Storage World

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

DMX-4 Interview Questions (Which I got from Net, tried
to answer some of them
1.How many Cache directors, Front-end directors and Back-end directors we can use in
D!-"#
Cache directors -$
Front-end directors -$
Back-end directors -$
2.What are the di%%erent ty&es o% Front-end directors and the &ur&ose o% each one#
ain%rame C'D de(ices)
*+C,- .*/0
F1C,- .*F0
,&en +ystems FB/
Fi2re channe3 .F/0
1+C+1 .+*0 etc
4.What are the ana5ement 6oo3s %or D!#
*C Contro3 Center .*CC0
+C
*C +o3utions *na23er
*C +ymmetri7 8er%ormance /na3y9er
".What are the ma:or com&onents o% +ystem Bay and +tora5e Bay#
+ystem Bay)
Directors and emory 2oards, F/-+, ';, +8+, <8+, 8ower +u&&3ies, !C 2oards
+tora5e Bay
D/*s, BB< .Battery Backu& <nit0,+8+,=CC =ink contro3 card

>.*7&3ain *n5inuity ,&eration 3ayers

+ymmetri7-Based /&&3ication
Host-Based +ymmetri7 /&&3ication -1
1nde&endent +o%tware ;endor /&&3ication
*C +o3utions *na23er /81 -2
+ymmetri7 *n5inuity ,&eratin5 *n(ironment Functions -4
+ymmetri7 Hardware -"
6.How do you ca3cu3ate num2er o% cy3inders %or >0?B =<-#
1> tracks -1 cy3inder
6" 23ocks @ 1 track
>12 2ytes-1 23ock
102"A con(ersion o% 2ytes to k2 to m2 to ?B
?BAcy3inder B1>B12$B>12C102"C102"C102"-D!4 D!" ;/!
?BAcy3inder B1>B6"B>12C102"C102"C102" -D! D!2
so >"614.4 cy3inders.
D.How do you add a new mem2er to the e7istin5 eta#
symcon%i5ure @sid 124" @cmd Eadd de( ! to meta FGH commit
$.Brie%3y e7&3ain the D!-" su&&orted De(ice ty&es#
ain%rame and ,&en systems de(ices
I. What are the J/1D 3e(e3s D!-" +u&&orts#
J/1D 0, J/1D 1, J/1D >, J/1D 6, J/1D 1C0
10.How do you check the %ai3ed disks in the +ymmetri7 /rray#
C)K8ro5ram Fi3esK*CK+FC=1K2inLsymdisk -sid 22>$ -%ai3ed 3ist
+ymmetri7 1D ) 0001I010!!!$
-o de(ices were %ound
C)K8ro5ram Fi3esK*CK+FC=1K2inL
11.Can windows, =inu7, +o3aris share the same F/ in D!#
Fes
12.Host is una23e to see the stora5e, what may 2e the &ro23em#
Host WW- issue, Monin5 issue, switch &ort %ai3ure, connecti(ity issue, +/- disk issue
14.What is ;CDB and How do you take the 2acku&#
6he +ymmetri7 Volume Configuration Management (VCM) database stores access con%i5urations
that are used to 5rant host access to 3o5ica3 de(ices in a +ymmetri7 stora5e array. 6he ;C
data2ase resides on a s&ecia3 system resource 3o5ica3 de(ice, re%erred to as the ;CDB de(ice,
on each +ymmetri7 stora5e array.
1n%ormation stored in the ;C data2ase inc3udes, 2ut is not 3imited to)
Host and stora5e Wor3d Wide -ames
+1D =ock and ;o3ume ;isi2i3ity settin5s
-ati(e 3o5ica3 de(ice data, such as the %ront-end directors and stora5e &orts to which they are
ma&&ed
askin5 o&erations &er%ormed on +ymmetri7 stora5e de(ices resu3t in modi%ications to the ;C
data2ase in the +ymmetri7 array. 6he ;C data2ase can 2e 2acked u&, restored, initia3i9ed and
acti(ated. 6he +ymmetri7 +D /5ent must 2e runnin5 in order to &er%orm ;C data2ase
o&erations .e7ce&t de3etin5 2acku& %i3es0.
Backu& the ;C data2ase
N symmaskd2 2acku&
1". What is stri&&in5 and what is Concatenatin5#
Concatenatin5- First 2yte o% data at the 2e5innin5 o% the %irst de(ice and addressin5 continues
to the end o% the %irst de(ice 2e%ore any data on the ne7t de(ice is re%erenced.
+tri&&in5-di(ides the data to a series o% stri&es.
1>. What is Jead Hit and De3ayed %ast write#
Jead Hit
1n a Jead hit o&eration, the reOuested data resides in 53o2a3 memory. 6he channe3 director
trans%ers the reOuested data throu5h the channe3 inter%ace to the host and u&dates the 53o2a3
memory directory. +ince the data is in 53o2a3 memory, there are no mechanica3 de3ays due to
seek and 3atency
De3ayed %ast Write
/ de3ayed %ast write occurs on3y when the %ast write thresho3d has 2een e7ceeded. 6hat is, the
&ercenta5e o% 53o2a3 memory containin5 modi%ied data is hi5her than the %ast write thresho3d. 1%
this situation occurs, the +ymmetri7 system disconnects the channe3 directors %rom the channe3s.
6he disk directors then desta5e the =east Jecent3y <sed data to disk. When su%%icient 53o2a3
memory s&ace is a(ai3a23e, the channe3 directors reconnect to their channe3s and &rocess the
host 1C, reOuest as a %ast write. 6he +ymmetri7 system continues to &rocess read o&erations
durin5 de3ayed %ast writes. With su%%icient 53o2a3 memory &resent, this ty&e o% 53o2a3 memory
o&eration rare3y occurs
16. What are the +ymmetri7 Business Continuity 6oo3
6ime %inder
+JDF
1D. By usin5 what symc3i command we can check the HB/ detai3s and &hysica3 detai3s
symmask 3ist h2a @3ist 3oca3 host h2a detai3s
symmask @sid 124" @wwn wwn 3ist 3o5ins
symmaskd2 @sid 124" @host name 3ist ca&city .not in ;/!0
1$. How do you 3ist the Hosts which are connected to &articu3ar director &ort#
symamsk @sid 124" 3ist 3o5ins @dir 10e @& 1
1I. How do you check the tota3 a33ocated stora5e o% a Host#
+ymmaskd2 @sid 124" @host name 3ist ca&acity
20. What is the &ur&ose o% 2in %i3e in +/8/81 data2ase#
1t contains the con%i5uration in%ormation %or a symmetri7.
6he %i3e de%ines the
8hysica3 hardware con%i5uration
-Directors
-emory
-8hysica3 Dri(es

=o5ica3 +tora5e con%i5urationH
*mu3ation,num2er ,si9e and data &rotection schemes %or 3o5ica3 (o3umes.
,&erationa3 &arameters and %eatures.
=ocated on each director and in +8
21. What is &re check 3ist to assi5n to stora5e to the host#
Host WW- detai3s.
Host and +/- connecti(ity to Fa2ric +witch
6y&e o% stora5e needed.6ier 1,6ier2 ,6ier4 0
+i9e o% the =<-
22. How do you check the 3o5in hosts in the /rray#
symmask @sid 124" 3ist 3o5ins
24. *7&3ain Ju3e 1D in D!#
Ju3e 1D is main3y %or D/, Director &airin5, a3on5 with dua3 &orted dri(es and the use o% the 8ort
By&ass Cards, now &ro(ides redundancy %or a disk dri(e %ai3ure.Directors are &aired &rocessor to
&rocessor usin5 the ru3e o% 1D.Directors 1 and 16 are &aired and directors 2 and 1> are &aired.
6he same conce&t is %o33owed on F/ e(en i% it is not mandatory. -orma33y channe3 directors are
insta33ed in &airs ,&ro(idin5 redundancy and continuous a(ai3a2i3ity in the e(ent o% re&air or
re&3acement to any one channe3 director.
+o 2y makin5 the directors in sum o% 1D, 2oth the directors wou3d %a33 under di%%erent &ower 9one
and i% one 5oes down a3so the data to 2e ser(ed.
What is the F/--1- and F/--,<6 ratio o% D!-"#
What is the ma7imum hy&er si9e in D!-"#
How many hypers can create in a Single disk?
How many members can contain in one meta?
How many LUN IDs available per port?
What Dynamic LUN addressing?
What are the DM!" s#pported disk types$ no% o& disks and ma'im#m capacity?
What are (a#lt drives and Hot Spare?
What is )review$ )repare and *ommit while #sing Symcon&ig#re command?
How do yo# check the back!end +perations on Symmetri' ,rray?
What are the service states o& a device
How do yo# reserve the devices?
What is -iering and how do yo# create the Disk .ro#ps
How do yo# check the &ree space by Disk gro#p and ,rray as whole?
How do yo# check the partic#lar disk is connected to which D, )ort and it is resides in
partic#lar D,/?
What is drive looping?
How do yo# check the partic#lar device is connected to which Host?
How do yo# check the n#mber o& storage bays connected to the system bay and n#mber
o& disks in each storage bay?
How do yo# check the devices which are mapped to 0, b#t not masked to any host?
/'plain step by step to provide storage to the Host?
What is -hin )rovisioning?
How do yo# create thin pools and thin devices?
What are the steps &or storage reclamation?
How many mirror positions 1,ID!2 and 1,ID!3 will occ#py?
How do yo# increase the mirror positions?
How do yo# convert the +ne device type to another?
What is 0, )ort 0lag and how do yo# set the 0, port &lags?
How do yo# set#p the Symmetri' metrics?
How do yo# check the con&ig#red environmental variables?
What are the /'ternal locks and how to check?
How to monitor per&ormance o& /M* Symmetri'?
How do yo# check per&ormance statistics o& a partic#lar director port?
How do yo# check the cache activity o& selected &ront!end directory?
How do yo# check the back!end I4+ re5#ests o& selected disk?
What are the available per&ormance in&ormation types in S6MS-,- command?
What is symmetri' optimi7er and how it works?
What is Symmetri' 8oS and how it works?
What is the p#rpose o& Symmetri' *hange -racker?
What is Dynamic *ache )artitioning?
What are the logs available at host!end and on symmetri' array?
How do yo# monitor the real time events on symmetri' array with e'ample?
How do yo# track the history o& events on symmetri' array with e'ample?
How do yo# check the a#dit logs on symmetri' array?
How do yo# activate the a#diting on symmetri' array?
What is Symmetri' ,*L?
/'plain step by step to set#p the access controls on symmetri' array?
How do yo# take the back#p o& ,*Ls?
What is Symmetri' User ,#thori7ation?
/'plain step by step to set#p #ser a#thori7ation on symmetri' array?
How do yo# per&orm back#p and restore #ser a#thori7ation in&ormation?
What are the services o& symcli?
/'plain step by step proced#re to set#p new host?
What are the Symcli 9ase Management *ommands?
How do yo# prepare the Storage *apacity planning reports by host wise?