snapshots typically takes longer than 4 hours due to volume initialization and database recovery, and this approach does not support ongoing replication for near-zero data loss.

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387

Multi-Selecthard

An SAP administrator is setting up a disaster recovery (DR) site for SAP S/4HANA in a different AWS Region. To minimize data loss, which THREE strategies should be implemented? (Choose THREE.)

Select 3 answers

A.Set up automated EBS snapshots of HANA volumes and copy them to the DR region.

B.Implement cross-Region replication for Amazon EFS file systems used for SAP transport.

C.Configure SAP HANA system replication using asynchronous mode across regions.

D.Use EBS Multi-Attach volumes to share disks between regions.

E.Use Amazon CloudFront to cache HANA data in the DR region.

AnswersA, B, C

Snapshots provide recoverable point-in-time copies in the DR region.

Why this answer

Automated EBS snapshots of HANA volumes can be copied to the DR region using AWS Backup or custom scripts, providing point-in-time recovery with minimal data loss. This strategy ensures that persistent data is asynchronously replicated across regions, which is a standard approach for SAP disaster recovery.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates may confuse EBS Multi-Attach (a single-AZ feature) with cross-region replication, or assume CloudFront can serve as a database cache, when in fact it is only for HTTP/HTTPS content delivery and cannot handle SAP HANA data.

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388

MCQmedium

A company runs SAP on AWS with a shared storage solution for transport files. They need a highly available, scalable, and POSIX-compliant file system. Which AWS storage service should they use?

A.Amazon Elastic File System (EFS)

B.Amazon S3

C.Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP

D.Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) with Multi-Attach enabled

AnswerC

FSx for NetApp ONTAP provides POSIX-compliant, highly available, and scalable file storage ideal for SAP transport files.

Why this answer

Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP provides a fully managed, POSIX-compliant shared file system that supports the NFS, SMB, and iSCSI protocols required by SAP transport directories. It offers high availability across multiple Availability Zones, automatic failover, and scalable throughput, making it the correct choice for SAP transport files on AWS.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often assume Amazon EFS is the default POSIX-compliant file system for all Linux workloads, but they overlook that SAP transport files specifically require the advanced NetApp ONTAP features (like iSCSI support and enterprise storage replication) that FSx for ONTAP provides, which EFS cannot offer.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because Amazon EFS is POSIX-compliant but does not support the iSCSI protocol or the advanced NetApp ONTAP features (e.g., SnapMirror, FlexClone) that SAP transport management often requires; it also lacks the ability to serve as a direct target for SAP's transport directory in many enterprise SAP architectures. Option B is wrong because Amazon S3 is not POSIX-compliant and uses a flat key-value store with eventual consistency for some operations, which cannot meet the strict file-locking and hierarchical namespace requirements of SAP transport files. Option D is wrong because Amazon EBS with Multi-Attach enabled supports only a limited number of Nitro-based EC2 instances (up to 16) and does not provide a fully managed, scalable, POSIX-compliant file system; it also lacks the native NFS/iSCSI protocol support needed for SAP transport directories.

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389

MCQhard

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?

A.Use a larger EC2 instance for the application server

B.Migrate the transport directory to Amazon S3

C.Use EFS Max I/O performance mode or Provisioned Throughput

D.Move the transport directory to instance store volumes

AnswerC

Max I/O increases IOPS; Provisioned Throughput increases throughput.

Why this answer

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.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often 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.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because increasing the EC2 instance size does not reduce EFS read latency; EFS performance is independent of the compute instance's size and is governed by the file system's throughput and IOPS limits. Option B is wrong because Amazon S3 is an object store, not a POSIX-compliant shared file system, and cannot serve as a drop-in replacement for the SAP transport directory (/usr/sap/trans) which requires NFSv4 semantics, file locking, and low-latency random access. Option D is wrong because instance store volumes are ephemeral and tied to the lifecycle of the EC2 instance; they cannot provide the persistent, shared access required for the transport directory across multiple SAP application servers.

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390

Multi-Selecthard

A company runs SAP S/4HANA on AWS in a multi-AZ deployment. The SAP HANA database is 2 TB and uses EBS gp3 volumes. During a monthly patching cycle, the primary database fails over to the secondary, but the secondary takes over 30 minutes to come online. Which TWO changes would most likely reduce the failover time? (Choose two.)

Select 2 answers

A.Increase the provisioned IOPS and throughput on the EBS log volumes.

B.Place the primary and secondary HANA servers in a cluster placement group.

C.Use different EC2 instance types for primary and secondary to balance cost.

D.Deploy all HANA nodes in the same Availability Zone to reduce network latency.

E.Enable EBS optimization on the secondary instance's EBS volumes.

AnswersA, B

Higher log volume performance improves replication throughput.

Why this answer

Increasing the provisioned IOPS and throughput on the EBS log volumes accelerates the replay of redo logs during the takeover process. SAP HANA relies on log replay to bring the secondary database to a consistent state; higher IOPS/throughput reduces the time required to apply pending log entries, directly shortening failover duration.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often focus on network latency or instance placement (Options D and B) as the primary cause of slow failover, when in reality the bottleneck is the I/O performance of the log volumes during log replay.

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391

MCQeasy

An architect is designing a network topology for an SAP system on AWS. The SAP application servers must be placed in private subnets, and the web dispatchers must be accessible from the internet. Which configuration should the architect use to meet these requirements?

A.Place all SAP servers in public subnets and use security groups to restrict access

B.Place the web dispatchers in private subnets and use a NAT Gateway for internet access

C.Place all servers in private subnets and use an Application Load Balancer for internet access

D.Place the web dispatchers in public subnets, the application servers in private subnets, and use a Network Load Balancer in front of the web dispatchers

AnswerD

This design provides internet access to web dispatchers via a public-facing NLB while keeping application servers private.

Why this answer

Web dispatchers need direct internet accessibility, which is achieved by placing them in public subnets with an Internet Gateway route. The SAP application servers must remain in private subnets for security, and a Network Load Balancer (NLB) in front of the web dispatchers provides layer 4 load balancing and health checks without exposing the dispatchers' IPs directly, while preserving client IP for logging and security.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often assume an Application Load Balancer (ALB) is always the best choice for internet-facing web traffic, but for SAP Web Dispatchers, a Network Load Balancer (NLB) is required because ALBs cannot handle non-HTTP protocols like DIAG and RFC, and they modify headers in ways that break SAP session persistence.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because placing all SAP servers in public subnets exposes the application servers to the internet, violating the requirement for private subnets and increasing the attack surface; security groups alone do not prevent direct internet routing. Option B is wrong because placing web dispatchers in private subnets with a NAT Gateway allows outbound internet access only, not inbound internet traffic from users, so the web dispatchers would not be accessible from the internet. Option C is wrong because placing all servers in private subnets and using an Application Load Balancer (ALB) for internet access would require the ALB to be in public subnets, but the ALB operates at layer 7 and is not designed to front-end web dispatchers that handle SAP-specific protocols (e.g., DIAG, RFC) which require layer 4 load balancing; additionally, the ALB would terminate TLS and modify headers, which can break SAP Web Dispatcher functionality.

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392

Multi-Selecthard

A company runs SAP S/4HANA on AWS with a large HANA database (10 TB). The database uses EBS gp3 volumes. The system experiences performance degradation due to high disk I/O. The architect decides to migrate to EBS io2 Block Express volumes. Which THREE factors should the architect consider when planning the migration?

Select 3 answers

A.The maximum IOPS per volume supported by io2 Block Express is 256,000.

B.SAP HANA supports RAID 0 across multiple io2 volumes without additional software.

C.io2 Block Express volumes can be attached to multiple EC2 instances simultaneously using EBS Multi-Attach.

D.To achieve the required throughput, multiple io2 volumes should be striped using LVM.

E.The cost of io2 Block Express volumes is higher than gp3 volumes on a per-GB basis.

AnswersA, D, E

High IOPS per volume is a key benefit for large HANA systems.

Why this answer

Io2 Block Express volumes support a maximum IOPS of 256,000 per volume, which is significantly higher than the 16,000 IOPS limit of gp3. This high IOPS capability is critical for large SAP HANA databases (10 TB) that experience performance degradation due to high disk I/O, as it allows the database to handle bursty workloads without throttling.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates may confuse io2 Block Express with standard io2 volumes, assuming Multi-Attach is supported, or incorrectly believe SAP HANA natively supports RAID 0 without additional volume management tools.

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393

MCQmedium

An SAP system on AWS is experiencing performance degradation. The SAP administrator wants to monitor the EC2 instance's CPU utilization and memory usage. Which AWS service should be used to collect memory metrics?

A.Amazon CloudWatch (default metrics)

B.AWS Systems Manager Inventory

C.AWS Trusted Advisor

D.Amazon CloudWatch Agent

AnswerD

The CloudWatch Agent can collect memory and disk metrics from EC2 instances.

Why this answer

Amazon CloudWatch by default collects only basic metrics like CPU utilization, not memory usage. The Amazon CloudWatch Agent is required to collect custom metrics such as memory utilization from EC2 instances by sending data to CloudWatch via the PutMetricData API. This agent can be installed on the SAP EC2 instance to capture both CPU and memory metrics for performance monitoring.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates assume CloudWatch default metrics include memory usage because it is a common monitoring need, but AWS intentionally excludes OS-level metrics from default collection to avoid overhead, requiring the CloudWatch Agent for such data.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because Amazon CloudWatch default metrics do not include memory usage; they only capture hypervisor-level metrics like CPU, network, and disk I/O. Option B is wrong because AWS Systems Manager Inventory collects software inventory and configuration data, not real-time performance metrics like memory usage. Option C is wrong because AWS Trusted Advisor provides best-practice recommendations and checks, not real-time metric collection for EC2 instance memory.

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394

Multi-Selecteasy

Which TWO AWS services can be used to monitor SAP system performance and send alerts? (Choose two.)

Select 2 answers

A.Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS)

B.Amazon Inspector

C.Amazon CloudWatch

D.AWS Config

E.AWS Trusted Advisor

AnswersA, C

SNS can send notifications from CloudWatch alarms.

Why this answer

Amazon CloudWatch is the primary AWS monitoring service that can collect metrics from SAP systems (e.g., via SAP Cloud Connector or custom scripts) and trigger alarms based on thresholds. Amazon SNS is the notification service that CloudWatch alarms use to send alerts via email, SMS, or HTTP endpoints. Together, they form the standard monitoring and alerting pipeline for SAP workloads on AWS.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse AWS Config or Trusted Advisor as monitoring services, but they are configuration auditing and advisory tools, not real-time performance monitoring and alerting services like CloudWatch and SNS.

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395

MCQmedium

An SAP administrator is configuring the /hana/data volume for SAP HANA on an EC2 instance. The exhibit shows the /etc/fstab entry. What is the purpose of the 'noatime' mount option?

A.To enable swap space on the volume.

B.To enable disk quotas.

C.To mount the volume as read-only.

D.To disable updating the access time on files, improving performance.

AnswerD

noatime reduces write operations.

Why this answer

The 'noatime' mount option disables the update of inode access timestamps (atime) on every file read. For SAP HANA, which performs high-frequency I/O operations on the /hana/data volume, this eliminates unnecessary metadata writes, reducing disk I/O overhead and improving overall filesystem performance.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates may confuse 'noatime' with other mount options like 'ro' (read-only) or 'sw' (swap), or assume it is related to performance tuning for swap or quotas, when in fact it specifically targets access time updates to reduce I/O overhead.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because swap space is configured via a swap partition or a swap file, not by the 'noatime' mount option; 'noatime' does not enable swap. Option B is wrong because disk quotas are enabled using the 'usrquota' or 'grpquota' mount options, not 'noatime'. Option C is wrong because mounting a volume as read-only is achieved with the 'ro' mount option, while 'noatime' only affects access time updates and does not restrict write operations.

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396

MCQmedium

A company is migrating an SAP system to AWS and needs to ensure that the SAP license is compliant. The current license is based on the number of users. Which AWS pricing model is most appropriate for this scenario?

A.Spot Instances

B.Reserved Instances

C.Dedicated Hosts

D.On-Demand instances

AnswerD

On-Demand allows scaling based on demand without affecting user-based licensing.

Why this answer

On-Demand instances are the most appropriate pricing model for this SAP migration because the SAP license is based on the number of users, not on the underlying hardware or instance type. With On-Demand instances, the company pays only for compute capacity by the hour or second, avoiding any long-term commitment that could inadvertently trigger SAP license compliance issues related to dedicated hardware or specific instance sizing. This flexibility allows the company to align AWS costs directly with the user-based SAP licensing model without additional constraints.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse SAP licensing models (user-based vs. core-based) and assume that Dedicated Hosts or Reserved Instances are always required for SAP on AWS, when in fact the licensing model dictates the appropriate AWS pricing option.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because Spot Instances are not suitable for production SAP workloads due to their potential for interruption with a two-minute warning, which would violate SAP's high-availability and stability requirements. Option B is wrong because Reserved Instances require a 1- or 3-year commitment, which could lock the company into specific instance sizes or families that may not align with future SAP license adjustments based on user counts, and they do not provide the hardware-level isolation needed for some SAP licensing models. Option C is wrong because Dedicated Hosts provide physical server isolation that is typically required for SAP licenses based on physical cores or sockets, not for user-based licensing; using Dedicated Hosts would unnecessarily increase costs without any licensing benefit for a user-based model.

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397

Drag & Dropmedium

Drag and drop the steps to perform a backup and restore of an SAP HANA database using AWS Backup into the correct order.

Drag steps to the numbered slots on the right, or tap a step then tap a slot.

Steps

Order

1Step 1

2Step 2

3Step 3

4Step 4

Why this order

AWS Backup requires a plan, resource assignment, backup execution, selection of backup, and restore.

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398

Multi-Selecthard

An SAP administrator is troubleshooting a performance issue on an SAP NetWeaver system running on AWS. The system uses an Oracle database. The CPU utilization of the database server is consistently below 30%, but application response times are slow. Which THREE checks should the administrator perform to identify the bottleneck?

Select 3 answers

A.Use Amazon CloudWatch metrics to check network throughput and latency between the application and database servers.

B.Check the EBS volume queue length and I/O wait times on the database server.

C.Examine Oracle database wait events for enqueue and latch contention.

D.Increase the number of CPU cores on the database server.

E.Enable Amazon EBS Elastic Volumes to increase volume size dynamically.

AnswersA, B, C

Network latency can cause slow responses.

Why this answer

High network latency or insufficient throughput between the application and database servers can cause slow response times even when CPU utilization is low. Amazon CloudWatch metrics such as NetworkIn, NetworkOut, and NetworkPacketsIn/Out can reveal congestion or bandwidth saturation, which is a common bottleneck in SAP NetWeaver deployments on AWS.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often assume low CPU utilization means the system is not busy, overlooking that I/O wait, network latency, or database contention can cause slow responses without consuming CPU cycles.

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399

MCQmedium

A company is migrating its SAP ERP system to AWS and needs to minimize network latency between the SAP application servers and the database. Which AWS service or feature should be used to meet this requirement?

A.Use AWS Global Accelerator for the application servers.

B.Place the application and database servers in the same placement group.

C.Set up VPC peering between the application and database VPCs.

D.Use an Elastic Load Balancer in front of the application servers.

AnswerB

Placement groups provide low-latency, high-throughput networking between EC2 instances.

Why this answer

Placement groups in AWS, specifically cluster placement groups, provide low-latency network performance by ensuring that EC2 instances are placed in close physical proximity within a single Availability Zone. This minimizes network latency between SAP application servers and the database, meeting the requirement for high-throughput, low-latency communication critical for SAP ERP workloads.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse network-level services like Global Accelerator or load balancers with physical proximity optimizations, mistakenly thinking they reduce inter-instance latency when they actually add network hops or are designed for external traffic optimization.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because AWS Global Accelerator improves global traffic routing and reduces internet latency via the AWS edge network, but it does not reduce network latency between instances within the same AWS region or Availability Zone; it is designed for external user traffic, not inter-instance communication. Option C is wrong because VPC peering connects separate VPCs for IP routing but does not influence the physical placement or network distance between instances; it does not inherently reduce latency compared to instances in the same VPC or placement group. Option D is wrong because an Elastic Load Balancer distributes incoming traffic across multiple application servers for high availability and scaling, but it adds network hop latency and does not reduce the latency between application servers and the database; it is not a solution for inter-instance latency optimization.

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400

MCQmedium

A company is migrating an SAP ERP system to AWS and wants to use SAP HANA as the database. The current on-premises database is 4 TB. Which EC2 instance type is optimized for SAP HANA workloads and provides sufficient memory?

A.x1e.32xlarge

B.r5.24xlarge

C.m5.24xlarge

D.c5.18xlarge

AnswerA

x1e.32xlarge offers 4 TB of memory, SAP HANA certified.

Why this answer

The x1e.32xlarge instance is specifically optimized for SAP HANA workloads, offering 3,904 GiB of memory, which is sufficient for a 4 TB SAP HANA database when considering the 1:5 memory-to-data ratio required by SAP (4 TB data requires approximately 800 GB memory, but the x1e.32xlarge provides ample headroom for growth and workload peaks). It also supports SAP HANA certified instance types and provides high network and EBS throughput essential for HANA's performance demands.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often choose the r5.24xlarge because it is memory-optimized and has a high memory-to-vCPU ratio, but they overlook that it is not SAP HANA certified for production workloads and its 768 GiB memory is insufficient for a 4 TB database, as SAP requires a minimum memory-to-data ratio of 1:5 (and often 1:2 for production).

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option B (r5.24xlarge) is wrong because while it is memory-optimized, it only provides 768 GiB of memory, which is insufficient for a 4 TB SAP HANA database that typically requires at least 800 GB to 1 TB of memory for the data and working memory, and it is not listed as a certified SAP HANA instance type for production workloads. Option C (m5.24xlarge) is wrong because it is a general-purpose instance with only 384 GiB of memory, far below the memory requirements for a 4 TB HANA database, and it lacks the dedicated HANA certification. Option D (c5.18xlarge) is wrong because it is compute-optimized with only 144 GiB of memory, completely inadequate for SAP HANA's memory-intensive in-memory database operations, and it is not certified for SAP HANA.

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401

MCQhard

A company runs SAP Business Suite on AWS with a large SAP HANA database. They observe high memory utilization and need to scale up. Which instance type should they choose to provide the highest memory capacity for SAP HANA?

A.r5.24xlarge

B.u-12tb1.112xlarge

C.x1e.32xlarge

D.m5.24xlarge

AnswerB

u-12tb1.112xlarge offers 12 TB memory, designed for large SAP HANA.

Why this answer

The u-12tb1.112xlarge is the correct choice because it is part of AWS's bare metal 'u' instance family, specifically designed for large in-memory databases like SAP HANA, offering up to 12 TB of RAM. This instance type provides the highest memory capacity among AWS instances, making it suitable for scaling up SAP HANA when high memory utilization is observed.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates might choose x1e.32xlarge (3,904 GB) thinking it offers the highest memory, but the u-12tb1.112xlarge provides significantly more RAM (12 TB) and is specifically designed for large SAP HANA workloads.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A (r5.24xlarge) is wrong because it provides only 768 GB of RAM, which is insufficient for a large SAP HANA database requiring high memory capacity. Option C (x1e.32xlarge) is wrong because it offers 3,904 GB of RAM, which is less than the 12 TB provided by the u-12tb1.112xlarge and is not the highest memory capacity available. Option D (m5.24xlarge) is wrong because it provides only 384 GB of RAM, which is far too low for scaling up a large SAP HANA database and is optimized for general-purpose workloads, not memory-intensive databases.

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402

MCQhard

An SAP system on AWS is experiencing high latency for disk I/O. The system uses Amazon EBS gp2 volumes. The operations team notices that the volume queue depth is consistently high. Which change is most likely to reduce latency?

A.Increase the EC2 instance size to get more EBS bandwidth.

B.Migrate from gp2 to gp3 volumes and increase IOPS.

C.Configure RAID 0 across multiple EBS volumes.

D.Increase the block size of the file system.

AnswerB

gp3 provides higher baseline IOPS and consistent performance, reducing queue depth and latency.

Why this answer

Gp3 volumes offer a baseline performance that is higher than gp2 for a given size, and they allow you to independently increase IOPS without needing to provision more storage. Since the volume queue depth is consistently high, the bottleneck is likely due to insufficient IOPS, and migrating to gp3 with increased IOPS directly addresses this by providing more I/O capacity, reducing latency.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often assume increasing instance size (Option A) or using RAID 0 (Option C) will fix any performance issue, but the question specifically points to a high queue depth caused by IOPS limits, which is best addressed by migrating to a volume type that allows independent IOPS scaling.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because increasing the EC2 instance size may provide more EBS bandwidth, but the queue depth issue is driven by IOPS limits of the gp2 volume, not by the instance's network bandwidth; the instance's EBS bandwidth is only a factor if it is saturated, which is not indicated here. Option C is wrong because configuring RAID 0 across multiple EBS volumes can increase throughput and IOPS, but it does not reduce latency for a single volume queue depth issue; it adds complexity and potential for increased latency due to striping overhead. Option D is wrong because increasing the block size of the file system can improve throughput for large sequential I/O, but it does not reduce latency for the high queue depth caused by insufficient IOPS; it may even increase latency for small random I/O.

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403

Matchingmedium

Match the SAP system component to its AWS service or concept.

Drag a concept onto its matching description — or click a concept then click the description.

Concepts

Matches

Amazon EC2 with HANA optimized instances

Application server layer

Next-generation ERP suite

Business intelligence platform

Why these pairings

SAP HANA, NetWeaver, S/4HANA, and BusinessObjects are core SAP components. HANA runs on EC2 with certified instances; NetWeaver and BusinessObjects also run on EC2; S/4HANA requires HANA. Common confusions: Amazon RDS does not support HANA, and NetWeaver is not a database.

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404

Multi-Selectmedium

A company is designing an SAP HANA database on AWS. The database requires high throughput and low latency for data volumes. Which TWO AWS features should be used to meet these requirements? (Choose two.)

Select 2 answers

A.Use EBS gp3 volumes for the HANA data volume.

B.Use EC2 instance store volumes for the HANA data volume.

C.Store HANA data on Amazon S3 with S3 Express One Zone.

D.Enable EBS optimization on the EC2 instance.

E.Use EBS io2 Block Express volumes for the HANA data volume.

AnswersD, E

EBS optimization provides dedicated network throughput for EBS traffic.

Why this answer

Enabling EBS optimization on an EC2 instance dedicates network bandwidth to EBS I/O, eliminating contention between network and storage traffic, which is critical for SAP HANA's high-throughput, low-latency requirements. Option E is correct because EBS io2 Block Express volumes provide up to 256,000 IOPS per volume with sub-millisecond latency, meeting the demanding performance needs of SAP HANA data volumes.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse 'high throughput' with 'high IOPS' and choose gp3 volumes (Option A) for their cost-effectiveness, failing to recognize that SAP HANA's performance requirements exceed gp3's maximum capabilities, while io2 Block Express is the only EBS volume type designed for such demanding workloads.

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405

MCQmedium

An SAP administrator needs to implement a backup strategy for an SAP HANA database on AWS that provides point-in-time recovery (PITR) with minimal RPO. Which combination of AWS services should be used?

A.HANA backup to NFS on Amazon EFS

B.Amazon EBS snapshots of the HANA data volumes

C.Amazon S3 lifecycle policies

D.AWS Backup with Backint agent for SAP HANA

AnswerD

This provides integrated, automated backups with PITR capability.

Why this answer

AWS Backup with the Backint agent for SAP HANA is the correct choice because it integrates directly with SAP HANA's native backup interface (Backint), enabling log backups and full/differential backups to Amazon S3. This combination supports point-in-time recovery (PITR) with minimal RPO by continuously backing up transaction logs, which is essential for meeting strict recovery objectives.

Exam trap

AWS often tests the misconception that EBS snapshots alone provide application-consistent backups for SAP HANA, but they fail to capture transaction logs needed for PITR, leading candidates to incorrectly choose Option B.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because backing up HANA to NFS on Amazon EFS does not support the Backint interface for log backups, making PITR with minimal RPO impractical due to lack of native log backup integration and potential performance issues. Option B is wrong because Amazon EBS snapshots of HANA data volumes are crash-consistent but not application-consistent; they cannot capture HANA transaction logs for PITR, and restoring from an EBS snapshot alone does not guarantee database consistency without additional log replay. Option C is wrong because Amazon S3 lifecycle policies manage object transitions and deletions, not backup creation; they are a storage management feature, not a backup service, and cannot initiate or orchestrate HANA backups.

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406

MCQeasy

A company is planning to run SAP HANA on AWS and needs to ensure that the database meets the required memory and CPU performance. Which instance family should the company choose for the SAP HANA database?

A.T3 instances

B.M5 instances

C.C5 instances

D.X1e instances

AnswerD

X1e instances are SAP HANA certified.

Why this answer

SAP HANA is an in-memory database that requires large amounts of RAM and high memory bandwidth to keep all data in memory for real-time processing. The X1e instance family is specifically designed for high-memory workloads like SAP HANA, offering up to 4 TB of memory and high-frequency Intel Xeon processors, making it the only instance family among the options that meets SAP's certified memory and CPU requirements.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse general-purpose or compute-optimized instances (like M5 or C5) as suitable for SAP HANA because they focus on CPU performance alone, ignoring the critical requirement for massive memory capacity and SAP certification that only the X1e family provides.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because T3 instances are burstable general-purpose instances with limited baseline CPU performance and small memory sizes, which cannot sustain the consistent high CPU and memory demands of SAP HANA. Option B is wrong because M5 instances are general-purpose instances with a balanced ratio of CPU to memory, but they lack the high memory capacity (max 384 GB) required for SAP HANA production workloads. Option C is wrong because C5 instances are compute-optimized with a high CPU-to-memory ratio, designed for compute-intensive tasks like batch processing, not for memory-intensive in-memory databases like SAP HANA.

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407

MCQhard

A company runs a large SAP ERP system on AWS. The SAP application servers are deployed across multiple Availability Zones using an Auto Scaling group behind an Application Load Balancer. The SAP HANA database is a single-node instance on a large EC2 instance with EBS io1 volumes. The database experiences high write latency during peak hours. The administrator investigates and finds that the EBS volume write throughput is consistently at the maximum limit of 250 MB/s. The volume is 4 TB with 10,000 provisioned IOPS. The application servers are idle during the peak hour due to database slowness. The company needs a solution to reduce write latency without changing the application. Which solution should the administrator implement?

A.Enable EBS Multi-Attach and add additional EC2 instances to share the volume

B.Increase the provisioned IOPS on the io1 volume to 20,000

C.Enable EBS-optimized on the EC2 instance

D.Change the volume type to gp3 and increase throughput to 500 MB/s

AnswerB

Increasing provisioned IOPS on the io1 volume from 10,000 to 20,000 doubles the throughput from 250 MB/s to 500 MB/s, directly resolving the write latency issue.

Why this answer

The bottleneck is write throughput at 250 MB/s, which is the maximum throughput achievable with 10,000 provisioned IOPS on an io1 volume (assuming 256 KB I/O size). By increasing the provisioned IOPS to 20,000, the throughput doubles to 500 MB/s, directly reducing write latency. Option A is incorrect because EBS Multi-Attach is designed for shared volumes in multi-node clusters, not for a single-node HANA database.

Option C is incorrect because EBS-optimized instances are already enabled by default on current-generation EC2 instances; additional configuration would not increase throughput. Option D is incorrect because changing to gp3 would require a volume type conversion and might not achieve the same IOPS performance; gp3 has a maximum of 16,000 IOPS and 1,000 MB/s throughput, but the simplest and most direct fix is to increase IOPS on the existing io1 volume.

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408

MCQmedium

An SAP administrator is creating an IAM policy for the AWS SAP Landscape Management (LaMa) connector. The policy includes the actions shown. Which additional action is missing for LaMa to perform its typical automation tasks?

A.lambda:InvokeFunction

B.cloudformation:CreateStack and cloudformation:DeleteStack

C.rds:CreateDBInstance and rds:DeleteDBInstance

D.s3:PutObject and s3:GetObject

AnswerB

LaMa uses CloudFormation to provision infrastructure.

Why this answer

AWS LaMa uses AWS CloudFormation to orchestrate the provisioning and teardown of infrastructure resources during SAP system cloning, refresh, or migration operations. Without cloudformation:CreateStack and cloudformation:DeleteStack, LaMa cannot create the temporary stacks needed for tasks like host replacement or storage snapshot-based cloning.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often assume LaMa directly manages EC2 or RDS resources via their respective APIs, when in fact LaMa delegates all infrastructure provisioning to CloudFormation stacks to maintain consistency and support rollback.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because LaMa does not directly invoke Lambda functions for its core automation; Lambda is used for custom extensions or post-processing, not for the primary orchestration of SAP landscape operations. Option C is wrong because LaMa manages SAP databases on RDS through CloudFormation stacks, not by directly calling rds:CreateDBInstance or rds:DeleteDBInstance; direct RDS API calls would bypass LaMa's state management and rollback capabilities. Option D is wrong because while LaMa may use S3 for storing backups or logs, the missing action for its typical automation tasks is not S3 object operations but the CloudFormation stack lifecycle actions that drive infrastructure provisioning.

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409

Multi-Selectmedium

Which TWO of the following are valid considerations when designing the network for SAP workloads on AWS? (Select TWO.)

Select 2 answers

A.Enable jumbo frames on the VPC for SAP application tier

B.Use a single subnet for all SAP tiers to simplify routing

C.Use a public subnet for the SAP database tier

D.Deploy SAP application servers in a cluster placement group

E.Disable VPC Flow Logs to save costs

AnswersA, D

Jumbo frames reduce overhead and improve throughput.

Why this answer

Enabling jumbo frames (MTU 9001) on the VPC for the SAP application tier reduces CPU overhead and improves network throughput by allowing larger payloads per packet. This is particularly beneficial for SAP's high-volume data transfers between application and database servers, as it reduces the number of packets processed and lowers latency.

Exam trap

A common misconception in AWS is that simplifying network design by using a single subnet or placing the database tier in a public subnet is acceptable, but in reality, SAP on AWS demands strict network segmentation and security isolation to meet both operational and compliance requirements.

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410

MCQmedium

An SAP Basis administrator notices that the SAP application is running slowly during peak hours. The system is deployed on a single r5.8xlarge instance with 256 GiB of memory. CloudWatch metrics show high CPU utilization but moderate memory usage. Which action should the architect take to improve performance?

A.Increase the instance memory by selecting r5.12xlarge

B.Increase the size of the EBS root volume

C.Add Provisioned IOPS to the EBS volumes

D.Change the instance type to c5.9xlarge

AnswerD

c5.9xlarge provides more vCPUs (36) compared to r5.8xlarge (32) and is compute-optimized.

Why this answer

The high CPU utilization with moderate memory usage indicates a compute-bound workload, not a memory-bound one. Changing from an r5.8xlarge (32 vCPUs, 256 GiB memory) to a c5.9xlarge (36 vCPUs, 72 GiB memory) provides more vCPUs and a better compute-to-memory ratio, directly addressing the CPU bottleneck. This aligns with SAP's recommendation to match instance types to workload characteristics, where compute-optimized instances are suitable for CPU-intensive SAP applications.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates assume high CPU utilization always requires a larger instance (Option A) or a storage fix (Options B and C), but the PAS-C01 exam tests the ability to match instance families to workload characteristics, specifically that compute-optimized instances (c5) are the correct choice for CPU-bound SAP applications, not memory-optimized ones.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because increasing memory (r5.12xlarge) does not resolve high CPU utilization; it only adds more RAM, which is already underutilized, and does not increase vCPU count proportionally (r5.12xlarge has 48 vCPUs, but the bottleneck is CPU, not memory). Option B is wrong because increasing the EBS root volume size does not improve CPU performance; it only provides more storage capacity, which does not affect compute throughput or CPU utilization. Option C is wrong because adding Provisioned IOPS to EBS volumes improves disk I/O performance, but the issue is high CPU utilization, not disk latency or IOPS limits; CloudWatch metrics show moderate memory usage, not disk queue depth or I/O wait.

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411

MCQmedium

A company is running SAP Business Suite on AWS and wants to implement a disaster recovery (DR) strategy with a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of less than 2 hours and a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of less than 15 minutes. The primary and DR sites are in different AWS regions. Which solution meets these requirements?

A.Use SAP HANA System Replication in asynchronous mode across regions with EBS snapshots every 15 minutes

B.Use EBS snapshots replicated to the DR region with S3 cross-region replication

C.Use AWS Backup with continuous backups

D.Use SAP HANA System Replication in synchronous mode across regions

AnswerA

Asynchronous replication with frequent snapshots can meet RPO < 15 minutes and RTO < 2 hours.

Why this answer

SAP HANA System Replication in asynchronous mode across regions meets the RPO of less than 15 minutes because it continuously replicates log data with minimal latency, and the RTO of less than 2 hours is achievable by taking over the replicated HANA database in the DR region. EBS snapshots every 15 minutes provide an additional layer for persistent storage consistency, but the primary mechanism for meeting the RPO is the asynchronous log replication, which typically achieves sub-minute RPO.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often assume synchronous replication is always better for low RPO, but in cross-region scenarios, synchronous mode is impractical due to latency, and asynchronous mode with log shipping easily achieves sub-15-minute RPO while avoiding performance impact on the primary system.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option B is wrong because EBS snapshots replicated to the DR region via S3 cross-region replication cannot achieve an RPO of less than 15 minutes due to the snapshot creation interval (minimum 5-10 minutes) and replication latency, and the RTO would exceed 2 hours because you must restore volumes and reattach them before starting SAP. Option C is wrong because AWS Backup with continuous backups supports RPO of up to 1 minute for EBS volumes but does not provide native SAP HANA database-consistent recovery; it only captures block-level changes, not HANA transaction log consistency, and the RTO for restoring a full HANA system from backups typically exceeds 2 hours. Option D is wrong because SAP HANA System Replication in synchronous mode across regions introduces significant network latency that can impact primary system performance and is not recommended for cross-region deployments due to the high latency and potential for transaction blocking; it also does not inherently provide a faster RTO than asynchronous mode.

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412

Multi-Selectmedium

A company is migrating its SAP NetWeaver system to AWS and wants to implement a high-availability architecture for the SAP Central Services (ASCS) and Enqueue Replication Server (ERS). Which TWO of the following are required components in a recommended AWS HA setup for ASCS and ERS?

Select 2 answers

A.A shared file system (e.g., Amazon EFS) to store the SAP transport directory and global profile.

B.An Application Load Balancer to distribute traffic between ASCS and ERS instances.

C.A floating IP address (using Elastic IP or Route 53 health checks) to manage the ASCS virtual hostname.

D.A read replica of the SAP HANA database to offload application traffic.

E.A secondary Windows Server Failover Cluster in a different Availability Zone.

AnswersA, C

ASCS and ERS require shared storage for transport directory.

Why this answer

In an SAP NetWeaver high-availability architecture on AWS, a shared file system such as Amazon EFS is required to store the SAP transport directory and global profile. This ensures that both the ASCS and ERS instances can access consistent configuration and transport files, which is essential for failover and cluster operations. Without a shared file system, the instances would have divergent configurations, breaking the HA setup.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse the need for a load balancer (Option B) with the floating IP mechanism, not realizing that SAP ASCS/ERS uses a virtual IP for active/passive failover rather than distributing traffic across multiple active instances.

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413

MCQeasy

A company is running SAP HANA on AWS. They want to ensure that the database is backed up automatically and the backups are stored securely and durably. Which AWS service should be used to store the backup files?

A.Amazon EBS Snapshots

B.Amazon RDS

C.Amazon Elastic File System

D.Amazon S3

AnswerD

S3 is ideal for storing backup files with high durability.

Why this answer

Amazon S3 is the correct service for storing SAP HANA backup files because it provides a highly durable (99.999999999% durability), scalable, and secure object storage platform. SAP HANA supports backing up directly to S3 using the Backint agent or via third-party backup tools, and S3 offers features like server-side encryption (SSE-S3 or SSE-KMS) and lifecycle policies for cost-effective long-term retention.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates may confuse Amazon EBS Snapshots (Option A) as the default backup mechanism for SAP HANA on AWS, but EBS Snapshots are not suitable for SAP HANA database-level backups because they capture the entire volume state and do not integrate with SAP HANA's backup catalog or support point-in-time recovery of the database itself.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because Amazon EBS Snapshots are block-level backups tied to a specific Availability Zone and are not designed for direct SAP HANA database file backups; they capture entire volumes, not individual database files, and lack the granularity and portability needed for SAP HANA backup strategies. Option B is wrong because Amazon RDS is a managed relational database service, not a storage service for backup files; it cannot be used to store SAP HANA backup files as SAP HANA is not an RDS engine. Option C is wrong because Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) is a file-level NFS storage service that is not optimized for high-throughput backup workloads and does not provide the same durability, cost-efficiency, or direct integration with SAP HANA backup tools as S3.

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414

MCQmedium

An organization has a production SAP ERP system on AWS with a multi-node SAP HANA scale-out configuration. The system uses a cluster placement group for low latency. During a maintenance window, the administrator needs to stop and start all instances. After restart, the HANA nodes cannot communicate with each other. The cluster placement group is still intact, but the private IP addresses have changed. The HANA topology relies on hostnames resolved via /etc/hosts. What is the MOST likely cause and solution?

A.The private IP addresses changed, but /etc/hosts still has the old IPs. Update /etc/hosts with the new IPs or use Elastic IPs.

B.The EBS volumes were detached during stop. Reattach the volumes.

C.The security group rules were reset. Reapply the security group rules.

D.The cluster placement group was removed during stop/start. Recreate the placement group.

AnswerA

Stop/start can change private IPs; using Elastic IPs or updating /etc/hosts resolves this.

Why this answer

When EC2 instances in a cluster placement group are stopped and started, the private IP addresses can change unless they are configured with a primary Elastic Network Interface (ENI) or Elastic IP. Since the SAP HANA scale-out topology relies on hostnames resolved via /etc/hosts, the old IPs in that file become stale after the restart, breaking inter-node communication. Updating /etc/hosts with the new private IPs or assigning Elastic IPs to preserve the addresses resolves the issue.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates assume stopping and starting instances preserves all network configurations, but AWS explicitly changes private IPs by default unless Elastic IPs or static ENIs are used, which is a key nuance for SAP HANA multi-node setups.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option B is wrong because stopping and starting an EC2 instance does not detach EBS volumes; volumes persist and are reattached automatically on start. Option C is wrong because security group rules are not reset during a stop/start cycle; they remain intact as they are associated with the ENI, not the instance state. Option D is wrong because a cluster placement group is not removed when instances are stopped and started; it persists as a logical grouping and only enforces placement during launch.

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415

MCQmedium

An SAP system on AWS experiences intermittent performance issues. CloudWatch metrics show high CPU credit usage on the t3.large EC2 instance hosting the SAP application. The instance is configured as a 'standard' placement group. What is the MOST likely cause and recommended action?

A.The instance size is too small. Move to a larger t3 instance.

B.The burstable instance is exhausting its CPU credits. Change to a non-burstable instance.

C.The placement group is causing network bottlenecks. Move to a cluster placement group.

D.The EBS volume is not provisioned with enough IOPS. Increase the volume size.

AnswerB

T3 instances use CPU credits; sustained high usage depletes them, causing throttling.

Why this answer

The t3.large is a burstable instance that earns CPU credits when idle and spends them when active. SAP applications often have sustained CPU demands that can exhaust the credit balance, causing performance throttling. Switching to a non-burstable instance (e.g., m5.large) provides consistent baseline CPU performance without credit-based limitations.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates may assume a larger burstable instance (Option A) solves the problem, but the PAS-C01 exam tests understanding that burstable instances are fundamentally inappropriate for sustained SAP workloads, regardless of size.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because simply moving to a larger t3 instance (e.g., t3.xlarge) still uses CPU credits and can still exhaust them under sustained load; the root cause is the burstable nature, not the size. Option C is wrong because a standard placement group does not cause network bottlenecks; cluster placement groups offer lower latency but do not address CPU credit exhaustion. Option D is wrong because the issue is high CPU credit usage, not EBS IOPS; CloudWatch metrics for CPU credits are unrelated to EBS volume performance.

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416

MCQhard

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?

A.The route tables do not have a route for the SCS subnet.

B.The network ACLs are blocking the traffic.

C.The Internet Gateway is misconfigured.

D.The VPC peering connection is not established correctly.

AnswerB

Network ACLs are stateless and can cause intermittent issues if inbound rules allow but outbound rules deny return traffic.

Why this answer

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.

Exam trap

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.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because route tables control traffic flow between subnets and the internet, but the SCS and application servers are in the same VPC; as long as the local route (10.0.0.0/16) exists, which it does by default, no additional route is needed for intra-VPC communication. Option C is wrong because the Internet Gateway is only involved in traffic destined for the internet; the SCS instance is in a private subnet and does not use an IGW for internal VPC traffic. Option D is wrong because VPC peering is used for communication between different VPCs; all instances in this scenario are within the same VPC, so no peering connection is involved.

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417

MCQhard

A company runs SAP Business Suite on AWS. They plan to use the SAP Landscape Management (LaMa) connector to automate system copy and relocation. What is a prerequisite for using the AWS LaMa connector?

A.An EC2 Auto Scaling group configured for the SAP application tier

B.AWS Systems Manager managed instances for all SAP servers

C.An IAM role with permissions for EC2, EBS, and CloudFormation actions

D.SSH keys for all SAP instances to allow LaMa to connect

AnswerC

LaMa needs IAM permissions to provision EC2, attach EBS, and use CloudFormation for automation.

Why this answer

The AWS LaMa connector automates SAP system copy and relocation by orchestrating EC2, EBS, and CloudFormation actions. An IAM role with permissions for these services is required so that LaMa can programmatically manage infrastructure resources (e.g., stop/start instances, snapshot volumes, create CloudFormation stacks) without manual intervention. This role is assumed by the LaMa connector when executing workflows.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often assume SSH keys or Systems Manager are needed for LaMa to connect to SAP instances, but the connector's primary mechanism is AWS API calls via an IAM role, not direct host-level access.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because an EC2 Auto Scaling group is not a prerequisite for LaMa; LaMa manages individual instances directly, not via scaling groups, and Auto Scaling is unrelated to system copy/relocation automation. Option B is wrong because AWS Systems Manager managed instances are not required; LaMa communicates with SAP instances via SSH or SAP protocols, not through Systems Manager. Option D is wrong because SSH keys are not a prerequisite for the LaMa connector itself; LaMa uses the IAM role for AWS API calls, and while SSH may be used for host-level operations, the connector's core automation relies on IAM permissions, not SSH keys.

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418

MCQmedium

An SAP administrator is migrating an SAP Business Suite system from on-premises to AWS. The system uses an Oracle database that is 2 TB in size. The bandwidth between the on-premises data center and AWS is limited to 100 Mbps. The migration must be completed within a weekend (48 hours). The administrator decides to use AWS DMS for ongoing replication after an initial full load. However, the initial full load takes too long. What should the administrator do to accelerate the initial full load?

A.Disable encryption on the database backup to reduce transfer overhead.

B.Increase the size of the DMS replication instance to the largest available.

C.Use Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration to speed up the upload.

D.Use AWS Snowball Edge to physically transfer the database backup to AWS, then restore and use DMS for ongoing replication.

AnswerD

Snowball bypasses network limitations.

Why this answer

The 2 TB database over a 100 Mbps link would take approximately 47 hours just for the transfer (2 TB * 8 / 100 Mbps / 3600 seconds ≈ 47.6 hours), leaving no time for restore and validation. AWS Snowball Edge provides a physical shipping alternative that bypasses network bandwidth constraints entirely, allowing the full load to be completed within the weekend. After restoring the backup from Snowball, AWS DMS can be used for ongoing replication of changes.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often assume that increasing compute resources (DMS instance size) or using network acceleration (S3 Transfer Acceleration) can overcome a hard bandwidth constraint, but they fail to calculate the raw transfer time and recognize that physical shipping is the only way to move terabytes within a tight window.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because disabling encryption on the database backup does not significantly reduce the data size (encryption overhead is minimal, typically <1%), and the bottleneck is network bandwidth, not encryption processing. Option B is wrong because increasing the DMS replication instance size improves processing throughput but does not increase the network bandwidth of 100 Mbps, which is the limiting factor for the initial full load transfer. Option C is wrong because Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration uses optimized network paths and edge locations to improve transfer speeds, but it cannot overcome the fundamental limitation of a 100 Mbps link; the theoretical maximum transfer time for 2 TB remains constrained by the pipe size.

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419

MCQhard

A systems administrator is troubleshooting an SAP HANA database that runs on an EC2 instance. The exhibit shows the block device mappings of the EC2 instance. The administrator needs to ensure that the data volumes (/dev/sdf and /dev/sdg) are not accidentally terminated when the instance is terminated. However, the administrator also wants to take a nightly snapshot of these volumes using AWS Backup. Which of the following is a potential issue with the current configuration?

A.The volume /dev/sdf has DeleteOnTermination set to false, which will cause data persistence issues.

B.The device names /dev/sdf and /dev/sdg are reserved for NVMe instance storage and should not be used for EBS.

C.The volumes are attached to a running instance, which prevents snapshot creation.

D.The volumes are not tagged, so AWS Backup may not automatically include them in backup plans.

AnswerD

AWS Backup typically uses tags to identify resources.

Why this answer

AWS Backup uses resource tags to identify which resources to include in backup plans. If the volumes /dev/sdf and /dev/sdg are not tagged with the appropriate key-value pairs that match the backup plan's tag-based selection criteria, AWS Backup will not automatically discover and include them in nightly snapshots. This can lead to missing backups for critical SAP HANA data volumes.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates may overlook AWS Backup's tag-based resource selection and assume that all attached volumes are automatically backed up, or they may confuse DeleteOnTermination behavior with backup inclusion logic.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because setting DeleteOnTermination to false is the correct configuration to prevent accidental termination of the volumes when the EC2 instance is terminated; it does not cause data persistence issues—it ensures the volumes persist independently. Option B is wrong because /dev/sdf and /dev/sdg are not reserved for NVMe instance storage; NVMe instance store volumes use device names like /dev/nvme0n1, and EBS volumes can be attached using /dev/sd* or /dev/xvd* names. Option C is wrong because EBS volumes can be snapshotted while attached to a running instance; AWS Backup and the EBS Snapshot API support creating snapshots of in-use volumes, though a brief filesystem freeze is recommended for consistency.

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420

MCQeasy

An SAP HANA database is running on an r5.8xlarge instance. The administrator notices high swap usage and suspects memory pressure. Which AWS metric should be monitored to confirm memory utilization?

A.AWS/Lambda namespace metrics

B.CWAgent namespace metrics

C.EC2 namespace metrics

D.EBS namespace metrics

AnswerB

The CloudWatch agent publishes memory metrics under the CWAgent namespace.

Why this answer

The CWAgent namespace metrics are correct because the CloudWatch agent, when installed on the EC2 instance, can capture detailed OS-level memory utilization metrics (such as `mem_used_percent` and `mem_available_percent`) that are not available in the default EC2 or EBS namespaces. This allows the administrator to directly confirm memory pressure causing high swap usage on the SAP HANA database.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates assume EC2 namespace metrics include memory utilization, but AWS intentionally omits guest OS memory from EC2 metrics, requiring the CloudWatch agent to capture it.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because AWS/Lambda namespace metrics are specific to AWS Lambda functions and have no relevance to monitoring memory utilization on an EC2 instance running SAP HANA. Option C is wrong because EC2 namespace metrics (e.g., `CPUUtilization`, `NetworkIn`) do not include memory utilization metrics; EC2 does not expose guest OS memory usage by default. Option D is wrong because EBS namespace metrics (e.g., `VolumeReadBytes`, `VolumeQueueLength`) measure block storage performance, not memory utilization.

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421

Multi-Selecteasy

Which TWO AWS services can be used to monitor the performance of an SAP system running on EC2?

Select 2 answers

A.AWS CloudTrail

B.AWS Shield

C.Amazon CloudWatch

D.Amazon CloudWatch Logs

E.AWS Config

AnswersC, D

CloudWatch monitors EC2 metrics and can trigger alarms.

Why this answer

Amazon CloudWatch (C) is correct because it provides detailed monitoring of EC2 instances, including CPU, memory, disk I/O, and network metrics, which are essential for tracking SAP system performance. Amazon CloudWatch Logs (D) is correct because it allows you to collect, monitor, and analyze log files from SAP applications and the underlying OS, enabling you to detect errors, performance bottlenecks, and system health issues in real time.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse AWS CloudTrail (audit logs) with CloudWatch Logs (application logs), or think AWS Config can monitor performance when it only tracks configuration changes, not runtime metrics.

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422

MCQmedium

A company is running SAP S/4HANA on AWS. The application team reports that batch jobs are failing intermittently with database connection timeouts. The SAP system uses a single Availability Zone deployment. Which design change should the architect recommend to improve database availability?

A.Use Amazon EBS Multi-Attach to attach the same volume to multiple EC2 instances

B.Implement an Amazon RDS for SAP HANA read replica

C.Configure SAP HANA System Replication across two Availability Zones

D.Scale up the SAP HANA instance to a larger instance type

AnswerC

SAP HANA System Replication with automatic failover ensures high availability across AZs.

Why this answer

SAP HANA System Replication (HSR) across two Availability Zones provides synchronous or asynchronous data replication at the database level, ensuring that if the primary HANA instance fails, the secondary can take over with minimal downtime. This directly addresses the intermittent database connection timeouts by eliminating the single point of failure in a single-AZ deployment, as the application can failover to the replica without manual intervention.

Exam trap

AWS often tests the misconception that scaling up or adding storage redundancy (like Multi-Attach) solves database availability issues, but the key is that SAP HANA requires database-level replication (HSR) to handle AZ failures, not just infrastructure-level changes.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because Amazon EBS Multi-Attach allows multiple EC2 instances to attach to the same EBS volume, but SAP HANA does not support shared storage for its data and log volumes; HANA requires exclusive access to its storage for consistency and performance, and Multi-Attach does not provide database-level replication or automatic failover. Option B is wrong because Amazon RDS for SAP HANA does not exist; RDS supports several database engines (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL) but not SAP HANA, and read replicas are used for read scaling, not for high availability of a primary database. Option D is wrong because scaling up the instance type increases compute and memory capacity but does not eliminate the single point of failure; if the underlying host or Availability Zone fails, the database still becomes unavailable, and timeouts will persist.

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423

Multi-Selecteasy

A company is planning to migrate their SAP HANA database to AWS. Which TWO of the following are valid EC2 instance types for SAP HANA? (Choose 2.)

Select 2 answers

A.c5.9xlarge

B.t3.2xlarge

C.i3.8xlarge

D.x1e.32xlarge

E.r5.8xlarge

AnswersD, E

x1e is memory-optimized and certified for SAP HANA.

Why this answer

(x1e.32xlarge) is correct because it is part of the X1e instance family, which is specifically certified by SAP for production HANA workloads. These instances offer high memory (up to 3,904 GiB) and are optimized for large in-memory databases like SAP HANA, meeting the SAP memory and vCPU requirements for OLAP and OLTP scenarios.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse general-purpose or compute-optimized instances (like c5 or t3) with SAP HANA requirements, overlooking that SAP HANA mandates high-memory, SAP-certified instance families such as X1e, R5, or U-6tb1.

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424

MCQhard

A company is implementing an SAP S/4HANA system on AWS. The system must be highly available across multiple Availability Zones. Which of the following strategies should the company implement for the SAP Central Services (ASCS) instance to meet high availability requirements?

A.Deploy a single EC2 instance with a large instance type to handle failover.

B.Configure SAP HANA System Replication between two Availability Zones.

C.Deploy a Pacemaker cluster with two EC2 instances across Availability Zones using a shared file system.

D.Use Amazon RDS for SAP Central Services with Multi-AZ deployment.

AnswerC

Pacemaker cluster ensures automatic failover for ASCS.

Why this answer

SAP Central Services (ASCS) requires a highly available cluster that can manage the Enqueue and Message Server processes. A Pacemaker cluster across two Availability Zones, using a shared file system (e.g., Amazon EFS or a replicated file system), provides the necessary fencing, resource monitoring, and failover for ASCS. This architecture ensures that if the primary ASCS instance fails, the secondary instance in the other AZ can take over with minimal downtime, meeting the high availability requirement.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse SAP HANA System Replication (Option B) as a solution for all SAP high availability needs, but it only applies to the database layer, not to the ASCS application services.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because deploying a single EC2 instance, even with a large instance type, does not provide any failover capability across Availability Zones; it represents a single point of failure. Option B is wrong because SAP HANA System Replication is designed for the SAP HANA database layer, not for the ASCS instance; ASCS requires cluster management of application services, not database replication. Option D is wrong because Amazon RDS does not support SAP Central Services; RDS is a managed database service, and SAP ASCS is an application-level component that must run on EC2 instances with a cluster manager.

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425

Multi-Selectmedium

A company is designing an SAP environment on AWS and needs to ensure high availability for SAP HANA. Which TWO AWS services or features are commonly used to achieve this? (Choose TWO.)

Select 2 answers

A.Amazon EFS with Multi-AZ mount targets

B.Amazon S3 cross-region replication

C.Amazon Route 53 with failover routing

D.SAP HANA system replication across Availability Zones

E.AWS Global Accelerator with endpoint weights

AnswersC, D

Route 53 can redirect traffic to the secondary HANA instance upon failure.

Why this answer

Amazon Route 53 with failover routing is correct because it allows DNS-based routing to redirect traffic to a secondary SAP HANA instance in another Availability Zone if the primary fails. This is a common pattern for achieving high availability for SAP HANA on AWS, as it works in conjunction with SAP HANA system replication to provide automatic failover at the DNS level.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse high availability with disaster recovery, leading them to select cross-region replication (option B) or Global Accelerator (option E) instead of recognizing that within a single region, SAP HANA system replication and Route 53 failover routing are the standard AWS services for high availability.

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426

MCQeasy

A company runs SAP Business Warehouse (BW) on AWS. The BW system uses a single HANA database instance on an r5.12xlarge EC2 instance with 4 EBS io1 volumes for data. The company has noticed that during peak data loads, the CPU utilization on the HANA instance reaches 90%. An SAP consultant recommends increasing the CPU capacity. The company wants to minimize costs and avoid over-provisioning. What is the most cost-effective solution to increase CPU capacity for the HANA instance?

A.Change the EC2 instance type to a larger size in the r5 family, such as r5.16xlarge, to add more vCPUs.

B.Increase the provisioned IOPS on the EBS volumes to improve I/O performance.

C.Deploy additional HANA worker nodes and configure a scale-out system.

D.Migrate the HANA instance to a compute-optimized instance family, such as c5.

AnswerA

Instance resizing is simple and cost-effective.

Why this answer

The simplest and most cost-effective way to increase CPU capacity is to resize the EC2 instance to a larger instance type within the same family (e.g., r5.16xlarge or r5.24xlarge). This provides more vCPUs without needing to change the architecture. Option B is incorrect because increasing EBS volume IOPS does not add CPU capacity.

Option C is incorrect because launching additional HANA instances for scale-out is complex and more expensive. Option D is incorrect because using a different instance family (e.g., compute-optimized) may require reconfiguration and is not as straightforward as resizing within the same family.

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427

Multi-Selecthard

An SAP system on AWS is experiencing performance issues due to high I/O wait times on the database server. The database runs on an EC2 instance with EBS volumes. Which THREE actions can improve the I/O performance? (Choose THREE.)

Select 3 answers

A.Reduce the volume size to increase the burst duration

B.Use instance store SSDs for the database logs

C.Use an EBS-optimized EC2 instance

D.Increase the provisioned IOPS of the EBS volumes

E.Configure RAID 0 of multiple gp2 volumes

AnswersB, C, D

Instance store offers low latency for temporary data.

Why this answer

Instance store SSDs provide very low latency and high IOPS directly attached to the EC2 host, which is ideal for database log files that require frequent, synchronous writes. By offloading the logs from EBS to instance store, you reduce contention on the EBS volumes and improve overall I/O performance for the SAP database.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates may think increasing volume size (Option A) improves burst performance, but AWS gp2 burst credits are based on volume size—larger volumes actually have higher baseline performance and longer burst duration, so reducing size is counterproductive.

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428

MCQhard

An SAP HANA system on AWS is experiencing slow backup performance when using Backint to Amazon S3. The backup throughput is only 200 MB/s. The environment uses an m5.24xlarge instance with 25 Gbps network. What is the most likely cause and solution?

A.The network bandwidth is insufficient. Enable S3 Transfer Acceleration.

B.The EBS volumes are too slow. Use instance store volumes for temporary storage.

C.The S3 bucket is not using multipart upload. Enable multipart upload on the bucket.

D.The Backint agent is configured with too few parallel streams. Increase the number of streams in the Backint configuration.

AnswerD

More streams increase parallelism and throughput.

Why this answer

The most likely cause is that the Backint agent is configured with too few parallel streams. Backint for SAP HANA on AWS uses multiple concurrent streams to upload backup data to S3; if the stream count is too low, it cannot saturate the available network bandwidth, resulting in throughput far below the instance's 25 Gbps capacity. Increasing the number of parallel streams in the Backint configuration allows the backup to fully utilize the network and achieve higher throughput.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates may assume network bandwidth or storage I/O is the bottleneck, when in fact the Backint agent's parallel stream count is a common misconfiguration that limits throughput despite ample infrastructure resources.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because the m5.24xlarge instance has 25 Gbps network bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for 200 MB/s (1.6 Gbps); S3 Transfer Acceleration would not help as the bottleneck is not network latency or bandwidth. Option B is wrong because EBS volumes are not directly involved in Backint backups to S3; Backint streams data directly from memory to S3, and instance store volumes are not used for temporary storage in this workflow. Option C is wrong because Backint inherently uses multipart upload for large backups; enabling multipart upload on the bucket is not a configurable setting and is already the default behavior for S3 objects over 5 GB.

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