The correct approach is to configure HANA System Replication in asynchronous mode with automatic takeover. This meets the required RPO of less than 30 minutes because asynchronous replication transfers data across AWS regions with minimal latency, typically achieving sub-minute recovery point objectives, while automatic takeover ensures the RTO stays under two hours by eliminating manual intervention during failover. On the AWS Certified SAP on AWS Specialty PAS-C01 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of balancing performance and recovery objectives across regions—a common trap is choosing synchronous replication, which would break the RPO due to cross-region latency, or manual takeover, which would exceed the RTO. Remember the mnemonic “Asynchronous for Across” to recall that asynchronous mode is the go-to for cross-region DR, while synchronous is reserved for same-region high availability.
PAS-C01 Design of SAP Workloads on AWS Practice Question
This PAS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of design of sap workloads on aws. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company is designing a disaster recovery strategy for SAP S/4HANA. The primary site is in us-east-1 and the DR site is in us-west-2. The RPO must be less than 30 minutes and RTO less than 2 hours. Which approach meets these requirements?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "primary"
Why it matters: Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Configure HANA System Replication in asynchronous mode with automatic takeover
Option A is correct because HANA System Replication in asynchronous mode with automatic takeover meets the RPO of less than 30 minutes and RTO of less than 2 hours. Asynchronous replication provides near-real-time data transfer across AWS regions with minimal impact on primary performance, and automatic takeover enables fast failover to the DR instance, satisfying the RTO requirement.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✓
Configure HANA System Replication in asynchronous mode with automatic takeover
Why this is correct
Async replication can meet <30 min RPO and with pre-provisioned DR instances, RTO <2 hours.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "primary" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Configure HANA System Replication in synchronous mode across regions
Why it's wrong here
Synchronous mode not feasible due to latency across regions.
✗
Take nightly backups to S3 and restore in DR
Why it's wrong here
RPO > 30 minutes and RTO > 2 hours.
✗
Use AWS Backup to copy daily snapshots to DR region
Why it's wrong here
Daily snapshots exceed RPO of 30 minutes.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse synchronous mode as more reliable for DR, but fail to recognize that cross-region latency makes synchronous replication impractical, while asynchronous mode with automatic takeover is the standard AWS-recommended approach for SAP HANA disaster recovery.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
HANA System Replication in asynchronous mode uses log shipping to replicate data with a configurable replication delay, typically under 1 second in optimal conditions, ensuring RPO well under 30 minutes. Automatic takeover relies on the HANA nameserver and a quorum mechanism (e.g., using a third-party or AWS services like Route53 health checks) to detect primary failure and promote the DR instance, often completing within minutes. In practice, cross-region latency (e.g., us-east-1 to us-west-2 ~60ms) is manageable for async replication, but synchronous mode would block transactions waiting for acknowledgment, causing application timeouts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
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.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Design of SAP Workloads on AWS — This question tests Design of SAP Workloads on AWS — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Configure HANA System Replication in asynchronous mode with automatic takeover — Option A is correct because HANA System Replication in asynchronous mode with automatic takeover meets the RPO of less than 30 minutes and RTO of less than 2 hours. Asynchronous replication provides near-real-time data transfer across AWS regions with minimal impact on primary performance, and automatic takeover enables fast failover to the DR instance, satisfying the RTO requirement.
What should I do if I get this PAS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "primary". Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company is designing a disaster recovery solution for SAP S/4HANA. They need to meet an RPO of 15 minutes and an RTO of 2 hours. Which THREE components should be included in the DR plan? (Choose 3.)
hard
A.EBS snapshots taken every 15 minutes
✓ B.SAP HANA System Replication in async mode
C.AWS CloudEndure Disaster Recovery
✓ D.Amazon Route 53 DNS failover
✓ E.Pre-built AMIs for SAP application servers
Why B: SAP HANA System Replication in async mode is correct because it can achieve an RPO of 15 minutes by asynchronously replicating log buffers from the primary to the DR HANA instance, and combined with a pre-configured DR system, it supports an RTO of 2 hours. This native SAP replication mechanism is optimized for HANA databases and avoids the overhead of storage-level snapshots or third-party tools.
Variation 2. A company is designing a disaster recovery (DR) strategy for SAP S/4HANA on AWS. The primary region is us-east-1 and the DR region is us-west-2. The RPO is 15 minutes and RTO is 1 hour. Which approach should be used to replicate SAP HANA data?
medium
✓ A.Configure HANA System Replication across regions
B.Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication
C.Use Amazon S3 Cross-Region Replication for backup files
D.Use AWS Backup cross-region copy of EBS snapshots
Why A: HANA System Replication (HSR) is the only option that meets the 15-minute RPO and 1-hour RTO for SAP HANA data replication across regions. HSR uses log-based asynchronous replication to continuously ship redo logs to the DR region, enabling near-real-time data synchronization with minimal data loss. This is the native SAP-recommended method for cross-region DR of SAP HANA databases.
Variation 3. A company is designing a disaster recovery (DR) strategy for SAP S/4HANA on AWS. The primary site is in us-east-1. They want a secondary site in us-west-2 with a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 15 minutes and Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 2 hours. Which solution meets these requirements with the LEAST operational overhead?
medium
A.Take hourly backups to S3 and restore in us-west-2 when needed.
B.Use HANA System Replication to us-west-2 with manual failover.
C.Use HANA System Replication in async mode to us-west-2.
✓ D.Use HANA System Replication in sync mode with automatic failover to us-west-2.
Why D: Option D is correct because HANA System Replication in synchronous mode with automatic failover provides the lowest RPO (near-zero data loss) and meets the 15-minute RPO and 2-hour RTO requirements with minimal operational overhead. Automatic failover eliminates manual intervention, reducing recovery time and complexity compared to other options.
Variation 4. A company is designing a disaster recovery (DR) strategy for SAP S/4HANA on AWS. The primary site is in us-east-1 and the DR site is in us-west-2. The SAP HANA database is 2 TB and requires Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 15 minutes and Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 4 hours. Which solution meets these requirements?
medium
A.Use AWS S3 Cross-Region Replication to copy database backups every 15 minutes.
✓ B.Configure SAP HANA System Replication (HSR) to an EC2 instance in us-west-2 with log replication in sync mode.
C.Take EBS snapshots of the HANA data volume every hour and copy them to us-west-2.
D.Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) to continuously replicate changes to a HANA instance in us-west-2.
Why B: SAP HANA System Replication (HSR) with synchronous log replication meets the RPO of 15 minutes and RTO of 4 hours because it continuously replicates transaction logs to the DR site in us-west-2, ensuring near-zero data loss. In sync mode, the primary waits for the secondary to acknowledge log writes, which keeps the DR database consistent and ready for takeover within minutes, well under the 4-hour RTO. This is the only option that provides continuous, database-level replication with the required recovery objectives.
Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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