AZ-120 — Azure for SAP Workloads Specialty

Full question text, answer options, and explanations for this practice set — a spoiler-free alternative is the interactive quiz above for scored, shuffled practice.

1. 1. An organization is migrating an SAP ECC system running on Oracle database to Azure and wants to modernize the database platform to SAP HANA as part of the migration. Which migration strategy should be selected?

   • A. Lift and shift — move the existing SAP ECC on Oracle as-is to Azure VMs
   • B. Lift-shift-migrate to HANA — rehost on Azure and perform database migration to SAP HANA(correct)
   • C. Lift-shift-migrate — rehost on Azure and upgrade the SAP application layer only, keeping Oracle
   • D. Retire the system and deploy S/4HANA as a new SaaS subscription via SAP RISE

   Explanation: The lift-shift-migrate to HANA strategy covers scenarios where the workload is rehosted on Azure (lift-shift) and the database platform is simultaneously or subsequently migrated to SAP HANA. This is the defined migration approach in the AZ-120 study guide for database modernization during migration. Pure lift and shift (A) moves the workload as-is without database migration. Lift-shift-migrate (C) upgrades the application layer but retains the legacy database, not what is described. SAP RISE (D) is SAP's managed cloud offering and represents a fundamentally different procurement and deployment model.

2. 2. An architect is sizing Azure VMs for an SAP HANA scale-up deployment. The source system has 6 TB of active HANA data. Which Azure VM family is certified by SAP for SAP HANA scale-up deployments at this memory size?

   • A. General Purpose Dv5 series
   • B. Memory Optimized Mv2 series(correct)
   • C. Compute Optimized Fsv2 series
   • D. GPU NC series

   Explanation: SAP HANA requires VMs that are explicitly SAP HANA certified, listed in the SAP HANA Hardware Directory. For large scale-up HANA instances requiring several terabytes of RAM, Azure Mv2 series VMs (up to 12 TB memory in the largest SKUs) are SAP HANA certified for scale-up. General Purpose Dv5 series (A) are not certified for large HANA databases. Fsv2 series (C) is compute-optimized for CPU-intensive workloads and not HANA certified. NC series (D) is for GPU/ML workloads.

3. 3. Contoso is migrating a 30-system SAP landscape to Azure. Their Azure subscription currently has a vCPU quota of 500 vCPUs per region, but the SAP landing zone design requires 2,000 vCPUs in a single region. The migration timeline is 6 weeks. What should the architect do first to address this constraint?

   • A. Reduce the SAP landscape size to fit within the existing 500 vCPU quota
   • B. Assess constraints imposed by subscription quota limits and submit a quota increase request to Microsoft via Azure Support(correct)
   • C. Split the SAP landscape across multiple subscriptions, each limited to 500 vCPUs
   • D. Migrate to a different cloud region where quota limits do not apply

   Explanation: Azure subscription quota limits are a constraint that must be assessed and addressed during SAP migration planning. The correct approach is to identify the required quota, compare it to current limits, and submit a quota increase request through Azure Support early in the migration planning process. Microsoft typically grants these requests for SAP workloads with appropriate justification. Reducing the landscape size (A) is not a valid approach — SAP systems have defined sizing requirements. Splitting across subscriptions (C) creates management complexity and may cause issues with cross-subscription SAP connectivity. Quota limits apply per region and per subscription in every region (D).

4. 4. An organization is migrating SAP to Azure and needs to design the Azure landing zone for SAP. The design must enforce governance policies, separate SAP production from non-production resources, and apply consistent RBAC. Which Azure construct provides the hierarchical scope for policy and RBAC inheritance across SAP subscriptions?

   • A. Azure Resource Groups
   • B. Azure Management Groups(correct)
   • C. Azure Availability Sets
   • D. Azure Virtual Networks

   Explanation: Azure Management Groups provide a hierarchical structure above subscriptions that enables Azure Policy and RBAC to be applied at scale across multiple subscriptions. For SAP landing zone design, management groups allow separate SAP production and non-production subscriptions to be organized under a SAP management group, with parent-level policies inherited by all child subscriptions. Resource Groups (A) organize resources within a single subscription and do not span subscriptions. Availability Sets (C) ensure VM HA within a data center and are not governance constructs. Virtual Networks (D) provide network segmentation, not governance hierarchy.

5. 5. A company is integrating their SAP landscape with SAP RISE on Azure. They need to connect their Azure-hosted non-SAP workloads (such as Azure Data Factory and Azure Synapse Analytics) to the SAP RISE managed environment. Which networking configuration is required for this integration?

   • A. Configure VNet peering between the customer's Azure VNet and the SAP RISE VNet(correct)
   • B. Use Azure ExpressRoute Global Reach to connect customer on-premises to SAP RISE directly
   • C. Deploy a Site-to-Site VPN between the customer Azure subscription and SAP RISE
   • D. Access SAP RISE exclusively through the public internet SAP BTP endpoints

   Explanation: For SAP RISE integration, the recommended networking design is VNet peering between the customer's Azure virtual network and the SAP RISE-managed virtual network. This enables private connectivity between customer Azure services (like Azure Data Factory or Synapse) and the SAP RISE environment without traffic traversing the public internet. ExpressRoute Global Reach (B) is for connecting two on-premises locations through the Microsoft backbone, not for customer-Azure to SAP RISE connectivity. Site-to-Site VPN (C) is used for on-premises connectivity, not between two Azure-hosted environments. Accessing exclusively via public internet (D) does not provide the private, low-latency integration required for data-intensive SAP scenarios.

6. 6. An organization is planning to migrate SAP workloads to Azure. Which TWO tools are recommended by Microsoft for automating SAP deployment on Azure? Choose 2.

   • A. SAP Deployment Automation Framework (SDAF)(correct)
   • B. Azure Center for SAP solutions(correct)
   • C. Azure Migrate for SAP landscape assessment only
   • D. SAP Solution Manager for Azure resource provisioning
   • E. Azure DevTest Labs for SAP environment deployment

   Explanation: The AZ-120 study guide explicitly calls out two Microsoft automation frameworks for SAP deployment on Azure: (1) The SAP Deployment Automation Framework (SDAF), an open-source Infrastructure-as-Code framework using Ansible and Terraform that automates end-to-end SAP landscape deployment, and (2) Azure Center for SAP solutions, a managed service in the Azure portal that provides a guided experience to deploy, manage, and monitor SAP systems on Azure VMs. Azure Migrate (C) assesses and migrates workloads but is not an SAP deployment automation tool. SAP Solution Manager (D) is an SAP operations tool, not an Azure provisioning tool. Azure DevTest Labs (E) manages dev/test environments but is not designed for production SAP deployment.

7. 7. An SAP architect is designing an Azure landing zone for SAP. The organization requires that all SAP Azure resource deployments comply with a set of corporate policies including naming conventions, allowed VM SKUs, and mandatory tagging. Which Azure service should be used to enforce these policies at scale?

   • A. Azure Resource Locks
   • B. Azure Policy(correct)
   • C. Azure Cost Management alerts
   • D. Azure Monitor diagnostic settings

   Explanation: Azure Policy enables you to define, assign, and enforce governance rules (policies) at management group, subscription, or resource group scope. Policies can enforce naming conventions, restrict VM SKU families to SAP-certified types, and require mandatory tags on all resources. Azure Resource Locks (A) prevent accidental deletion or modification of resources but cannot enforce naming conventions or SKU restrictions. Cost Management alerts (C) notify when budgets are exceeded but do not enforce resource configuration compliance. Azure Monitor diagnostic settings (D) configure telemetry collection but are not governance enforcement tools.

8. 8. After deploying SAP HANA on an Azure VM, an administrator needs to ensure the Azure VM is properly configured for SAP monitoring and that SAP support can use Azure infrastructure metrics during troubleshooting. Which component must be installed on the Azure VM?

   • A. Azure Monitor Agent (AMA)
   • B. Azure VM extension for SAP solutions (formerly Enhanced Monitoring Extension)(correct)
   • C. Microsoft Defender for Cloud extension
   • D. Azure Automation DSC agent

   Explanation: The Azure VM extension for SAP solutions (formerly known as the Enhanced Monitoring Extension or AEM) is a mandatory requirement for SAP HANA and all SAP production workloads on Azure. It collects Azure infrastructure metrics (CPU, memory, storage, network) and makes them available within the SAP environment (via SAPOSCOL and SAP Host Agent), enabling SAP support to troubleshoot infrastructure-related issues. SAP's support policy requires this extension to be installed on all production VMs. The Azure Monitor Agent (A) collects telemetry for Azure Monitor but is not the SAP-specific extension. Defender for Cloud extension (C) provides security posture management. DSC agent (D) applies configuration management scripts.

9. 9. An SAP HANA deployment on Azure requires that the latency between the application server VMs and the HANA database VM is less than 1 millisecond. Which Azure configuration achieves the lowest possible network latency between VMs in the same Azure region?

   • A. Deploy VMs in an availability set with fault domain spreading
   • B. Deploy VMs in a proximity placement group (PPG) with Accelerated Networking enabled(correct)
   • C. Deploy VMs in different availability zones for resiliency
   • D. Enable Azure Virtual Network service endpoints

   Explanation: Proximity Placement Groups (PPGs) ensure that VMs are physically co-located within the same Azure data center rack, minimizing the network distance between VMs and achieving the lowest possible inter-VM latency. Accelerated Networking enables SR-IOV on the VM, bypassing the virtual switch to further reduce latency and jitter. Both are explicitly required for SAP HANA deployments that need sub-millisecond latency between app servers and HANA. Availability sets (A) distribute VMs across fault and update domains but may increase physical distance. Availability zones (C) deliberately place VMs in different physical data centers, which increases latency. Service endpoints (D) optimize PaaS service connectivity, not inter-VM latency.

10. 10. An SAP architect is designing storage for an SAP HANA database VM. HANA requires separate storage volumes for data, log, and shared. The log volume must have consistent low latency and write throughput. Which Azure storage configuration is recommended for the HANA log volume?

    • A. Azure Files Standard (SMB) share mounted to the VM
    • B. Azure Managed Disk Ultra Disk or Premium SSD v2 with Write Accelerator enabled (for M-series VMs)(correct)
    • C. Azure Blob Storage with NFS 3.0 protocol
    • D. Azure NetApp Files for the HANA log volume

    Explanation: For SAP HANA log volumes, Microsoft recommends Azure Managed Disks with Write Accelerator enabled (on M-series VMs) or Ultra Disk / Premium SSD v2, which provide the consistent low latency and write throughput required by HANA redo logging. Write Accelerator is specifically designed for the HANA log volume, bypassing the caching layer to deliver sub-millisecond write latency. Azure Files Standard (A) has too high latency for HANA log I/O. Azure Blob with NFS 3.0 (C) is not supported or certified for HANA log volumes. Azure NetApp Files (D) is a valid alternative for HANA data and shared volumes but Write Accelerator on managed disks remains the primary recommendation for the log volume on M-series.

11. 11. A company is deploying SAP NetWeaver on Azure with a backend Azure SQL Database. They want storage for SAP binaries on a shared file system accessible from all application server VMs simultaneously, and the connection from the VNet to the Azure Files storage must not traverse the public internet. Which configuration meets both requirements?

    • A. Mount Azure Files Standard with a public endpoint and configure firewall rules to restrict access to the VNet
    • B. Deploy Azure Files Premium with a private endpoint and configure DNS to resolve the storage account to the private IP(correct)
    • C. Attach multiple Azure Managed Disks in shared disk mode to all application servers
    • D. Deploy a Windows File Server VM in the VNet and store SAP binaries on a local disk

    Explanation: Azure Files Premium provides SMB file shares with higher IOPS and lower latency suitable for SAP binary storage. A private endpoint assigns a private IP from the VNet to the storage account, ensuring all traffic between the VNet and storage remains on the Microsoft backbone without traversing the public internet. DNS must be configured to resolve the storage account FQDN to the private endpoint IP. Azure Files Standard with a public endpoint (A) allows internet routing even with VNet firewall rules since the traffic still goes to a public endpoint. Azure Managed Disks in shared mode (C) have limited simultaneous write support and are not suitable for SAP shared binary storage. A Windows File Server VM (D) introduces IaaS management overhead and does not scale as efficiently.

12. 12. An SAP infrastructure team needs to connect their on-premises SAP systems to their new Azure-hosted S/4HANA environment. The connection requires guaranteed bandwidth of 10 Gbps, private connectivity, and sub-10ms latency. Which connectivity solution should be designed?

    • A. Site-to-site VPN over the public internet
    • B. Azure ExpressRoute with a 10 Gbps circuit and private peering(correct)
    • C. Azure Virtual WAN with Basic SKU
    • D. Azure Bastion for secure administrative access

    Explanation: Azure ExpressRoute with private peering provides a dedicated private connection to Azure, bypassing the public internet. A 10 Gbps ExpressRoute circuit can be procured through a connectivity provider, delivering the guaranteed bandwidth and sub-10ms latency required for SAP hybrid scenarios. Site-to-site VPN (A) traverses the public internet and does not guarantee bandwidth. Azure Virtual WAN Basic SKU (C) supports only S2S VPN, not ExpressRoute connections. Azure Bastion (D) is for secure RDP/SSH administrative sessions, not for SAP application data traffic.

13. 13. An SAP HANA system replication setup requires volumes to be shared between the primary and secondary HANA nodes. The solution must support NFS-based shared storage across Azure VMs with high throughput and support for both NFSv3 and NFSv4.1 protocols. Which Azure storage service is designed for this SAP use case?

    • A. Azure Files Standard with NFS protocol
    • B. Azure NetApp Files(correct)
    • C. Azure Managed Disks with NFS mount
    • D. Azure Blob Storage with hierarchical namespace

    Explanation: Azure NetApp Files provides enterprise-grade, high-throughput NFS volumes (supporting both NFSv3 and NFSv4.1) that are explicitly recommended and certified by SAP for HANA shared storage, /hana/shared, and HANA scale-out deployments. It delivers the IOPS and throughput needed for SAP HANA while supporting multiple simultaneous NFS clients. Azure Files Standard (A) is not certified for HANA storage and has insufficient performance for large HANA NFS volumes. Azure Managed Disks (C) are block storage and do not natively support NFS mounting from multiple VMs. Azure Blob with hierarchical namespace (D) provides ADLS Gen2 — it does not support NFS for SAP HANA-style workloads in this context.

14. 14. An architect is designing the storage architecture for an SAP HANA scale-up deployment on an Azure Mv2 VM. Which TWO disk configurations are recommended for the HANA data volume? Choose 2.

    • A. Use disk striping across multiple Premium SSD disks (RAID-0) to increase aggregate throughput and IOPS(correct)
    • B. Enable read caching on the HANA data volume disks
    • C. Configure Write Accelerator on the HANA data volume
    • D. Use a single Standard HDD disk for HANA data storage
    • E. Store the HANA data volume on Azure NetApp Files as an alternative to managed disk striping(correct)

    Explanation: For HANA data volumes on Azure, two valid configurations are: (1) Disk striping (RAID-0) across multiple Premium SSD disks using LVM or Windows Storage Spaces to aggregate IOPS and throughput to meet HANA KPIs, and (2) Azure NetApp Files, which provides NFS-based storage with sufficient throughput for HANA data without requiring disk striping. Read caching (B) is typically not enabled on HANA data volumes in Azure storage best practices because HANA manages its own buffer cache. Write Accelerator (C) is specifically for the HANA log volume, not the data volume. Standard HDD (D) does not meet SAP HANA performance requirements.

15. 15. An SAP HANA deployment requires high availability within a single Azure region. The HA solution must provide automatic failover with a recovery time of less than 1 minute and must comply with SAP's supported HA configurations. Which solution meets this requirement?

    • A. Azure Site Recovery with a recovery plan for HANA VMs
    • B. SAP HANA System Replication (HSR) with Pacemaker cluster and SBD or Azure fence agent(correct)
    • C. Azure Backup with hourly snapshots of HANA data disks
    • D. Manual VM restart using Azure Automation runbooks

    Explanation: SAP HANA System Replication (HSR) replicates data synchronously to a secondary HANA node. A Pacemaker cluster with STONITH (either SBD device or Azure Fence Agent) provides automatic failover by detecting node failure and promoting the secondary to primary, typically within seconds to under a minute. This is SAP's supported and recommended HA architecture on Azure. Azure Site Recovery (A) is a disaster recovery solution with longer RPO/RTO and is not SAP's recommended intra-region HA mechanism. Azure Backup (C) provides point-in-time restore but not automatic failover. Manual runbooks (D) have RTO measured in minutes to tens of minutes, not sub-minute.

16. 16. A Pacemaker cluster is deployed for SAP HANA HA on Azure Linux VMs. The cluster uses STONITH to ensure that a failed node is fenced before the secondary takes over, preventing split-brain scenarios. When there is no shared storage available for SBD devices, which fencing mechanism must be used?

    • A. STONITH Block Device (SBD) with a shared iSCSI disk
    • B. Azure Fence Agent using the Azure REST API to shut down or restart the failed VM(correct)
    • C. A custom script that sends an ICMP ping to the failed node
    • D. Watchdog timer configured in the Linux kernel

    Explanation: When shared disk storage is not available for SBD devices (which is common in Azure where iSCSI shared disks are not natively supported), the Azure Fence Agent is used. It calls the Azure Resource Manager REST API to forcefully shut down or restart the failed VM, ensuring STONITH fencing without requiring shared storage. SBD with shared iSCSI (A) requires an iSCSI target server, which is an additional component — Azure Fence Agent eliminates this need. An ICMP ping script (C) is not a valid fencing mechanism and does not guarantee the failed node is truly powered off. Watchdog timer (D) triggers local node self-fencing but does not fence a remote failed node.

17. 17. Fabrikam is deploying SAP in Azure and requires 99.99% SLA for the SAP Central Services (SCS) and HANA database tiers. The architecture must tolerate an entire Azure datacenter failure within a region. Which deployment configuration achieves the highest SLA for SAP on Azure?

    • A. Deploy all SAP VMs in a single availability set within one availability zone
    • B. Deploy SAP workloads using availability zones — primary in zone 1, secondary in zone 2 — with Azure Load Balancer spanning zones for the clustered SCS and HANA tiers(correct)
    • C. Deploy all SAP VMs as isolated VMs without availability sets or zones to maximize compute flexibility
    • D. Use Azure Spot Instances for SAP VMs to reduce cost and use Azure Backup for recovery

    Explanation: Deploying SAP workloads across Azure Availability Zones provides protection against entire datacenter failures within a region. With the primary HANA node in zone 1 and secondary in zone 2 (connected via HSR), and SAP SCS HA cluster nodes split across zones with Azure Standard Load Balancer (which is zone-redundant) spanning the zones, the deployment achieves the 99.99% SLA level for the VM tier. Availability sets (A) protect against rack-level failures but not datacenter-level failures. Single isolated VMs (C) have no HA protection. Spot Instances (D) can be evicted by Azure at any time and are completely unsuitable for production SAP workloads.

18. 18. An organization's SAP disaster recovery solution uses Azure Site Recovery (ASR) to replicate SAP application server VMs to a secondary region. Which task must be performed regularly to validate the DR solution without impacting production SAP systems?

    • A. Perform a full failover of all SAP VMs to the secondary region during a maintenance window
    • B. Run a test failover in ASR, which spins up replica VMs in an isolated network in the secondary region without affecting replication(correct)
    • C. Restore the latest Azure Backup to the secondary region and boot the VMs
    • D. Copy the HANA HANA system replication log to a secondary storage account monthly

    Explanation: Azure Site Recovery's test failover feature creates replica VMs in an isolated test network in the secondary region, allowing administrators to validate that the recovered VMs boot correctly and that the recovery plan works — all without interrupting the ongoing replication to the secondary region or affecting production. A full failover (A) would stop replication and cut over production traffic, which is only done during an actual disaster or planned migration. Restoring from Azure Backup (C) does not test the ASR replication pipeline and may miss recent changes. Copying HANA logs (D) is not an ASR DR validation activity.

19. 19. An SAP HANA database is deployed in an Azure VM and requires database-consistent backups that can be restored to a specific point in time. Which Azure backup approach provides application-consistent, HANA-aware backups using Backint?

    • A. Azure VM backup using Azure Backup with crash-consistent snapshots
    • B. Azure Backup for SAP HANA using the HANA Backint interface, with workload-aware backup policies(correct)
    • C. Manual disk snapshots of HANA data and log volumes using Azure CLI
    • D. Azure Site Recovery replication of HANA VM with 15-minute RPO

    Explanation: Azure Backup supports SAP HANA database backups using the Backint interface, which is SAP's standard API for third-party backup tool integration. This provides HANA-aware, application-consistent backups (full, incremental, differential, and log backups) that enable point-in-time recovery. It is certified by SAP. Azure VM backup with crash-consistent snapshots (A) does not invoke HANA's backup APIs and may capture the VM in an inconsistent state for the database. Manual disk snapshots (C) are also crash-consistent and not HANA-aware. ASR replication (D) is for DR replication, not for point-in-time backup and restore.

20. 20. An SAP architect is designing load balancing for an SAP HANA HA cluster on Azure. Which TWO configurations are required for the Azure Internal Load Balancer to correctly support the Pacemaker cluster? Choose 2.

    • A. Enable Floating IP (also called Direct Server Return) on the load balancer rule(correct)
    • B. Set the health probe idle timeout to the minimum value of 4 minutes
    • C. Configure the load balancer probe to check the SAP HANA port (e.g., 62500 for HANA) to detect which node is primary(correct)
    • D. Use a public IP address for the load balancer frontend configuration
    • E. Enable outbound rules on the internal load balancer for HANA traffic

    Explanation: For Pacemaker HA clusters on Azure, the Internal Load Balancer requires two key configurations: (1) Floating IP (Direct Server Return) must be enabled on the load balancer rule so that the virtual IP address (VIP) used by the Pacemaker cluster is properly handled — the backend VMs accept traffic addressed to the frontend VIP, which is the cluster virtual hostname. (2) A health probe targeting the HANA-specific port (e.g., 62500 + HANA instance number) must be configured so the load balancer directs traffic only to the currently active primary HANA node. Setting a specific health probe idle timeout (B) is not a Pacemaker-specific requirement. A public IP (D) is not used — this is an internal load balancer for private cluster VIPs. Outbound rules (E) are for outbound internet connectivity, not required for Pacemaker cluster operation.

21. 21. An SAP operations team wants to use a centralized Azure service to deploy, register, manage, and monitor their SAP systems (ASCS, application servers, HANA) running on Azure VMs, including the ability to start and stop entire SAP systems from the Azure portal. Which service provides this capability?

    • A. Azure Monitor for SAP solutions (legacy)
    • B. Azure Center for SAP solutions(correct)
    • C. SAP Solution Manager on Azure
    • D. Azure Automation with custom PowerShell runbooks

    Explanation: Azure Center for SAP solutions (ACSS) is a Microsoft-managed service that provides a unified management experience for SAP systems on Azure. It enables deployment, registration of existing SAP systems, monitoring, quality checks, and the ability to start and stop entire SAP systems (all layers) from the Azure portal. Azure Monitor for SAP solutions (A) focuses on monitoring telemetry but does not provide start/stop lifecycle management. SAP Solution Manager (C) is SAP's own operations tool that runs on the SAP landscape, not Azure-native management. Azure Automation runbooks (D) can automate start/stop but require custom development and are not SAP-aware.

22. 22. An organization runs SAP on Azure Mv2 VMs with 4 TB of RAM. After 6 months, Azure Advisor recommends right-sizing the HANA VMs because average CPU utilization is below 20% and memory usage is consistently below 1.5 TB. What should the operations team consider before resizing the SAP HANA VM?

    • A. Resize to the smallest available VM SKU immediately without further checks
    • B. Verify the target VM SKU is SAP HANA certified for the actual HANA database size, and schedule the resize during a planned maintenance window with a tested rollback plan(correct)
    • C. Ignore Azure Advisor recommendations because SAP workloads cannot be resized
    • D. Migrate to Azure Spot Instances to reduce cost before right-sizing

    Explanation: Before resizing an SAP HANA VM, the team must verify that the target VM SKU is listed in the SAP HANA Hardware Directory for the actual HANA database size, because not all Azure VM SKUs are HANA certified. The resize should be scheduled during a planned maintenance window with a rollback plan in case issues arise. Azure Advisor recommendations provide cost optimization signals, but they must be validated against SAP certification requirements. Immediately resizing to the smallest SKU (A) without SAP certification validation could result in a non-supported configuration. SAP HANA VMs can be resized (C is false). Spot Instances (D) are not suitable for SAP HANA production workloads due to eviction risk.

23. 23. An organization runs SAP HANA on Azure and wants to reduce the cost of their committed Azure VM usage. The HANA VMs will run continuously for the next 3 years with no expected SKU changes. What is the most cost-effective licensing approach for these VMs?

    • A. Use Azure pay-as-you-go pricing for maximum flexibility
    • B. Purchase Azure Reserved Instances for 3 years for the HANA VM SKUs to receive up to 72% discount(correct)
    • C. Use Azure Spot Instances with eviction handling scripts
    • D. Purchase on-premises hardware and connect via ExpressRoute to run SAP HANA locally

    Explanation: For SAP VMs that will run continuously for a known multi-year commitment period with stable SKU requirements, Azure Reserved Instances (Reserved VM Instances) provide up to 72% savings compared to pay-as-you-go pricing by committing to 1 or 3-year terms. The AZ-120 study guide explicitly covers optimizing costs using Azure Savings Plans or Reserved Instances for SAP VMs. Pay-as-you-go (A) offers flexibility but is the most expensive option for stable, long-running workloads. Spot Instances (C) are not suitable for SAP HANA production due to potential eviction. Purchasing on-premises hardware (D) defeats the purpose of the Azure SAP deployment.

24. 24. An SAP operations team needs to monitor the end-to-end health of their SAP HANA system on Azure, including HANA database metrics such as HANA row store memory consumption, service availability, and replication status. Which Azure-native monitoring solution should be configured?

    • A. Configure Azure Monitor for SAP solutions (AMS) with the HANA provider(correct)
    • B. Use Azure Log Analytics workspace with custom KQL queries on VM performance counters only
    • C. Deploy Azure Application Insights for HANA database monitoring
    • D. Enable Azure Security Center to monitor HANA database vulnerabilities

    Explanation: Azure Monitor for SAP solutions (AMS) is a native Azure monitoring product specifically designed for SAP workloads. It connects to SAP HANA via the HANA provider and collects SAP-specific metrics including row store memory consumption, HANA service availability, system replication status, and other HANA KPIs. These metrics are surfaced in Azure Monitor dashboards. Generic Log Analytics with VM performance counters (B) captures OS-level metrics only and cannot access HANA database internals. Application Insights (C) is designed for application performance monitoring of custom applications, not SAP HANA databases. Azure Security Center (D) assesses security posture, not SAP operational health metrics.

25. 25. An SAP operations team wants to implement the SAP Landscape Management (LaMa) connector for Azure. Which TWO capabilities does the LaMa Azure connector provide in an SAP landscape? Choose 2.

    • A. Automated copying and refresh of SAP systems (system copy) leveraging Azure disk snapshots managed through LaMa(correct)
    • B. VM start, stop, and relocation (VM adaptive compute) through LaMa to reduce SAP VM costs during non-production hours(correct)
    • C. Network security group management for SAP subnets
    • D. Automated Azure Policy compliance scanning for SAP resources
    • E. Direct integration with SAP S/4HANA public cloud SaaS modules

    Explanation: The SAP Landscape Management (LaMa) connector for Azure provides two primary capabilities: (1) Automated SAP system copy and system refresh using Azure disk snapshots, enabling fast and storage-efficient cloning of SAP systems for testing, refresh, or migration purposes without manual export/import. (2) Adaptive compute operations — LaMa can start, stop, and resize Azure VMs hosting SAP systems on a schedule or on demand, which is particularly valuable for non-production SAP systems that do not need to run 24/7, directly reducing Azure compute costs. NSG management (C), Azure Policy scanning (D), and S/4HANA public cloud integration (E) are not capabilities of the LaMa Azure connector.