NetApp Implementation Engineer - SAN ONTAP NS0-521 Exam Practice Test

Answer : A

ALUA (Asymmetric Logical Unit Access) is a protocol used in SAN environments to manage paths between a host and its storage. It enables the host to recognize and manage paths to the LUNs more efficiently by designating paths as either 'Active/Optimized' or 'Active/Nonoptimized'. A significant event, such as shutting down all FC LIFs on the HA partner node, will trigger ALUA to change the path states. This action effectively causes the storage paths to transition from the HA partner node to the local node, switching the path states from Active/Nonoptimized to Active/Optimized on the paths that remain active.

For more information, you can refer to:

NetApp Community Discussion on ALUA

NetApp Documentation on ALUA

Answer : C

In a two-node NetApp AFF ASA cluster, the recommended minimum number of paths for a SAN environment from the client host perspective is 4. This configuration ensures high availability and load balancing, which are critical for maintaining performance and resilience in a SAN environment. Each host should have at least two paths to each controller to achieve this setup.

For more detailed information, you can refer to:

NetApp SAN Configuration

NetApp All-Flash SAN Array Documentation

Answer : C

The recommended setting for using the NetApp ONTAP LUN fractional reserve is to set the space guarantee to 'volume'. This setting ensures that the required space for overwrites in the volume is reserved, preventing potential write failures when snapshot copies are created. This setup helps in maintaining the performance and reliability of the storage system by ensuring there is always enough space allocated for the LUN.

For further details, you can refer to:

NetApp Community Discussion on Fractional Reserve

NetApp Documentation on Space Management

Answer : A

To validate that the entire network path supports jumbo frames after an iSCSI implementation, you should perform a ping test from the host with fragmentation. This involves using the ping command with specific options to test jumbo frame support:

ping -M do -s 8972 <target_IP>

In this command:

-M do ensures the packets are not fragmented.

-s 8972 sets the packet size to 8972 bytes (9000 bytes MTU minus 28 bytes for the ICMP header).

By confirming that the large packets are successfully transmitted without fragmentation, you can validate that the network path, including switches and adapters, supports jumbo frames.

For more details, you can check:

NetApp Documentation - iSCSI Configuration and Best Practices (NetApp) (NetApp).

Answer : A, D

To ensure the best performance in an iSCSI SAN implementation:

Connect host and storage ports to the same switches: This minimizes latency and maximizes the efficiency of data paths by ensuring direct connections within the same network segment.

Configure Jumbo frames in the entire data path: Setting a larger Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) size reduces the overhead for processing each packet, thus improving overall network performance. Ensuring Jumbo frames are configured end-to-end in the data path is crucial for optimal performance.

For further details, check:

NetApp Best Practices for iSCSI

NetApp Community Discussion on iSCSI Performance

Answer : D

When configuring NVMe/FC (NVMe over Fibre Channel), it is necessary to enable N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) on all fabric switches. NPIV allows multiple Fibre Channel initiators to share a single physical Fibre Channel port, which is crucial for NVMe/FC environments where efficient utilization of available ports is needed.

NPIV support enables the creation of virtual ports, which can significantly optimize the configuration and management of Fibre Channel fabrics, thus supporting NVMe/FC operations.

For further details, you can refer to:

NetApp Community - NVMe/FC Configuration (NetApp Community).

NetApp Documentation - NVMe Overview (NetApp).

Answer : C

To configure SnapMirror active sync across two data centers using FC (Fibre Channel), the required connectivity between NetApp ONTAP clusters is cluster peering. Cluster peering involves establishing a trust relationship between the clusters, allowing them to replicate data seamlessly. This setup ensures that data synchronization and disaster recovery processes are effective and reliable.

For more detailed information, you can check:

NetApp Documentation on SnapMirror and Cluster Peering