Review Questions

Review Questions

Chapter 1: Dell Compellent Storage Center Fundamentals

1. Fluid Data Architecture what types of information does Dell Compellent track for each page of data?

Creation, Access and Modification time

Frequency of access

Type and Tier of disk drive

RAID Level

Corresponding volume

Active (Read/Write) or Frozen (Read Only)

2. Which Dell Compellent Storage Center core function manages all disks as a single pool of resources from which the administrator can select and assign volumes to a server/host?

Disk Virtualization

3. Which application provides for the movement of different categories of data to different types of physical disks?

Data Progression

4. Which core function provides for the ability to allocate space only when data is physically stored?

Dynamic Capacity

5. What application reserves the outer tracks of the disk for the most active blocks?

FastTrack

6. Which core function provides for the ability to create space-efficient replays that restore data instantaneously?

Data Instant Replay

7. What makes up the size of a replay?

Deltas

8. What features does vSphere APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) add?

Block Zeroing

Copy Offload

Hardware Assisted Locking

Thin Provisioning

9. When a replay expires and older and newer data exists, what takes precedence when data is coalesced?

New written data takes precedence

10. When an expiration of a replay is complete, what happens to that space?

It is released back to the common storage pool

11. True or False. Using On-Demand Data Progression, a Space Management Replay is not mountable.

True

Chapter 2: Dell Compellent Storage Center Hardware and Cabling

1. In Legacy Mode, what does a Fault Domain provide?

Failover between controllers. It provides continuous connectivity to the storage in the event of a controller failure or shutdown.

2. What are the two rules for building fault domains in Legacy Mode?

Primary and reserve lines are connected from each controller to each switch.

The primary from one controller is paired with the reserve from the opposite controller connected to the same switch.

3. Where is drive 0 located on a Dell SC200 enclosure?

Top left corner

4. What types of front end interfaces are supported by the Storage Center controller?

Fibre Channel

FCoE

iSCSI

5. True or False: Using Virtual Ports, if a controller false, multiple virtual WWNs can share the same physical port?

True

6. If zoning by World Wide Name in Virtual Port Mode, what Dell Compellent WWNs need to be zoned to the server for the server to properly see the Storage Center?

Server WWN + all Dell Compellent Virtual WWNs

7. What are some advantages of using Virtual Ports?

Increased Performance

Controller redundancy is provided using fewer ports

Port level redundancy can be provided by adding additional paths

Simplified iSCSI connectivity

8. According to best practice, what should be used to isolate the iSCSI traffic?

iSCSI ports should be put into a separate VLAN or dedicated network

9. Do Fault Domains apply to iSCSI?

Yes

10. How many SC280 enclosures can exist on the same chain?

2

Chapter 3: Enterprise Manager Setup

1. What are the software components of the Dell Compellent Enterprise Manager?

Data Collector

Enterprise Manager Client

Windows Server Agent (optional)

2. In general, what databases are supported by the Enterprise Manager Data Collector?

Flat file

MySQL 5.1 or 5.5

Microsoft SQL 2008 / 2008 R2 & 2012

Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition 2008 (4GB Limit)

Microsoft SQL Server Express 2008 R2 & 2012 (10GB Limit)

3. Does the server running the Data Collector need to have access to the same network as the controllers?

Yes

4. Where are users managed from?

The Data Collector Manager

5. Which tab viewer is best for monitoring performance over time?

The IO Usage tab

6. When adding a Storage Center to the client, which IP address is entered in the Host field for a dual controller Storage Center?

The management IP address

Chapter 4: Storage Center Volume and Server Management

1. What are the attributes that can be selected when creating a volume?

Volume size, Volume Folder, Volume Name, Server to map to,

Replay Profile, Storage Profile

2. What attributes are set when mapping a volume to a server?

Volume to map or Server to map

Optionally:

LUN settings

Restrict Mapping paths

Activate volume on a specific controller

Configure multipathing

Present the volume as Read Only

3. Describe the differences between the Dell Compellent Storage Center core functions: Copy, Mirror and Migrate?

Copy will create an identical volume

Mirror will create an identical, real-time updating volume

Migrate will create an identical volume, complete with all the server to volume mappings, and optionally delete the original volume

4. True or False when copying a volume the new volume cannot be a smaller size but when migrating a volume the new volume can be a smaller size?

False. Copied, Mirrored or Migrated volumes cannot be smaller in size than the source volume

1.

2.

3.

4.

5. What are volume and server folders used for?

Organization and security

Chapter 5: Storage Center Replay and Data Progression Management

1. What is the difference between creating a manual replay and creating a replay profile?

A manual replay is taken once and applies only to a specific volume

A replay profile is a schedule and can be applied to any number of volumes

2. Can a volume belong to more than one replay profile?

Yes. In addition, a replay profile can have more than one schedule

3. What must be performed in order for a user to make use of a replay from a server?

The replay must be recovered and mapped to a server

4. How does the Dell Compellent Storage Center label a recovered replay?

View

5. How should Data Instant Replay be scheduled to ensure proper progression?

Per volume, a minimum of one replay per day and expiration set for a minimum of 25 hours. (+1 hour rule)

6. What is a consistent replay used for?

Consistent replay creates a synchronized replay of multiple volumes. IO is halted at the controller while the replay is taken

7. What setting determines the tier and RAID level of the write and replay data on a volume?

Storage Profiles

8. Which application allows an administrator to take application consistent replays?

Replay Manager

Chapter 6: Storage Center System Management

1. In a dual controller system, if a controller fails and is then brought back into service, what should be done?

Rebalance the Local Ports

2. During a firmware update of the Storage Center, if the Service Affecting message is Yes, what does this indicate?

An outage needs to be scheduled so the system can be brought offline

3. When adding storage resources to the Dell Compellent Storage Center, where do the new disks appear in the System Explorer component of the GUI?

The Unassigned Disk Folder

4. What is the best practice when designating hot spare disk drives?

One hot spare per drive size and/or type per enclosure

5. When visiting the Knowledge Center, what is the advantage of the CSTA (Copilot Support Technical Alerts)?

Receive important alerts and updates from Copilot Support

6. What are the three levels of users that the Dell Compellent Storage Center supports?

Administrator

Volume Manager

Reporter

7. What process sends important log information to Copilot?

Phone Home

8. To more easily identify a specific drive in a Storage Center so it can be located physically in the rack, what can the administrator do?

Beacon the drive

9. What is the purpose of assigning specific system resources to specific user groups?

To allow users to access only pre-defined resources

10. When performing a firmware update in a dual controller system, which controller is updated?

Both controllers are updated the reset sequentially to maintain service in a dual controller configuration

Chapter 7: Remote Data Instant Replay

1. What two synchronous replication formats does the Dell Compellent Storage Center support?

High Availability

High Consistency

2. In order to restore a volume back to the source system with its original mapping, replay and Data Progression attributes, what needs to be saved?

Replication Recovery Restore Points

3. How many USB ports are available to use with Portable Volume on a single controller?

4 2 in the front behind the faceplate and 2 in the back

4. With regards to bandwidth, what are some best practices for implementing Remote Instant Replay?

Consider how many volumes will be replicated

Size of volumes

How often volume(s) will be replicated

Number of changes

Speed, latency & quality of Link

5. Replication can occur using synchronous or asynchronous methods. Which method is recommended if the bandwidth is small or unreliable?

Asynchronous Replication

6. Replication can occur using which transport types?

Fibre Channel, iSCSI and FCoE

Chapter 8: Enterprise Manager

1. What automated reports are available?

Storage Center Summary

Disk Class

Alerts

Volume Storage

Replication

2. From what option can you globally generate an Automated Report every week?

Edit Data Collector Settings->Automated Reports->Generate Reports Now->Create Weekly Report

3. What is the difference between threshold definitions and threshold queries?

Threshold definitions run continuously

Threshold queries run on demand

4. What feature in Enterprise Manager allows users to assign costs to storage?

Chargeback

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