D-ISM-FN-23 Sample Questions Answers

https://www.mycloudwiki.com/san/fc-san-protocols/

an FC frame consists of five parts: start of frame (SOF), frame header, data field, cyclic redundancy check (CRC), and end of frame (EOF). The SOF and EOF act as delimiters. The frame header is 24 bytes long and contains addressing information for the frame.

Cloud-based backup solutions provide flexibility and scalability, allowing organizations to select and adjust their backup technologies based on demand. This means that as data storage needs grow or change, the backup technology can be scaled up or modified without the need for significant capital investment or infrastructure changes. Cloud-based backups also offer features such as offsite data storage, disaster recovery, and accessibility from various locations, making them a versatile and efficient solution for dynamic data protection requirements.

References: Dell Information Storage and Management V5 Course Materials, Backup and Data Protection Solutions Section.

• Capacity Requirement: 5 TB = 5000 GB
• Disk Capacity: 750 GB
• Number of Disks for Capacity:Capacity Disks=⌈5000750⌉=7 disksCapacity Disks=⌈7505000​⌉=7 disks
• Performance Requirement: 3000 IOPS
• Disk IOPS: 90 IOPS (at 70% utilization)
• Number of Disks for Performance:Performance Disks=⌈300090⌉=34 disksPerformance Disks=⌈903000​⌉=34 disks
• Final Number of Disks: The higher of the two values is needed, which is 34 disks.

References: Dell ISM V5 Course, Module on Performance and Capacity Planning.

A Brownfield infrastructure building process allows organizations to repurpose existing infrastructure components and provides cost benefits. Brownfield projects involve upgrading or integrating with existing systems and infrastructure rather than starting from scratch (as in Greenfield projects). This approach leverages the existing investments in infrastructure, reduces costs, and minimizes disruption while still achieving modernization and improvements.

References: Dell Information Storage and Management V5 course material -Dell Education

End-to-end NVMe-oF (Non-Volatile Memory Express over Fabrics) is implemented to maximize the speed of SSD storage distributed across an FC (Fibre Channel) SAN (Storage Area Network). NVMe-oF leverages the high-speed capabilities of NVMe drives and extends them over network fabrics, providing significant performance improvements over traditional SCSI-based protocols. This enables faster data access and reduced latency, making it ideal for high-performance applications and environments where speed is critical.

References:

• Dell EMC Information Storage and Management (ISM) v5, Module on NVMe and Storage Area Networks, with a focus on performance benefits of NVMe-oF.

Data replication is a critical function in data center environments as it creates copies of data across different locations. This redundancy ensures that in the event of a hardware failure, natural disaster, or other disruptions, the data remains accessible from the replicated copies. Consequently, data replication is essential for maintaining business continuity, minimizing downtime, and ensuring that critical operations can continue without interruption.References: Dell Information Storage and Management V5 documents.

Local replication is a technique that replicates data within the same array or the same data center1. Local replication can enable operational recovery in the event of data lossby providing fast and frequent point-in-time copies of data that can be used for restore and restart operations23.

Enables operational recovery in the event of a site-level disaster is not a benefit of performing local replication. Local replication does not protect data from site-level disasters because it replicates data within the same site1. To protect data from site-level disasters, remote replication is needed to replicate data at a remote site2.

Provides disaster recovery as a service offering is not a benefit of performing local replication. Disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) is a cloud-based service that provides backup and recovery capabilities for an organization’s data and applications4. DRaaS typically uses remote replication to store data in cloud storage locations that are geographically dispersed4.

Reduces the time to perform data backups is not a benefit of performing local replication. Data backups are different from data replication because they create secondary copies of data that are stored separately from primary copies and can be retained for longer periods5. Data backups may use local or remote replication as part of their process, but they also involve other steps such as deduplication, compression, encryption and verificatio

Implementing link aggregation in a Fibre Channel (FC) Storage Area Network (SAN) environment distributes network traffic over Inter-Switch Links (ISLs), ensuring even utilization of these links. Link aggregation combines multiple physical ISLs into a single logical link, allowing for balanced traffic distribution and improved redundancy. This helps to avoid congestion on any single ISL, thus enhancing overall network performance and reliability.

References:

• Dell Information Storage and Management V5 course materials, section on SAN and link aggregation
• Dell EMC documentation on FC SAN and link aggregation

Archive is a type of data protection that is used to move primary data to lower cost storage and helps to enforce compliance requirements. It is a process of moving inactive data that is no longer needed for immediate use to a secondary storage medium. Archive uses data compression and deduplication techniques to reduce storage costs, and can also be used to help meet compliance requirements.

When deploying a security control mechanism to protect assets, it is crucial to ensure that unauthorized users have limited access. This minimizes the risk of attacks and data breaches by controlling who can access sensitive information and resources. Security controls should be designed to prevent unauthorized access while ensuring that authorized users have the necessary access to perform their duties.

References:

• Dell EMC Information Storage and Management V5 course material, Module on Security and Protection.

The correct sequence of steps to perform a data recovery operation is as follows:

• Backup client requests backup server for datastore services.
• Backup server instructs storage node to load backup media in the backup device.
• Backup server scans backup catalog to identify the client and data to be restored.
• Data is read and sent to the backup client.This sequence ensures that the appropriate data is identified and restored efficiently.References:

• Dell EMC Information Storage and Management V5, Module on Data Backup and Recovery

A Defense-in-depth strategy involves multiple layers of security controls to protect data and IT resources. By having various defense mechanisms, the risk of a security breach is minimized, as compromising one layer does not compromise the entire system. This layered approach significantly reduces the overall risk and impact of potential security threats.

References:

• Dell EMC Information Storage and Management V5, Module: Security in Storage

The Do-It-Yourself (DIY) approach to building modern infrastructure involves selecting and integrating various products and services from different vendors. This approach provides greater flexibility and customization options, allowing organizations to tailor their infrastructure to specific needs and preferences.

References:

• Dell EMC Information Storage and Management V5, Module: Infrastructure Management

In a Network Attached Storage (NAS) environment, the Common Internet File System (CIFS) enables file sharing with Windows clients and uses the TCP/IP protocol. CIFS is an enhanced version of the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol, which allows multiple users to access and share files over a network. It is commonly used in Windows environments for network file sharing and supports various operations like file read/write, file locking, and more.References:= Dell Information Storage and Management V5 course materials

• DRAM (Dynamic Random-Access Memory) offers the highest I/O performance due to its extremely low latency and high-speed access capabilities.
• SCM (Storage Class Memory) follows DRAM, providing high performance but with slightly higher latency than DRAM.
• SSDs (Solid State Drives) come next, offering fast access times but slower than SCM and DRAM.
• SATA (Serial ATA) drives are the slowest among these options, as they typically use mechanical components (in the case of HDDs) and have lower data transfer rates compared to SSDs.

References: Dell Information Storage and Management V5 documents Dell Technologies Info Hub​(Dell Technologies Info Hub)

RAID 6 offers a key advantage over RAID 5 in terms of data resiliency. While RAID 5 can tolerate the failure of a single disk, RAID 6 can withstand the failure of two disks simultaneously. This is achieved through the use of dual parity, which provides additional redundancy and ensures data integrity even in the event of multiple drive failures. Although RAID 6 has a higher write penalty compared to RAID 5 due to the additional parity calculations, the increased data protection it offers is a significant advantage for environments where data availability and integrity are critical.

References: Dell Information Storage and Management V5 Course Materials, RAID Levels and Data Protection Section.

Log files in a VM environment record the activities and events that occur within the VM. These logs include information about system operations, user actions, errors, and other significant events. Log files are crucial for troubleshooting because they provide detailed records that help administrators diagnose and resolve issues. They can indicate what processes were running, what errors occurred, and provide a timeline of events leading up to a problem, making them an essential tool for maintaining VM health and performance.

References:

• Dell EMC Information Storage and Management V5 Course, Module 8: Managing the Storage Infrastructure.
• Dell EMC ISM V5 Student Guide, Page 210-211.

Seek time, Rotational latency, and Data transfer rate are the three factors that govern the overall performance of a hard disk drive (HDD). Seek time is the time required by the read/write head to move to the correct location on the disk, rotational latency is the time required by the disk platter to rotate to bring the desired sector under the read/write head, and data transfer rate is the speed at which data can be transferred between the disk and the buffer (or cache) memory [1]. Bandwidth, RAID level, and I/O operations per second are not factors that govern HDD performance.

FCIP (Fibre Channel over IP) is utilized to interconnect Fibre Channel SANs over long distances. This technology encapsulates Fibre Channel frames into IP packets, allowing them to be transmitted over IP networks. It is particularly useful for interconnecting local and remote FC SANs over distances greater than 200 km, providing a cost-effective solution for SAN extension.References:

• Dell EMC Information Storage and Management V5, Module on SAN and FCIP

Dell EMC Data Domain is a disk-based backup and recovery solution that incorporates inherent source-based deduplication technology. This deduplication reduces the amount of data that needs to be stored by eliminating duplicate copies of repeating data, thus improving storage efficiency and reducing costs. Data Domain systems are designed to provide reliable and high-performance backup and recovery services.References: Dell Information Storage and Management V5, Backup and Recovery Solutions,Dell Certification Resource

The exhibit shows the architecture of a NAS (Network Attached Storage) system that processes file I/O operations. Both scale-up and integrated NAS systems can process file write and read operations as described. Scale-up NAS systems add storage capacity by adding more storage to existing nodes, while integrated NAS systems combine the NAS head and storage into a single unit.

References:

• Dell EMC Information Storage and Management V5 course material, Module on Networked Storage - NAS.

• Object-Based Storage Device (OSD): OSDs manage data as objects, which contain the data itself, metadata, and a globally unique identifier.
• Address Space: In object storage, all objects exist at the same level in a flat address space, meaning there is no hierarchical structure like in traditional file systems.
• Namespace: Object storage systems use a single namespace to manage objects, making it easier to scale and manage large amounts of data.

References: Dell ISM V5 Course, Module on Object-Based Storage Systems.

As previously mentioned, scale-out NAS architecture supports the dynamic expansion of the storage environment by incorporating additional nodes. Each node enhances the system's overall storage capacity and performance capabilities. This model ensures that storage can scale out efficiently to accommodate growing data volumes and changing business requirements, providing flexibility and resilience.

References:

• Dell EMC Education Services: Information Storage and Management (ISM) V5 course materials
• Dell Technologies scale-out NAS solutions documentation

Data archiving involves moving data that is no longer actively used to a separate storage system designed for long-term retention. The purpose of data archiving is to free up primary storage space, reduce costs, and ensure that inactive data is stored securely and can be retrieved when needed. Fixed content refers to data that does not change over time, such as historical records, logs, or finalized reports. By transferring this fixed content to archive storage, organizations can maintain the availability of valuable data without occupying high-performance primary storage resources.

References:

• Dell EMC Information Storage and Management V5 Course, Module 5: Backup, Archive, and Replication.
• Dell EMC ISM V5 Student Guide, Page 120-121.

• Total Operational Hours (Monday to Friday): 24 hours/day * 5 days = 120 hours
• Failure Times:
• Total Failure Hours: 1 + 4 + 1 = 6 hours
• Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF):MTBF=Total Operational HoursNumber of Failures=1203=40 hoursMTBF=Number of FailuresTotal Operational Hours​=3120​=40 hours

References: Dell ISM V5 Course, Module on Availability and Performance Management.

Using a service-focused approach allows the storage infrastructure to be managed based on the needs of the business or customers. This approach focuses on the delivery of services, rather than just the management of storage components or devices. When a service provisioning request is received, the service-focused approach provides a framework to determine the appropriate workflow to fulfill that request. This may include provisioning additional storage resources, modifying existing configurations, or other tasks to meet the service level agreements (SLAs) of the business or customer. Reference: Section 1.3 Service-Oriented Storage Provisioning, page 16.

Flow control in FOP (File-Oriented Protocol) is a network performance attribute that ensures that packets are delivered in the same order they were sent. This is achieved by assigning each packet a sequence number, and then having the receiver send an acknowledgment back to the sender that it has received the packet and is ready for the next one. This helps to ensure that packets are not lost, and that they arrive in the same order they were sent.

In Fibre Channel (FC) zoning, there are different types of zones that can be implemented:

• Port zoning: Zones are created based on the physical ports on the FC switch.
• WWN zoning: Zones are created based on the World Wide Names (WWNs) of the devices.
• Mixed zoning: Zones can be created using a combination of both port numbers and WWNs.

Referring to the provided exhibit:

• Zone1: Mixed (since it includes both port and WWN)
• Zone2: WWN (since it only uses WWN for zoning)
• Zone3: Port (since it uses ports for zoning)

References:

• Dell EMC Information Storage and Management V5 documentation.
• Dell Certification Overview

A Thick provisioned LUN (Logical Unit Number) allocates all of the physical storage specified at the time it is created. In thick provisioning, the storage space is allocated upfront from the storage pool to the LUN, regardless of how much data is actually written. This ensures that the allocated space is always available for the LUN, providing predictable performance and capacity but potentially leading to less efficient use of storage resources.

References: Dell Information Storage and Management V5 course material -Dell Education

Storage Class Memory (SCM) is a type of non-volatile memory that offers performance characteristics between DRAM and traditional NAND flash. It provides faster read and write speeds compared to flash storage, but it is slower than DRAM.

References: Dell EMC ISM V5 Module 2, "Storage Class Memory," describes the performance characteristics and use cases of SCM.

A hypervisor is a layer of software that runs directly on top of a physical server and provides a virtualization layer. It allows multiple virtual machines (VMs) to run on the same physical hardware, sharing the underlying resources such as CPU, memory, and storage. The hypervisor isolates the VMs from each other and provides a virtual machine monitor (VMM) that manages the virtual machines' access to physical resources. The VMM is responsible for managing the VMs' creation, configuration, and removal, as well as their access to the physical resources of the host system. T

In storage systems, "block-based" storage refers to the storage of data in fixed-sized blocks. Each block is identified by a unique address and can be individually accessed and modified. Block storage is typically used in SAN (Storage Area Network) environments and is well-suited for databases and virtual machine file systems where high performance and low latency are critical. The "X" in the exhibit likely indicates a storage type that offers these characteristics, pointing towards block-based storage.References: Dell Information Storage and Management V5, Types of Storage Systems,Dell Certification Resource

The key advantage of cloning a virtual machine (VM) is that it saves time when creating multiple identical copies of a VM. Cloning allows administrators to quickly create exact replicas of an existing VM, including its operating system, applications, and configuration settings. This is particularly useful in environments where multiple VMs with the same setup are needed, such as in testing, development, or deploying standardized environments.

References:

• Dell Information Storage and Management V5 course materials, section on virtualization and VM management
• Dell EMC documentation on VM cloning

Variable-length segment deduplication identifies duplicate data more efficiently than fixed-length segment deduplication because it can adapt to changes in the data. Even if there are minor differences between two documents, the variable-length approach can still recognize and eliminate duplicate segments. This method increases the probability of identifying duplicate data, improving storage efficiency and reducing the amount of data that needs to be stored.References: Dell Information Storage and Management V5, Data Deduplication Techniques,Dell Certification Resource

Supervised Learning is a type of machine learning that explicitly requires splitting the data into training and testing datasets before running an algorithm against that data. In supervised learning, the algorithm is trained on a labeled dataset, which means that each training example is paired with an output label. The model learns from this labeled data and makes predictions or decisions based on the input data. The testing dataset, which is separate from the training dataset, is used to evaluate the model's performance and ensure it generalizes well to new, unseen data.

References: Dell Information Storage and Management V5 course material -Dell Education

• Storage Class Memory (SCM): SCM is a new class of storage that bridges the gap between traditional volatile memory (DRAM) and non-volatile storage (flash).
• Addressing Level: SCM can be addressed at finer granularity, such as the bit or word level, unlike traditional storage which typically addresses data at the block level.
• Speed and Performance: SCM is faster than traditional flash storage but not as fast as DRAM. It provides a balance of speed and non-volatility which is beneficial for certain applications.

References: Dell ISM V5 Course, Module on Emerging Storage Technologies.

Under the Platform as a Service (PaaS) model, the consumer is responsible for managing applications and data. The service provider manages the underlying infrastructure, including servers, storage, networking, and the platform (runtime, middleware, and operating system). This allows consumers to focus on developing and running applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.References:

• Dell EMC Information Storage and Management V5, Module on Cloud Services and Deployment Models

The disk service time of a hard disk drive (HDD) is calculated using several factors:

• Seek Time: The time it takes for the read/write head to move to the track where the data is stored.
• Rotational Latency: The time it takes for the platter to rotate and position the correct sector under the read/write head.
• Data Transfer Rate: The speed at which data can be read from or written to the disk once the read/write head is in position.

Together, these factors determine the overall performance and speed of the HDD in accessing and retrieving data.References: Dell Information Storage and Management V5 documents.

In a data archiving environment, the archive agent is responsible for scanning primary storage to identify files that need to be archived. The agent looks for files based on specific criteria such as age, size, and access frequency, then initiates the archiving process by moving or copying the files to the archive storage. This helps in managing storage efficiently by freeing up space on primary storage.References: Dell Information Storage and Management V5 documents, ExamTopics.

• Dell EMC VxBlock is a Converged Infrastructure (CI) solution.
• It integrates compute, virtualization, network, and storage into a single engineered solution.
• Unlike HCI (Hyper-Converged Infrastructure) solutions, CI solutions do not use software-defined storage as a key component.

References: Dell Information Storage and Management V5 documents

Data deduplication is a process that eliminates redundant copies of data, reducing the storage space needed. It works by identifying and storing only unique data blocks, replacing duplicate blocks with pointers to the original data. This significantly reduces the amount of storage required and optimizes storage efficiency.

References:

• Dell EMC Information Storage and Management V5, Module: Data Protection

The control plane in the SDDC architecture is responsible for the orchestration and management of resources. It implements the programming logic and policies that dictate how resources are allocated and managed within the data center. By automating resource provisioning and managing policies, the control plane helps ensure that resources are used efficiently and thatthe infrastructure can adapt to changing workloads and requirements.References: Dell Information Storage and Management V5 Manual.

In Fibre Channel (FC) networking, the port types are crucial for understanding the connections between devices. The "X" in the exhibit represents an F_port. An F_port, or Fabric port, is a port on a switch that connects to an N_port, or Node port, which is typically on a host or storage device. This setup facilitates communication within the storage area network (SAN).

References:

• Dell EMC Information Storage and Management (ISM) Version 5.0, Chapter on Storage Networking Technologies

In a RAID 1 array, data is mirrored across two disks. So when a host sends one write I/O to the array, the array will perform two write I/Os to store the data on both disks. The other options are incorrect because they do not accurately reflect the number of write I/Os required in a RAID 1 array.

Data shredding is a method of data destruction that goes beyond simple deletion. It involves overwriting the data on a storage device multiple times with random data to ensure that the original data cannot be recovered. This process is used to securely erase sensitive information and protect against data breaches and unauthorized access.References: Dell Information Storage and Management V5 documents, ExamTopics.

Solid State Drives (SSDs) use flash memory to provide non-volatile data storage. Flash memory is a type of non-volatile memory that can be electronically erased and reprogrammed. Unlike RAM, flash memory retains data even when the power is turned off, making it ideal for permanent storage in SSDs. The primary types of flash memory used in SSDs are NAND flash, which is cost-effective and has high storage density, and NOR flash, which offers faster read speeds but is more expensive.

References: Dell Information Storage and Management V5 course material -Dell Education

RAID 6 uses two parity blocks for data protection, allowing it to withstand the failure of two drives. In a RAID 6 array with four 250 GB disks, the usable capacity is calculated by subtracting the space used for parity. With four disks, two are used for parity, leaving the capacity of two disks for data storage. Therefore, the total usable data storage capacity is 2 * 250 GB = 500 GB.

References:

• Dell EMC Information Storage and Management V5 documentation.
• Dell Certification Overview

• WWN Zoning: WWN zoning uses the World Wide Name (WWN) of the devices to control access in a SAN environment.
• Diagram Context: The "X" in the diagram represents the connection managed by WWN zoning, ensuring that only authorized devices can communicate through the Fibre Channel switch.

References: Dell ISM V5 Course, Module on Storage Networking and Zoning Techniques.

Organizations deploy business continuity solutions to ensure the continuous availability and integrity of business-critical data and applications. Business continuity solutions help meet compliance requirements for data protection, ensuring that data is consistently backed up, secure, and recoverable in case of disasters or system failures. These solutions are essential for maintaining operational resilience and regulatory compliance.

References:

• Dell Information Storage and Management V5 course materials, section on business continuity
• Dell EMC documentation on business continuity and compliance