The answer is to enable Elastic Network Adapter (ENA) support on the EC2 instances. ENA is a custom network interface engineered for high-throughput and low-latency packet processing, delivering up to 100 Gbps of network bandwidth on supported instance types, which directly meets the demanding inter-node communication requirements of SAP HANA scale-out clusters. On the AWS Certified SAP on AWS Specialty PAS-C01 exam, this question tests your understanding of how to optimize network performance for HANA’s distributed architecture, often appearing as a distractor against SR-IOV or placement groups. A common trap is assuming Enhanced Networking with Intel 82599 VF (ixgbevf) is sufficient, but ENA is the modern, higher-performance standard for HANA workloads. Memory tip: think “ENA for HANA” — both end with ‘A’ and ENA is the only option that provides the necessary bandwidth for scale-out node-to-node traffic.
PAS-C01 Technology Practice Question
This PAS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of technology. 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.
An SAP HANA system is deployed on AWS with a cluster of EC2 instances. The system requires high network throughput between the nodes for HANA scale-out. Which EC2 networking feature should be used?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Enable Elastic Network Adapter (ENA) support on the instances.
For SAP HANA scale-out clusters requiring high network throughput between EC2 instances, the correct feature is Elastic Network Adapter (ENA) support. ENA is a custom network interface optimized for high-throughput and low-latency packet processing, providing up to 100 Gbps of network bandwidth on supported instance types. This directly meets the performance demands of HANA's inter-node communication.
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.
✗
Use multiple Elastic Network Interfaces (ENIs) per instance.
Why it's wrong here
Multiple ENIs do not increase single-flow throughput.
✓
Enable Elastic Network Adapter (ENA) support on the instances.
Why this is correct
ENA provides high throughput and low latency, essential for HANA scale-out.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use the Intel 82599 VF (ixgbevf) driver for enhanced networking.
Why it's wrong here
ixgbevf is older; ENA is recommended for newer instances.
✗
Place all nodes in a cluster placement group.
Why it's wrong here
Placement group reduces latency but does not increase network throughput.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse 'enhanced networking' with the older ixgbevf driver or think that multiple ENIs or placement groups alone can solve throughput bottlenecks, but only ENA provides the high-bandwidth, low-latency performance required for modern HANA scale-out workloads.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
ENA is a hardware-accelerated network interface that offloads packet processing from the CPU, reducing latency and jitter while enabling higher packet-per-second (PPS) rates. It supports SR-IOV (Single Root I/O Virtualization) to bypass the hypervisor's virtual switch, allowing direct access to the physical NIC. In practice, for SAP HANA scale-out, ENA combined with a cluster placement group can achieve up to 25 Gbps or more per instance, which is critical for the high-volume data replication and distributed query processing in HANA.
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
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.
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.
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: Enable Elastic Network Adapter (ENA) support on the instances. — For SAP HANA scale-out clusters requiring high network throughput between EC2 instances, the correct feature is Elastic Network Adapter (ENA) support. ENA is a custom network interface optimized for high-throughput and low-latency packet processing, providing up to 100 Gbps of network bandwidth on supported instance types. This directly meets the performance demands of HANA's inter-node communication.
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. A company is running SAP HANA in a multi-node scale-out configuration on AWS. The cluster uses AWS Placement Groups with the 'cluster' placement strategy. The system is experiencing network latency between nodes. Which change should the company make to reduce latency?
hard
A.Change the placement group to 'spread' to reduce interference.
B.Use larger instance sizes to increase network bandwidth.
✓ C.Enable Enhanced Networking (ENA) on all instances in the cluster.
D.Use EBS-optimized instances to improve storage performance.
Why C: Option C is correct because Enhanced Networking with ENA provides lower latency and higher packet per second performance. Option A is wrong because 'spread' placement group reduces co-location, increasing latency. Option B is wrong because increasing instance size does not directly reduce latency; network bandwidth may increase but not necessarily latency. Option D is wrong because EBS-optimized instances improve storage throughput, not network latency.
Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
Question Discussion
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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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