Courseiva
← PAS-C01
Full test
Question 1,364 of 1,733
Technology →hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

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.

A company runs SAP on AWS and wants to automate the failover of their SAP HANA database across Availability Zones using a multi-AZ setup. They are using Pacemaker and STONITH fencing. Which AWS resource is commonly used as a fencing device for SAP HANA multi-AZ clusters?

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

✓

Amazon CloudWatch alarm and EC2 API

Option D is correct because STONITH (Shoot The Other Node In The Head) fencing in a multi-AZ SAP HANA cluster on AWS requires a mechanism to forcibly isolate or terminate an unresponsive node. Amazon CloudWatch alarms combined with EC2 API calls (e.g., `aws ec2 stop-instances` or `aws ec2 terminate-instances`) serve as the fencing device by triggering an API action to shut down the faulty instance, ensuring data integrity and preventing split-brain scenarios.

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.

  • ✗

    Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS)

    Why it's wrong here

    SNS is for notifications.

  • ✗

    Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS)

    Why it's wrong here

    SQS is not used for fencing.

  • ✗

    Amazon RDS

    Why it's wrong here

    RDS is a managed database service.

  • ✓

    Amazon CloudWatch alarm and EC2 API

    Why this is correct

    The AWS STONITH agent uses CloudWatch and EC2 API to stop an unresponsive node.

    Related concept

    Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

The trap here is that candidates confuse high-level AWS services like SNS or SQS with the actual low-level EC2 API calls required for STONITH fencing, mistakenly thinking notification or queuing services can directly perform instance termination.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

Under the hood, the fencing device is implemented via a STONITH resource agent (e.g., `fence_ec2` or a custom script) that uses AWS EC2 API credentials to call `StopInstances` or `TerminateInstances` on the failed node. This is critical because in a multi-AZ setup, network partitioning can occur, and without proper fencing, both nodes might attempt to write to shared storage, corrupting the database. Real-world deployments often use IAM roles with least-privilege policies to allow only the specific EC2 actions needed for fencing.

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.

Related practice questions

Related PAS-C01 practice-question pages

Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.

Design of SAP Workloads on AWS practice questions

Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to Design of SAP Workloads on AWS.

Technology practice questions

Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to Technology.

Migration practice questions

Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to Migration.

Operations and Maintenance practice questions

Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to Operations and Maintenance.

PAS-C01 fundamentals practice questions

Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to PAS-C01 fundamentals.

PAS-C01 scenario practice questions

Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to PAS-C01 scenario.

PAS-C01 troubleshooting practice questions

Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to PAS-C01 troubleshooting.

Practice this exam

Start a free PAS-C01 practice session

Short sessions build daily habit. Longer sessions build exam-day stamina. Try a timed session to simulate real conditions.

10 questions20 questions30 questions50 questionsTimed 30
PAS-C01 practice-test guide →Study guide →Browse all practice tests

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: Amazon CloudWatch alarm and EC2 API — Option D is correct because STONITH (Shoot The Other Node In The Head) fencing in a multi-AZ SAP HANA cluster on AWS requires a mechanism to forcibly isolate or terminate an unresponsive node. Amazon CloudWatch alarms combined with EC2 API calls (e.g., `aws ec2 stop-instances` or `aws ec2 terminate-instances`) serve as the fencing device by triggering an API action to shut down the faulty instance, ensuring data integrity and preventing split-brain scenarios.

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 →

How Courseiva writes practice questions · Editorial policy

Keep practising

More PAS-C01 practice questions

Browse all PAS-C01 questions →

Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026

Question Discussion

Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.

Loading comments…

Sign in to join the discussion.

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.