- A
Migrate the volume to an instance with NVMe instance store.
Why wrong: Instance store is ephemeral and not suitable for persistent data.
- B
Increase the provisioned IOPS on the io1 volume to 20,000.
More IOPS reduces queue depth and latency.
- C
Move the database to a larger EC2 instance type that supports higher EBS bandwidth.
Larger instances have higher EBS bandwidth, reducing bottlenecks.
- D
Configure multiple EBS volumes in a RAID 0 stripe to increase IOPS.
Why wrong: This could help, but it is not listed as a best practice for HANA; also, it adds management overhead.
- E
Change the volume type to gp3 with 10,000 IOPS.
Why wrong: gp3 max is 16,000 IOPS but may not improve latency significantly.
Question 445 of 1,733
SAP HANA EBS IOPS Performance Tuning for AWS SAP on AWS Specialty
This PAS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of technology. 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 a performance issue on an SAP HANA database running on AWS. The HANA data volume is an EBS io1 volume with 10,000 provisioned IOPS. The administrator notices that the average queue length is consistently above 10, and the average latency is 20 ms. Which TWO actions will most likely improve performance?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"most likely"Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Increase the provisioned IOPS on the io1 volume to 20,000.
Options B and C are correct. Increasing provisioned IOPS on the io1 volume (Option B) directly addresses the high queue length and latency by providing more I/O capacity. Moving the database to a larger EC2 instance type (Option C) increases the dedicated EBS bandwidth, removing a potential throughput bottleneck at the instance level. Option A (NVMe instance store) is not suitable for persistent SAP HANA data. Option D (RAID 0) can increase IOPS but adds complexity and does not fix insufficient provisioned IOPS or instance bandwidth. Option E (gp3 with 10,000 IOPS) does not increase IOPS compared to the current io1 volume.
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.
- ✗
Migrate the volume to an instance with NVMe instance store.
Why it's wrong here
Instance store is ephemeral and not suitable for persistent data.
- ✓
Increase the provisioned IOPS on the io1 volume to 20,000.
Why this is correct
More IOPS reduces queue depth and latency.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✓
Move the database to a larger EC2 instance type that supports higher EBS bandwidth.
Why this is correct
Larger instances have higher EBS bandwidth, reducing bottlenecks.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Configure multiple EBS volumes in a RAID 0 stripe to increase IOPS.
Why it's wrong here
This could help, but it is not listed as a best practice for HANA; also, it adds management overhead.
- ✗
Change the volume type to gp3 with 10,000 IOPS.
Why it's wrong here
gp3 max is 16,000 IOPS but may not improve latency significantly.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
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.
- Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
- Underline the problem statement mentally.
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
Quick reference
RAID Level Comparison
| RAID Level | Min Disks | Fault Tolerance | Read | Write | Usable Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAID 0 | 2 | None | Excellent | Excellent | 100% |
| RAID 1 | 2 | 1 disk | Good | Moderate | 50% |
| RAID 5 | 3 | 1 disk | Good | Moderate | 67–94% |
| RAID 6 | 4 | 2 disks | Good | Lower | 50–88% |
| RAID 10 | 4 | 1 disk per mirror | Excellent | Good | 50% |
RAID is not a backup strategy — it protects against disk failure but not against accidental deletion, ransomware, or site-level events.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PAS-C01 question test?
Technology — This question tests Technology — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Increase the provisioned IOPS on the io1 volume to 20,000. — Options B and C are correct. Increasing provisioned IOPS on the io1 volume (Option B) directly addresses the high queue length and latency by providing more I/O capacity. Moving the database to a larger EC2 instance type (Option C) increases the dedicated EBS bandwidth, removing a potential throughput bottleneck at the instance level. Option A (NVMe instance store) is not suitable for persistent SAP HANA data. Option D (RAID 0) can increase IOPS but adds complexity and does not fix insufficient provisioned IOPS or instance bandwidth. Option E (gp3 with 10,000 IOPS) does not increase IOPS compared to the current io1 volume.
What should I do if I get this PAS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which PAS-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
2 more ways this is tested on PAS-C01
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. An SAP administrator notices that the SAP HANA database performance has degraded significantly during peak hours. The HANA instance is running on an r5.8xlarge EC2 instance with EBS gp2 volumes. Monitoring shows high I/O wait times on the data volume. Which change is MOST likely to improve performance?
hard- A.Enable Multi-AZ deployment for SAP HANA.
- B.Upgrade the EC2 instance to a larger size like r5.16xlarge.
- C.Change the EBS volume type from gp2 to gp3 with 3000 IOPS.
- ✓ D.Use Amazon EBS io2 Block Express volumes with high IOPS.
Why D: The performance degradation is due to high I/O wait times on the data volume, indicating that the EBS volume's IOPS limit is being saturated. Amazon EBS io2 Block Express volumes provide up to 256,000 IOPS per volume with consistent sub-millisecond latency, which directly addresses the I/O bottleneck for SAP HANA workloads. In contrast, gp3 volumes are capped at 16,000 IOPS, which is insufficient for peak-hour demands on an r5.8xlarge instance.
Variation 2. A company runs SAP on AWS and is experiencing high latency for database queries after moving the SAP HANA database to a larger instance type. CloudWatch metrics show that the EBS volume queue length is consistently high. What is the most likely cause of the latency?
hard- A.The instance's network bandwidth is saturated.
- B.The instance's CPU is under-provisioned.
- ✓ C.The EBS volume does not have enough provisioned IOPS.
- D.The EBS volume is not encrypted.
Why C: A consistently high EBS volume queue length indicates that the volume is receiving more I/O requests than it can process, causing requests to queue up. Since the SAP HANA database was moved to a larger instance type, the workload likely demands more IOPS than the EBS volume is provisioned for, leading to throttling and increased latency. Option C correctly identifies that insufficient provisioned IOPS is the most likely cause.
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Last reviewed: Jun 20, 2026
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