The answer is to configure SAP HANA system replication across Availability Zones and to implement automated EBS snapshots for the SAP HANA data volumes. System replication across AZs provides synchronous data mirroring, ensuring zero data loss and automatic failover if an entire AWS data center fails, which directly addresses high availability. EBS snapshots, stored in Amazon S3, create consistent, point-in-time backups that enable disaster recovery to a different region, protecting against logical corruption or regional outages. On the AWS Certified SAP on AWS Specialty PAS-C01 exam, this pairing tests your understanding of the shared responsibility model: AWS handles infrastructure durability, while you must architect both HA (active replication) and DR (backup-based recovery). A common trap is confusing EBS snapshots with a high-availability solution—snapshots are for DR, not for sub-minute failover. Memory tip: think “Replicate for HA, Snapshot for DR” to keep the two distinct actions clear.
PAS-C01 Operations and Maintenance Practice Question
This PAS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of operations and maintenance. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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.
Which TWO actions can be taken to improve the resilience of an SAP HANA database running on AWS? (Choose two.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use EBS snapshots for automated backup.
Option B is correct because EBS snapshots provide a reliable, automated backup mechanism for SAP HANA data volumes, enabling point-in-time recovery and disaster recovery without requiring additional SAP HANA-specific replication. These snapshots are stored in Amazon S3 and can be used to restore the database to a consistent state, improving resilience against data corruption or accidental deletion.
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.
✗
Deploy the application in a single Availability Zone.
Why it's wrong here
Single AZ is less resilient.
✓
Use EBS snapshots for automated backup.
Why this is correct
Enables recovery from failures.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
Configure SAP HANA system replication across Availability Zones.
Why this is correct
Provides high availability within region.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Increase the CPU capacity of the database server.
Why it's wrong here
Increases performance, not resilience.
✗
Enable cross-region replication of the database.
Why it's wrong here
This is disaster recovery, not resilience.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may confuse performance scaling (option D) with resilience, or mistakenly think cross-region replication (option E) is a simple built-in feature for SAP HANA on AWS, when in fact it requires complex setup and is not a standard resilience improvement for the database itself.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
SAP HANA system replication (option C) uses synchronous or asynchronous replication at the database level to maintain a standby instance in a different AZ, ensuring automatic failover with minimal data loss. EBS snapshots (option B) capture a crash-consistent state of the HANA data volumes, and when combined with pre-snapshot freeze scripts, they ensure application-consistent backups. In production, a common pattern is to use EBS snapshots for daily backups and system replication for real-time HA.
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.
Operations and Maintenance — This question tests Operations and Maintenance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use EBS snapshots for automated backup. — Option B is correct because EBS snapshots provide a reliable, automated backup mechanism for SAP HANA data volumes, enabling point-in-time recovery and disaster recovery without requiring additional SAP HANA-specific replication. These snapshots are stored in Amazon S3 and can be used to restore the database to a consistent state, improving resilience against data corruption or accidental deletion.
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.
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. Which TWO actions should an operations team take to ensure high availability for SAP HANA in a single AWS Region?
medium
A.Create read replicas of the HANA database.
✓ B.Deploy SAP HANA in a Multi-AZ configuration using HANA System Replication.
✓ C.Use HANA System Replication with automatic failover.
D.Configure automated backups to Amazon S3.
E.Use a single large EC2 instance in one Availability Zone.
Why B: Options A and D are correct. A: Multi-AZ deployment provides failover across Availability Zones. D: HANA System Replication with automatic failover ensures data consistency and failover. Option B is wrong because a single instance in one AZ does not provide HA. Option C is wrong because backups do not provide automatic failover. Option E is wrong because read replicas are for read scaling, not HA.
Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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This PAS-C01 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PAS-C01 exam.
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