The answer is that the EC2 instance’s EBS bandwidth is fully utilized, causing I/O queueing and the performance degradation. This is correct because the r5.8xlarge instance has a maximum EBS bandwidth of 4,750 Mbps, and when SAP HANA workloads saturate that limit, I/O requests queue up—evidenced by a queue depth averaging 32 and read/write latency consistently above 10 ms in CloudWatch. On the AWS Certified SAP on AWS Specialty PAS-C01 exam, this scenario tests your ability to distinguish between instance-level EBS bandwidth saturation and volume-level limits; a common trap is assuming the gp3 volume’s baseline performance is the bottleneck, but the real culprit is the instance’s aggregate throughput cap. For a memory tip, think “queue depth + latency = bandwidth wall”—when both rise together, you’ve hit the instance’s EBS pipe, not the volume’s.
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. 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 Basis administrator notices that the SAP HANA database performance has degraded significantly after migrating to AWS. The database is running on an r5.8xlarge instance with 3.6 TB of Amazon EBS gp3 storage. The administrator checks Amazon CloudWatch metrics and finds that the Read/Write latency is consistently above 10 ms and the queue depth is averaging 32. What is the MOST likely cause of the performance degradation?
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 the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The EC2 instance's EBS bandwidth is fully utilized, causing I/O queueing.
The r5.8xlarge instance provides a maximum EBS bandwidth of 4,750 Mbps and a maximum EBS IOPS of 60,000. With a queue depth averaging 32 and latency above 10 ms, the instance's EBS bandwidth is saturated, causing I/O requests to queue and wait. This is the classic symptom of hitting the instance-level EBS bandwidth limit, not a volume-level issue.
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.
✗
The EC2 instance type does not support enough EBS bandwidth for the workload.
Why it's wrong here
r5.8xlarge supports up to 4,750 Mbps EBS bandwidth.
✓
The EC2 instance's EBS bandwidth is fully utilized, causing I/O queueing.
Why this is correct
High queue depth indicates I/O requests are waiting due to bandwidth saturation.
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.
✗
The gp3 volume burst credit balance is exhausted, causing throughput to drop to baseline.
Why it's wrong here
gp3 volumes do not use burst credits; they have a baseline performance.
✗
The EBS gp3 volume size is too small, causing IOPS throttling.
Why it's wrong here
gp3 volumes provide baseline IOPS independent of size.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse volume-level limits (gp3 baseline IOPS or gp2 burst credits) with instance-level EBS bandwidth limits, leading them to incorrectly select options C or D when the real bottleneck is the EC2 instance's aggregate EBS throughput capacity.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
EBS bandwidth is a per-instance resource shared across all attached volumes. When the aggregate I/O demand exceeds the instance's EBS bandwidth, the EBS write queue depth increases, causing latency spikes. The r5.8xlarge has a dedicated 4,750 Mbps EBS bandwidth, and with a queue depth of 32, it indicates that the instance is bottlenecked at the network layer between the instance and EBS, not at the volume level. In SAP HANA, high queue depth often correlates with log writes or data savepoints overwhelming the instance's I/O channel.
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: The EC2 instance's EBS bandwidth is fully utilized, causing I/O queueing. — The r5.8xlarge instance provides a maximum EBS bandwidth of 4,750 Mbps and a maximum EBS IOPS of 60,000. With a queue depth averaging 32 and latency above 10 ms, the instance's EBS bandwidth is saturated, causing I/O requests to queue and wait. This is the classic symptom of hitting the instance-level EBS bandwidth limit, not a volume-level issue.
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: "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
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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 Basis administrator is troubleshooting a performance issue on an SAP HANA database running on an EC2 instance. The administrator notices that the 'hdbcons' command shows high 'wait time' for 'disk I/O' operations. The instance is an r5.4xlarge with 500 GB of gp2 EBS volumes for /hana/data and /hana/log. Which of the following is the MOST effective action to improve disk I/O performance?
hard
A.Increase the frequency of EBS snapshots to offload I/O.
✓ B.Change the EBS volume type from gp2 to gp3 with higher IOPS and throughput.
C.Upgrade to a larger EC2 instance type with more CPU and memory.
D.Disable the HANA delta merge operation to reduce I/O load.
Why B: Option C is correct because converting gp2 volumes to gp3 provides higher baseline IOPS and throughput without additional cost for provisioned IOPS. Option A is wrong because disabling HANA's delta merge increases fragmentation, worsening performance. Option B is wrong because increasing EBS snapshot frequency does not affect I/O performance. Option D is wrong because using a larger instance type addresses compute, not disk I/O.
Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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