Storage Data Center Flashcards

Which RAID level provides striping with double distributed parity, tolerating up to two simultaneous drive failures?

Answer: RAID 6

RAID 6 uses two independent parity blocks distributed across drives, allowing the array to survive two concurrent drive failures.

In a SAN environment, what is the primary function of a fabric switch?

Answer: To interconnect hosts and storage devices using Fibre Channel or iSCSI

A fabric switch in a SAN interconnects hosts and storage arrays using Fibre Channel or iSCSI protocols, enabling block-level storage access.

What is the purpose of storage tiering in a data center?

Answer: To automatically move data between different speed/cost storage classes based on access frequency

Storage tiering automatically migrates data between high-performance and lower-cost tiers based on how frequently that data is accessed.

Which protocol is used for block-level storage over standard Ethernet networks as an alternative to Fibre Channel?

Answer: iSCSI

iSCSI encapsulates SCSI commands within TCP/IP packets, enabling block-level SAN storage over standard Ethernet infrastructure.

What does RPO (Recovery Point Objective) measure in data center storage planning?

Answer: The maximum acceptable data loss measured in time

RPO defines the maximum tolerable period of data loss — for example, an RPO of 1 hour means you can lose at most 1 hour of data.

In object storage, how is data primarily identified and retrieved?

Answer: By a unique content-based key or object ID

Object storage uses unique identifiers (keys) rather than file paths or block addresses, making it highly scalable for unstructured data.

What is deduplication in the context of data center storage?

Answer: Eliminating redundant copies of repeating data to reduce storage consumption

Deduplication identifies and removes duplicate data blocks, storing only unique instances and referencing them where duplicates existed.