An administrator must change the EC2 instance size of an EBS-backed SAP HANA host during a maintenance window while keeping its private IP, ENI, and attached volumes. What should the administrator do?
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A
For an EBS-backed instance, stopping preserves the attached EBS volumes and the elastic network interface, including its private IP and security group associations. The administrator can then modify the instance type and start it again; the OS hostname and SAP configuration remain on the volumes. This is the standard vertical scaling path for SAP application and HANA hosts. Instance store data does not survive a stop, and Auto Scaling or Spot does not change the size of an existing host.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Spot changes the purchasing model and can be interrupted; it does not resize the instance or guarantee the same ENI.
- C. Instance-store-backed hosts lose ephemeral data on stop, and creating a new instance from an AMI does not preserve the existing ENI and private IP.
- D. Auto Scaling launches or replaces instances; it does not modify the instance type of the running SAP host in place.
Exam tip. Vertical SAP scaling on EBS-backed EC2 means stop, change type, then start.