Pass the EMC Storage Administrator D-XTR-DY-A-24 Questions and answers with CertsForce

In an Oracle environment integrated with XtremIO, it is a best practice to increase the queue depth and execution throttle to the maximum values supported by the HBA (Host Bus Adapter) drivers. This configuration helps to optimize the performance by allowing more I/O operations to be processed simultaneously, which is crucial for handling the demanding workloads typically associated with Oracle databases. References := Dell Deployment Services

Power Connectors for XtremIO X2 Dual X-Brick Configuration: Each X-Brick typically requires multiple power connections for redundancy and reliability. A dual X-Brick configuration without a physical XMS would need to account for these requirements.

Calculation:

Each X-Brick has 2 storage controllers, each requiring 2 power connections, totaling 4 power connections per X-Brick.

For a dual X-Brick configuration: 4 power connections per X-Brick * 2 X-Bricks = 8 power connections.

Each DAE (Disk Array Enclosure) typically requires 2 power connections. In a dual X-Brick setup, there are 4 DAEs, totaling 8 power connections.

Total power connections: 8 (for X-Bricks) + 8 (for DAEs) = 16 power connections.

References:

Dell XtremIO X2 Installation Guide

XtremIO User Guide

Dell XtremIO Deployment Services

To interact with an XtremIO cluster using the REST API, the application that can be used is cURL. cURL is a command-line tool and library for transferring data with URLs and is commonly used for various types of HTTP requests.

The steps to use cURL with the XtremIO REST API are as follows:

Install cURL: Ensure that cURL is installed on your system. It is available for a variety of platforms including Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Prepare the API Request: Formulate your REST API request. This will include the XtremIO cluster’s endpoint and the specific API call you wish to make.

Execute the cURL Command: Use the cURL command in your terminal or command prompt to execute the API request. The general syntax for a cURL request is:

curl [options] [URL]

For example, to list all volumes on an XtremIO cluster, you might use:

curl -u username:password -X GET "https://XMS_IP_Address/api/json/v2/types/volumes "

Replace username:password with your actual credentials and XMS_IP_Address with the IP address of your XtremIO Management Server (XMS).

Analyze the Response: The response from the XtremIO cluster will be output to your terminal. It will typically be in JSON format, which you can then parse and analyze as needed.

Reference Documentation: For detailed information on the REST API calls available and their usage, refer to the official Dell XtremIO Deploy Achievement document1. This document will provide comprehensive guidance on implementing solutions using XtremIO systems, including the use of REST API for cluster interaction.

By following these steps and referring to the official documentation, you can successfully use cURL to interact with an XtremIO cluster via the REST API.

In a heterogeneous environment where multiple storage arrays are connected to VMware vSphere along with XtremIO X2, it is recommended to set the Disk.SchedNumReqOustanding parameter to 32. This setting determines the maximum number of I/O operations that can be queued to the storage array. A value of 32 is often recommended to balance performance with resource utilization.

The Disk.SchedNumReqOustanding parameter is part of the VMware vSphere’s advanced settings and can be adjusted to optimize the performance of the storage arrays connected to the ESXi hosts. The setting of 32 is a starting point and may need to be adjusted based on the specific workload and storage array capabilities1.

In XtremIO, configuring email notifications involves several steps, including setting up the email server and defining alert definitions. While the email server may be correctly configured and tested, notifications will not be sent unless the alert definitions are also set up. Alert definitions specify the conditions under which notifications are sent, including the severity level of issues. If major severity alerts are not defined, the email server will not trigger notifications for those events.

References:

Dell XtremIO Deployment and Learning Course Materials

When creating a volume on an XtremIO X2-S array, one of the options that can be selected is Tags. Tags are used to organize and manage volumes by assigning descriptive labels, making it easier to group and identify volumes based on specific criteria. References := Dell Deployment Services

Port Identification: Based on the exhibit, ports a, b, c, and d need to be identified correctly.

Port a: Typically used for Fibre Channel (FC) connections.

Port c: Typically used for iSCSI connections.

FC2 and iSCSI 1 Connections: Ports a and c correspond to FC2 and iSCSI 1 connections respectively.

References:

Dell XtremIO Installation Guide

XtremIO User Guide

Dell XtremIO Deployment Services

The best practice for creating a snapshot of a 10-volume database and presenting them to a backup server at a scheduled time is to use a Consistency Group in conjunction with the Scheduler. This approach ensures that all volumes in the snapshot are consistent with each other, as they are taken at the same point in time. The Scheduler allows for the automation of this process, ensuring that the snapshot is created at exactly 1:00 AM without manual intervention. This method is recommended for maintaining consistency across multiple volumes, which is crucial for databases to ensure transactional integrity1.

The Dell XtremIO Deploy Achievement documents specify different numbers for the maximum volumes in various contexts. However, for the XtremIO Consistency Group, the supported and QA certified number of volumes is 512. This is based on the authoritative information provided in the official release notes and support documents from Dell. It’s important to note that while there may be higher numbers mentioned in some technical documents or API responses, such as 60000 or 32000, these are either not recommended or pertain to different aspects of the XtremIO system, not specifically to the Consistency Group1.

For a VMware VM running on vSphere 6.5 that will reside on a datastore provisioned from an XtremIO volume, the disk should be presented to the guest as Thick Provisioned, Eager Zero (EZT). This is recommended for the best performance and efficient capacity usage.

Thick Provisioning, Eager Zero: This type of provisioning allocates all the space required for the virtual disk upfront and marks all the space as zeroed. This means that the physical space is reserved and zeroed on the storage array, ensuring that the VM does not have to wait for space to be allocated or zeroed before writing data. This can lead to better performance, especially for I/O-intensive applications1.

XtremIO and EZT: XtremIO arrays are particularly well-suited for EZT because they use inline deduplication and never actually have to zero out physical media. The metadata is kept in memory, and writes are journaled to memory before being saved to SSDs. XtremIO uses VAAI (vStorage APIs for Array Integration) to accelerate zeroing operations, so hosts do not have to write zeros, and the allocation of EZT virtual disks is a very quick operation1.

Performance Considerations: For applications that require low latency, such as databases, using EZT reduces overall latency for the application. Since XtremIO arrays are designed to handle such operations efficiently, the initial zeroing process with EZT, which could take a long time on traditional storage architectures, is significantly faster1.

In conclusion, for ensuring proper performance and capacity usage for a VM on vSphere 6.5 with an XtremIO volume, Thick Provisioned, Eager Zero is the recommended method of disk presentation.