SAP NetWeaver High Availability on AWS
Which TWO actions should be taken to ensure high availability for an SAP NetWeaver system on AWS? (Choose TWO.)
Quick Answer
High availability for an SAP NetWeaver system touches two separate layers of the architecture, which is why this question has two correct actions rather than one. Using Amazon RDS Multi-AZ for the database provides automatic failover to a synchronously maintained standby replica in a different Availability Zone, so if the primary database instance or its underlying AZ fails, RDS handles detecting the failure and redirecting connections to the standby without requiring manual intervention. Assigning Elastic IP addresses to the relevant instances addresses a different, complementary need: because an Elastic IP can be quickly remapped from a failed instance to a standby one, it gives clients a stable address to reconnect to after a failover, rather than having to discover a new, dynamically assigned IP. Together these two actions cover both the database tier's automatic resilience and the application layer's ability to redirect traffic quickly when a failover occurs. The wrong options each undermine availability in a specific way: keeping everything in a single Availability Zone removes the redundancy needed to survive an AZ failure in the first place, Spot Instances can be reclaimed with little notice and are unsuitable for production SAP components, and the stateful nature of ASCS means it can't simply be placed in an Auto Scaling group like a stateless application server. Whenever a high-availability question spans both a database and an application-layer component, expect the correct answers to address each layer separately.
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
✓
Assign Elastic IP addresses to the instances for failover
To ensure high availability for an SAP NetWeaver system on AWS, two key actions are: A) Assign Elastic IP addresses to the instances for failover, which allows rapid IP remapping to a standby instance in case of failure; and E) Use Amazon RDS Multi-AZ for the database, which provides automatic failover to a standby replica in a different Availability Zone. Option B (placing instances in a single AZ) reduces availability. Option C (using Spot Instances) risks interruption and is not suitable for production SAP systems. Option D (deploying ASCS in an Auto Scaling group) is not recommended because ASCS is stateful and cannot scale horizontally.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Assign Elastic IP addresses to the instances for failover
Why this is correct
Elastic IPs can be remapped to standby instances during failover.
- ✗
Place all EC2 instances in a single Availability Zone
Why it's wrong here
Single AZ is a single point of failure.
- ✗
Use Amazon EC2 Spot Instances for cost savings
Why it's wrong here
Spot instances can be terminated, reducing availability.
- ✗
Deploy the ASCS instance in an Auto Scaling group
Why it's wrong here
ASCS is stateful and not suitable for auto scaling.
- ✓
Use Amazon RDS Multi-AZ for the database
Why this is correct
Provides automatic failover for the database across AZs.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 1,616 original PAS-C01 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
1 more way 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. Which TWO actions are recommended to ensure high availability for SAP NetWeaver on AWS? (Choose 2).
medium- ✓ A.Use an Application Load Balancer with health checks to distribute traffic.
- B.Use a single Availability Zone to reduce latency.
- C.Take frequent EBS snapshots to ensure data durability.
- ✓ D.Deploy SAP application instances in different Availability Zones.
- E.Use t2 instance types to reduce cost.
Why A: To ensure high availability for SAP NetWeaver on AWS, it is recommended to use an Application Load Balancer (ALB) with health checks to distribute traffic (Option A). The ALB automatically reroutes traffic away from unhealthy instances, improving fault tolerance. Additionally, deploying SAP application instances in different Availability Zones (Option D) provides redundancy if an entire AZ fails, which is a core HA practice. Option B is incorrect because a single Availability Zone introduces a single point of failure. Option C is incorrect: EBS snapshots provide data durability and backup, not high availability; they do not maintain service continuity. Option E is incorrect because t2 instances are burstable and not suitable for production SAP workloads due to performance limitations and lack of EBS-optimized support.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.