Interview Questions for Hitachi Vantara Technical Support L2
What is the difference between NAS and SAN?
SAN NAS
block-level storage based file-level storage based
communicate using Fibre-Channel(FC) communicate using TCP/IP protocol
dedicated network connected directly on the network via LAN/Ethernet
volume appear as local drive to host volume appear as network drive
host accessing the volume via SCSI protocol host accessing the volume via CIFS, NFS(SMB) protocol
What is RAID Group?
-RAID stand for Redundant Array of Independent Disk
-Storage technology that combines & putting multiple disks into one group
What is the difference between Raid 5 and Raid 6?
RAID-5 RAID-6
use striping and distributed parity use striping with dual parity
minimum 3 disk minimum 4 disk
can sustained 1 failed disk can sustained 2 failed disk at the same time
parity information written to one disk parity information is written to two disk
more usable capacity less usable capacity
write performance is better than RAID 6 write performance is slower than RAID 5
used application and file servers used for mission critical data
Name the devices in the SAN infrastructure?
Hosts, FC switches and storage devices
What is HBA?
-host bus adapters is a device that allow a host to connect to storage device and transmit IO request
via Fibre Channel
What is SFP?
-Small Form Factor Pluggable (SFP) is transceiver that used in network device for send and receive
signal
-performs conversions between optical and electrical signals
What is LUN?
-Logical Unit Number is a number that used identifies a specific hard disk drive in the storage
environment with the help of a logical unit.
-A logical unit is a device which can be addressed by computer network protocols such as Fibre
Channel (FC)
-LUN could refer entire RAID set, a single drive or partition or multiple hard disk.
- the logical unit treated as if it is a single device and is recognized by the LUN.
What is WWN?
-World Wide Name(WWN) is a unique identifier used for all network storage devices.
-A WWN is a number that is hard-coded into network storage devices
-WWN is like a MAC address but for network storage devices.
What is Flogi?
-Fabric Login(Flogi) is one of device login process when its connected to the fabric for the first time.
-Device send it the first frame to switch that contains information like WWPN and buffer to buffer
credits (B2B credits).
The fabric then assigned FCID to device to identify. the end device acknowledge that it has received
the FCID
-FCID HAS TWO MAIN PARTS
The Domain ID is unique for all devices that are connected to the same switch,
The Port ID is unique to each device connected to the same switch
>>>>>
What is zoning?
-Zoning is a process of grouping several devices together so that each member in the same
group/zone can communicate with each other. Devices will only have access to a resources within
group/zone
What is the difference between hard zoning and soft zoning?
-Hard zoning is a zoning mechanism for blocking communication between devices that are not
members of the same zone
-Soft zoning is a method of zoning that limits information about devices or depends on a device's own
access restrictions to limit communication with other devices. An example of soft zoning is Name
Server zoning whereby the name server restricts responses to only those devices which are in the
same zone
Hard Zoning Soft Zoning
Implemented at hardware level Implemented at software level
Preventing a host from accessing a device it is Preventing hosts from discovering unauthorized target
not authorized to access devices
Checking each frame before it is delivered to Ensuring that the name server does not return any
a zone member and discards it if there is a information to an unauthorized initiator in response
zone mismatch to a name server query.
Device must connect to specific port Device can connect to any port
zone the port zone the WWN
What is the function of storage controller in a storage system?
A storage controller is a device that controls storage arrays and manage and process the I/O request
What is the function of cache in a storage system?
-A cache is a temporary storage where any data in transit is temporarily stored before they are
written to the disk
What is the function of front end port(FEP)?
-Used connect to the storage network and allow hosts to access and use exported storage resources
What is function of multipath software on server?
-to configure load balancing and manage path failover to storage devices
Can you explain the I/O flow starting from HBA till it's written into disk?
What is the software use to manage I/O ?
Multipath IO(MPIO)
What is a core switch and edge switch?
What's the difference between Thick and Thin provisioning?
Thick provisioning- the allocated space is reserved completely. The provided capacity is immediately
subtracted from the total capacity of the storage and is therefore no longer available.
Thin provisioning, the allocated size is displayed, but the storage capacity used based on the actual
size used making over provisioning possible
What is replication?
Replication is the process of copying data from one location to another(from one array to
another/source-destination)
What is disaster recovery?
Method of restore service or application to its IT infrastructure after a natural disaster or human error
event that impacting the business
What is RPO/RTO?
RPO(Recovery Point Objective) - the point of time which the services restored and recovered. RPO=0
mean no data loss
RTO(Recovery Time Objective) - the time duration takes to bring up the services up and running.
RTO=0 mean no downtime
What do you understand about storage migration?
Process to migrate data from one storage device to other storage device or the same storage device
What is the difference between Hitachi True Copy and Hitachi Universal Replicator?
Hitachi TrueCopy Hitachi Universal Replicator
used for synchronize replication used for asynchronize replication
cover limited(short) distance cover unlimited distance
What is a journal volume?
-volume that is created to setup asynchronize replication. The data is written/store to the journal before
replicate to the secondary array.
What is RCU and MCU?
Main Control Units (MCUs) and Remote Control Units (RCUs). The MCU communicates with the RCU
through the dedicated remote copy connections.
How do you check in storage device manager if the WWN of a server is logged in?
Go to Port/Host group > Login WWN tab
What are the steps you will take when u get RIO path alerts?
Login to the storage and check if the MCU and RCU port is online or down
Login to the replication switch and check the port where the RCU and MCU port are connected to
Run portperfshow and check if traffic is passing
Try to fcping the RCU and MCU port
Bounce the switch port
What is a port security on storage FEP?
what is the difference between DP and HDT pool?
DP-Dynamic Provisioning
HDT-Hitachi Dynamic Tiering
What is the page file size for DP volume?
Kindly explain the procedures/steps for zoning for a new server.
-create alias and add the server WWPN
-create zone and add the alias(member)
-add the zone to config
-enable the config
When you get incident for port down, how do determine if the SFP or cable is faulty/end device like
HBA?
-login to switch and check the port status(portshow). If it's offline and port state shows as Laser-flt
mean the SFP is failed
-run porterrshow and check if there is value in enc_out. If there is enc_out error then cable is bad.
Combination of enc_out and crc_err suggested SFP error
-sfpshow; check the Tx and Rx value. Tx refer to the switch SFP and Rx refer to the end device SFP
-if either Tx or Rx value is nil the respective device SFP is faulty.
-if the Rx value is low between -6.0 to -40 mean some issue at the end device
What is the difference between F-Port and E-Port?
Expansion Port – E Port – used to connects to another switch E port to form an inter-switch link (ISL)
link between two switches.
Fabric Port – F Port – it connects to a peripheral device (like a host or disk). Note that the device it
connects to has an N port.
Node Port - N port - port used to connect from node/device to a Fiber Chanel switch
What is ISL?
Inter-Switch Link (ISL) - A connection between two switches or using the E_Port
What is ICL?
An inter-chassis link (ICL) is a licensed feature that provides short-distance connectivity between two
or more Brocade DCX Backbone Chassis. ICL ports in the core blades interconnect the chassis
platforms, potentially increasing the number of usable ports in the chassis platforms.
Not using E-port
