PAS-C01 Design of SAP Workloads on AWS Practice Question
Which TWO configurations are required for a high-availability SAP HANA deployment on AWS using Pacemaker? (Choose two.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse high-availability prerequisites with optional components, and may think that a load balancer or shared storage is mandatory, when in fact Pacemaker with STONITH and SAP HANA system replication are the two core requirements for a fully automated failover solution on AWS.
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
✓
STONITH fencing configured for the cluster nodes.
STONITH (Shoot The Other Node In The Head) fencing is required in a Pacemaker cluster to ensure that a failed or unresponsive node is forcefully isolated before resources are failed over. Without STONITH, a split-brain scenario can occur where both nodes attempt to act as the primary, leading to data corruption. On AWS, STONITH is typically implemented using the AWS fence agent (fence_aws) which uses API calls to stop or reboot the instance.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Placement groups in separate Availability Zones for the cluster nodes.
Why it's wrong here
Nodes should be in different AZs but placement groups are not required.
- ✓
STONITH fencing configured for the cluster nodes.
Why this is correct
STONITH ensures node isolation during failover.
- ✗
EBS volumes with multi-attach enabled for shared storage.
Why it's wrong here
HANA HA uses replication, not shared storage.
- ✗
An AWS Classic Load Balancer to route traffic to the active node.
Why it's wrong here
A CLB is not typically used; virtual IP or route53 is used.
- ✓
SAP HANA system replication between primary and secondary instances.
Why this is correct
Replication is the foundation for HANA HA.
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