PAS-C01 Operations and Maintenance Practice Question
This PAS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of operations and maintenance. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
An SAP administrator is troubleshooting an issue where an AWS Lambda function is unable to start an EC2 instance. The Lambda execution role has the IAM policy shown in the exhibit. What is the likely cause of the failure?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The Lambda function is not configured with the correct VPC subnet or security group to reach the EC2 instance.
The issue is likely that the Lambda function is not configured with the correct VPC subnet or security group to reach the EC2 instance. Lambda functions running in a VPC require proper networking configuration to interact with EC2 instances in the same VPC. The IAM policy shown allows ec2:StartInstances, ec2:DescribeInstances, and s3:GetObject on the specified resources, so IAM permissions are not the problem. Option A is correct because networking misconfiguration is a common cause of such failures. Options B, C, and D are incorrect as the policy does grant the necessary permissions.
Key principle: Count usable hosts — not total addresses — and remember that the network and broadcast addresses are not available to hosts in standard IPv4 subnets.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✓
The Lambda function is not configured with the correct VPC subnet or security group to reach the EC2 instance.
Why this is correct
Lambda may need VPC access to start instances in a VPC, but the policy is fine.
The policy explicitly allows ec2:StartInstances on all resources.
✗
The policy does not allow s3:GetObject on the specific backup object.
Why it's wrong here
The policy allows s3:GetObject on any object in the sap-backups bucket.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: usable hosts are not the same as total addresses
Subnetting questions often tempt you into counting all addresses. In normal IPv4 subnets, the network and broadcast addresses are not usable host addresses.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Subnetting questions test whether you can identify the network, broadcast address, usable range, mask and correct subnet. Slow down enough to calculate the block size correctly.
KKey Concepts to Remember
CIDR notation defines the prefix length.
Block size helps identify subnet boundaries.
Network and broadcast addresses are not usable hosts in normal IPv4 subnets.
The required host count determines the smallest suitable subnet.
TExam Day Tips
→Write the block size before choosing the subnet.
→Check whether the question asks for hosts, subnets or a specific address range.
→Do not confuse /24, /25, /26 and /27 host counts.
Key takeaway
Count usable hosts — not total addresses — and remember that the network and broadcast addresses are not available to hosts in standard IPv4 subnets.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
Visual reference
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
Storage Class
Min Duration
Retrieval
Use Case
S3 Standard
None
Immediate
Frequently accessed data
S3 Standard-IA
30 days
Immediate
Infrequent access, rapid retrieval
S3 One Zone-IA
30 days
Immediate
Non-critical infrequent data
S3 Intelligent-Tiering
None
Immediate–hours
Unknown or changing access patterns
S3 Glacier Instant
90 days
Milliseconds
Archive with instant retrieval
S3 Glacier Flexible
90 days
Minutes–hours
Archive, flexible retrieval
S3 Glacier Deep Archive
180 days
Hours
Long-term compliance archive
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Review block sizes, usable host formulas (2^n − 2), and how to find network and broadcast addresses for /24 through /30. Then practise related PAS-C01 subnetting questions on CIDR, address ranges, and subnet selection.
Operations and Maintenance — This question tests Operations and Maintenance — CIDR notation defines the prefix length..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: The Lambda function is not configured with the correct VPC subnet or security group to reach the EC2 instance. — The issue is likely that the Lambda function is not configured with the correct VPC subnet or security group to reach the EC2 instance. Lambda functions running in a VPC require proper networking configuration to interact with EC2 instances in the same VPC. The IAM policy shown allows ec2:StartInstances, ec2:DescribeInstances, and s3:GetObject on the specified resources, so IAM permissions are not the problem. Option A is correct because networking misconfiguration is a common cause of such failures. Options B, C, and D are incorrect as the policy does grant the necessary permissions.
What should I do if I get this PAS-C01 question wrong?
Review block sizes, usable host formulas (2^n − 2), and how to find network and broadcast addresses for /24 through /30. Then practise related PAS-C01 subnetting questions on CIDR, address ranges, and subnet selection.
What is the key concept behind this question?
CIDR notation defines the prefix length.
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Question Discussion
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