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AWS SAP on AWS Specialty (PAS-C01) - Exam Strategy

Cert-specific tactics. PAS-C01 is the most niche of the AWS Specialties; it assumes substantial SAP basis / Solution Architect experience. The exam is half SAP-on-AWS architecture and half AWS specifics; neither alone is enough.

Format reminder

  • 65 scored questions, 170 minutes
  • Pass mark ~750 / 1000 (~75%)
  • Multiple choice + multiple response

Top traps

  1. SAP-certified instance types: only specific families are SAP-certified for HANA (u-*, x1, x1e, x2idn, x2iedn, r5.metal, r6i.metal). m5/m6 are NOT certified for HANA scale-up. The certified list changes; check SAP Note 1656099 for the current list.

  2. HANA storage profile: log volume needs IOPS (io2 Block Express); data volume needs throughput (gp3); /hana/shared on EFS or FSx. Don't put log on gp3 when the dataset is large.

  3. HSR vs DB native backup: System Replication is the HA mechanism; Backint is the backup integration. Different things.

  4. SAP tooling vs AWS tooling: SAP DMO, SUM, BackInt - these are SAP tools that integrate with AWS. Generic AWS migration tools (DMS, MGN) are usually wrong for SAP migrations.

  5. Cluster manager requirement: HSR alone doesn't do automatic failover. SUSE HAE or RHEL HA Add-On is required.

  6. Overlay IP for VIP: AWS doesn't have native gratuitous ARP for VIPs. The pattern is Route 53 → ENI / EIP shift, or specific AWS implementations like Overlay IP using a Lambda + route table updates.

  7. SAP licensing on AWS: BYOL is the default for SAP licenses. License-included is for Microsoft / Windows, not SAP. Don't confuse.

  8. High Memory (u-*) instances: dedicated host model historically; now also as bare metal instances. Some only available in select regions.

  9. EC2 Dedicated Hosts vs Dedicated Instances: dedicated hosts let you BYOL with explicit visibility into the physical host; dedicated instances just guarantee single-tenant hardware. SAP workloads sometimes need dedicated hosts for licensing.

  10. SAP-aware backup/restore tooling: AWS Backint Agent is the supported integration with HANA's native backup APIs; raw EBS snapshots are valid for instance-level recovery but not the SAP-certified backup path.

High-yield topics easy to miss

  • AWS Launch Wizard for SAP (automates HANA / NetWeaver provisioning following SAP Reference Architectures)
  • SAP HANA Quick Start (CloudFormation templates)
  • AWS Migration Evaluator (sizing tool, formerly TSO Logic) for SAP migrations
  • AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) for non-database SAP server migrations (NetWeaver app servers, lift-and-shift)
  • Amazon FSx for ONTAP and FSx for OpenZFS - both increasingly used for SAP shared storage
  • Reserved instances for SAP-licensed workloads - consider regional vs zonal RIs
  • SAP S/4HANA Cloud (managed by SAP) vs self-managed S/4HANA on AWS - know the difference

Time management

170 / 65 = 2.6 min/question. Bank time on AWS-fundamentals questions you know cold; spend the saved time on SAP-specific scenarios with multiple plausible answers. Pace: Q20 by 50 min, Q40 by 100 min, finish by 160 min, leave 10 min for flagged review.

When stuck

  1. Default to SAP-supported tooling when in doubt - if SAP supplies a tool for the task, that's usually the right answer.
  2. Match the HANA storage tier to the volume type - log = IOPS-bound = io2; data = throughput-bound = gp3.
  3. Eliminate non-certified instances for HANA workloads.
  4. Read the RTO/RPO/cost constraints like any DR question to choose pilot light vs warm standby vs active-active.

Day-of logistics

170 min, 65 questions: standard pacing. Bring two IDs.

After

Pass: Specialty cert valid 3 years.

Fail: Most failures are on Domain 1 (Design - 30%) due to specific HANA sizing / storage / certified-instance trivia. Re-review SAP Note 1656099 (HANA-certified instances), the SAP on AWS general guide, and the HANA storage white paper.

PAS-C01 patterns

  • "HANA scale-up >3 TB RAM" = u-* High Memory instances (most certified)
  • "HANA scale-up <2 TB RAM" = x1 / x1e or x2idn / x2iedn
  • "HANA log volume" = io2 Block Express
  • "HANA data volume" = gp3
  • "HANA HA in same region" = HSR sync + cluster manager + Overlay IP
  • "HANA DR cross-region" = HSR async + pilot light
  • "HANA backup to S3" = Backint Agent
  • "OS migration + DB migration in one outage" = DMO with System Move
  • "Lift-and-shift SAP NetWeaver server" = AWS MGN
  • "SAP licensing isolation" = Dedicated Host