HPE2-K45 Using HPE SimpliVity Questions and Answers

According to the HPE SimpliVity documents and learning resources, the best practice for designing an HPE SimpliVity solution is to use nodes with the same drive configuration and capacity within a cluster, and avoid mixing All-flash and hybrid nodes, or nodes with different drive types, sizes, or speeds. This is because mixing nodes with different drive configurations can result in unbalanced 10 performance and capacity utilization, as well as compatibility issues.Therefore, the recommended option for this design is to create a new cluster with HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10 H SFF nodes at the remote site, and keep the existing cluster with HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10 hardware accelerated nodes at the primary site. The other options are incorrect because they do not follow the best practice and can cause performance and capacity problems. References: Using HPE SimpliVity Official Certification Study Guide, page 42; HPE SimpliVity networking explained; HPE SimpliVity Releases

 According to the HPE SimpliVity documents and learning resources, the HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10 is the only model that can be equipped with the HPE mniStack Accelerator card. The HPE mniStack Accelerator card is a PCIe-based card that provides hardware acceleration for data compression and deduplication. It also enables the HPE SimpliVity RapidDR feature, which automates and simplifies disaster recovery operations. The other models, such as the HPE SimpliVity 2600, the HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10 H, and the HPE SimpliVity 325 Gen10, do not support the HPE mniStack Accelerator card. They rely on software-based data efficiency and backup features. References: Using HPE SimpliVity Official Certification Study Guide, page 29; HPE SimpliVity networking explained; HPE SimpliVity Releases

 HPE Storence Management Console is a web-based management interface for HPE StoreOnce Systems, which are backup appliances that provide deduplication and replication capabilities. One of the features that can be configured using HPE Storence Management Console is the Catalyst store, which is a logical container for backup data that supports Catalyst protocol. Catalyst protocol is a proprietary protocol that enables source-side deduplication, low-bandwidth replication, and direct backup from application servers. Backup policy, storage policy, and deduplication ratio are not specific to HPE Storence Management Console, and can be configured using other tools or interfaces. References: HPE StoreOnce system software, section “Software Details”. The StoreOnce System Management Console, section “The StoreOnce System GUI and CLI together make up the Management Console”. HPE StoreOnce Catalyst User Guide, section “Introduction to HPE StoreOnce Catalyst”.

According to the HPE SimpliVity documents and learning resources, mixing nodes with different drive configurations within a cluster is not recommended, as it can result in unbalanced 10 performance and capacity utilization. This is because the HPE SimpliVity nodes use a distributed file system that replicates data across all nodes in the cluster, and the data efficiency and backup features depend on the consistent performance of the underlying storage devices. Therefore, it is best to use nodes with the same drive configuration and capacity within a cluster, and avoid mixing All-flash and hybrid nodes, or nodes with different drive types, sizes, or speeds. The other options are incorrect because they are either false or irrelevant. Mixing nodes with different drive configuration does not require an additional license, nor is it available only for AMD-based nodes. Mixing All-flash and hybrid nodes in the same cluster is not supported, as it can causeperformance and capacity issues. References: Using HPE SimpliVity Official Certification Study Guide, page 42; HPE SimpliVity networking explained; HPE SimpliVity Releases

The correct answer is A. All VMs on the node restart in a node where the replica resides. This is because HPE SimpliVity uses a replication factor (RF) of 2 or 3 to ensure that each virtual machine (VM) has one or two copies of its data on different nodes in the cluster. If an HPE OmniStack Virtual Controller (VC) fails, the VMs on that node lose access to their primary data, but they can still access their replica data on another node. The vSphere HA feature detects the VC failure and restarts the VMs on the node where the replica resides, ensuring data availability and continuity1.

The other options are not correct. Option B is incorrect because HPE SimpliVity Intelligent Workload Optimizer (IWO) is a feature that balances the VMs across the cluster based on CPU and memory utilization, not on VC failures2. Option C is incorrect because the IP address of the VC does not fail over to another node, but remains associated with the failed node. The VMs on the failed node are restarted on another node with a different VC IP address3. Option D is incorrect because the VMs on the node do not go on standby mode, but are restarted on another node to resume their operations.

References: 1: HPE SimpliVity frequently asked questions 2: HPE SimpliVity Intelligent Workload Optimizer 3: HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10 Node User Guide

• Register External Store …1

This option allows you to register an HPE StoreOnce Catalyst Store as an external backup target for HPE SimpliVity. This enables you to store VM backups on an HPEStoreOnce system, which is a disk-based backup solution that offers deduplication, compression, encryption, remote replication, and direct application-managed integration2.

To use this option, you need to have an HPE StoreOnce appliance connected to your HPE SimpliVity cluster, and configure a Catalyst Store on it. Then, you can select the All HPE SimpliVity Actions menu, and click Register External Store. You will be prompted to enter the following information:

• The name of the external store
• The IP address or hostname of the HPE StoreOnce appliance
• The name of the Catalyst Store
• The credentials of the Catalyst Store

After you enter the required information, click OK to register the external store1.

 According to the HPE SimpliVity REST API Reference Guide1, the svtcli account is a local emergency account that can be used to access HPE SimpliVity data using REST API whenthe hypervisor-based user is unavailable. This account can only perform a limited set of operations, such as getting information about hosts, clusters, backups, datastores, and virtual machines, and restoring backups of virtual machines. The svtcli account can request an authentication token using the emergency grant type, which is valid for 10 minutes of inactivity or 24 hours of continuous activity. The other options are not correct because:

• The svtcli account is not used when two or more VCs are not available. In that case, the federation management is transferred to the remaining VCs2.
• The svtcli account is not used when the hypervisor-based user is unavailable. In that case, the emergency grant type is used to access the REST API using the svtcli account1.
• The svtcli account is not used for daily management tasks performed using CLI. For that purpose, the hypervisor-based user is used, which has full access to the CLI commands3. References: 1: HPE SimpliVity REST API Reference Guide (A00019351ENW), pages 9-10, 14-152: HPE SimpliVity Administration Guide (A00019350ENW), page 303: HPE SimpliVity CLI Reference Guide (A00019352ENW), page 9.

The Persistent Storage layer is the lowest layer of the HPE SimpliVity Data Visualization Platform. It is responsible for storing and tracking all data and metadata on the HPE SimpliVity nodes. It uses a distributed file system that spans across all nodes in a cluster, and provides high availability, scalability, and performance. The Persistent Storage layer also integrates with the HPE OmniStack Accelerator Card, which enables accelerated data efficiency, global unified management, and built-in data protection12. References: HPE SimpliVity Data Virtualization Platform technical white paper, SimpliVity Data Virtualization Platform Architecture - YouTube

Before moving a virtual machine to another datastore, you need to take a snapshot of the virtual machine using the HPE SimpliVity plugin in vSphere. This ensures that the virtual machine is in a consistent state and that the data is protected. The snapshot also serves as a backup in case the move operation fails or is interrupted. After taking the snapshot, you can use the HPE SimpliVity move operation to move the virtual machine to the desired datastore, either within the same cluster or across clusters. The move operation preserves the data efficiency and resiliency of the virtual machine, and does not require any downtime or reconfiguration12. References: Move a virtual machine to another datastore - Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HPE SimpliVity frequently asked questions