HP HPE2-K45 Using HPE SimpliVity Exam Practice Test

According to the HPE SimpliVity Administration Guide1, one of the possible solutions to avoid the potential problem of CPU intensive applications impacting the performance of other virtual machines is to deploy the CPU intensive virtual machines on HPE SimpliVity, and configure for them CPU affinity parameter. This parameter allows you to specify which physical CPU cores are used by a virtual machine, and thus isolate the CPU intensive workloads from the rest of the virtual machines. This way, you can still leverage the HPE SimpliVity features, such as data efficiency, backup and restore, and federation management, for these virtual machines. The other options are not correct because:

• Presenting HPE SimpliVity datastores to external ESXi system that will house the CPU intensive virtual machines is not a recommended solution, as it will reduce the data efficiency and availability benefits of HPE SimpliVity, and introduce additional complexity and overhead in managing the external ESXi system1.
• Adding an external ESXi cluster to HPE SimpliVity Federation, and enabling Intelligent Workload Optimizer is not a recommended solution, as it will require additional hardware and software costs, and may not guarantee the optimal performance of the CPU intensive virtual machines, as the Intelligent Workload Optimizer is based on heuristics and not on strict rules2.
• Adding an external ESXi system to HPE SimpliVity cluster, and enabling DRS functionality for CPU intensive virtual machines is not a recommended solution, as it will violate the HPE SimpliVity cluster requirements, and may cause issues with the HPE SimpliVity federation and data protection features1. References: 1: HPE SimpliVity Administration Guide (A00019350ENW), pages 23, 25, 28, 32, 342: HPE SimpliVity Intelligent Workload Optimizer User Guide (A00019354ENW), pages 5, 7, 9.

 According to the HPE SimpliVity Solution Design Guide1, Lanamark is a cloud-based service that collects and analyzes data from customer environments to support the solution design process. Lanamark can collect data from various sources, such as vCenter Server, Hyper-V, XenServer, physical servers, and storage arrays. However, if the customer environment is not connected to the internet, Lanamark Snap can be used to collect the data offline and then upload it manually to the Lanamark portal. Lanamark Snap is a portable tool that can be downloaded from the Lanamark portal and run on any Windows workstation that has access to the customer environment. Lanamark Snap can connect to the vCenter Server and collect the performance data from the ESXi hosts and virtual machines. Lanamark Snap can also collect data from other sources, such as physical servers and storage arrays, by using agents or scripts. Lanamark Snap saves the collected data in a compressed file that can be uploaded to the Lanamark portal for analysis and reporting.

Therefore, the correct answer is D. Download Lanamark Snap and use it to collect the data, and then upload manually to the Lanamark portal, as this is the best option to collect data from an ESXi infrastructure that is not connected to the internet. References:

• 1: HPE SimpliVity Solution Design Guide, https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/getdocument.aspx?docname=a00019351enw, page 15-16

• HPE SimpliVity is a hyperconverged infrastructure solution that combines compute, storage, networking, and data services in a single platform. HPE SimpliVity integrates with HPE StoreOnce, a disk-based backup appliance, to provide efficient and reliable data protection and disaster recovery for distributed edge sites12.
• HPE SimpliVity uses HPE StoreOnce Catalyst, a deduplication protocol, to replicate data from HPE SimpliVity clusters to HPE StoreOnce appliances. HPE SimpliVity leverages its global deduplication and compression capabilities to send only the unique data blocks to HPE StoreOnce, reducing the bandwidth and storage requirements34.
• To optimize the replication performance, HPE SimpliVity uses a dynamic stream allocation algorithm that determines how many streams it needs to copy data to an HPE StoreOnce target. According to the HPE SimpliVity with HPE StoreOnce Reference Architecture document, the algorithm considers the following factors:
• The document states that “The available bandwidth is the most important factor in determining the number of streams. The more bandwidth available, the more streams can be used to copy data. However, the number of streams is limited by the latency and the size of the data. If the latency is too high or the data size is too small, adding morestreams will not improve the performance.” Therefore, the available bandwidth is the criteria that HPE SimpliVity uses to decide how many streams it needs to copy data to an HPE StoreOnce target.

References:

1: SimpliVity Hyperconverged | HPE 2: Expand backups to secondary storage with HPE SimpliVity hyperconverged infrastructure and HPE StoreOnce 3: HPE SimpliVity with HPE StoreOnce 4: HPE SimpliVity with HPE StoreOnce: A better together story : [HPE SimpliVity with HPE StoreOnce Reference Architecture] : [HPE SimpliVity Data Virtualization Platform] : [HPE SimpliVity Intelligent Workload Optimizer] : [HPE SimpliVity Federation Design and Scaling Guide]

The Support Capture file is a compressed file that contains diagnostic data from the HPE SimpliVity hosts, such as system status information and log files. The system status information includes the configuration, performance, and health of the host and its components, such as the HPE OmniStack Virtual Controller, the HPE OmniStack Accelerator Card, the datastore, the network, and the virtual machines. The log files include the messages and events that are generated by the host and its components, such as the kernel, the hypervisor, the HPE SimpliVity software, and the HPE SimpliVity hardware1. The Support Capture file is used by the HPE Support team to troubleshoot and resolve issues with the HPE SimpliVity system.

The other options are not included in the Support Capture file. The license entitlement is the information that verifies the customer’s right to use the HPE SimpliVity software and features, but it is not part of the diagnostic data2. The HPE InfoSight connection parameters are the settings that enable the HPE SimpliVity system to connect to the HPE InfoSight cloud-based platform for predictive analytics and proactive support, but they are not part of the diagnostic data3. The security token to access the system remotely is a temporary credential that allows the HPE Support team to access the HPE SimpliVity system via a secure tunnel, but it is not part of the diagnostic data.

References: 1: Simplivity Video - How to gather a SimpliVity Support Capture 2: [HPE SimpliVity License Entitlement] 3: [HPE SimpliVity and HPE InfoSight] : [HPE SimpliVity Remote Support]

The HPE SimpliVity OmniStack Interoperability Guide is a document that provides the information about the supported hardware and software components for the HPE SimpliVity solution, such as the HPE SimpliVity nodes, the VMware ESXi hosts, the VMware vCenter Server, the HPE OmniStack software, the HPE SimpliVity Arbiter, and the guestoperating systems1. The guide also provides the compatibility matrix and the configuration guidelines for the HPE SimpliVity solution. The ESXi version (option B) and the guest OS version (option C) are two items that can be found in the HPE SimpliVity OmniStack Interoperability Guide, as they are essential for the proper functioning and performance of the HPE SimpliVity solution. The guide lists the supported ESXi versions for each HPE SimpliVity node model and HPE OmniStack software version, as well as the supported guest OS versions for each HPE SimpliVity node model1. The GPU accelerators (option A), the vSphere license (option D), and the processor model (option E) are not items that can be found in the HPE SimpliVity OmniStack Interoperability Guide, as they are not relevant or required for the HPE SimpliVity solution. The GPU accelerators are not supported by the HPE SimpliVity solution, as they are not compatible with the HPE SimpliVity nodes2. The vSphere license is not specified by the HPE SimpliVity solution, as it depends on the customer’s choice and needs3. The processor model is not listed by the HPE SimpliVity solution, as it is already determined by the HPE SimpliVity node model4. References:

• 1: HPE SimpliVity OmniStack Interoperability Guide 4.2.0, HPE, 2021, pp. 1-25.
• 2: HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10 Node Data sheet, HPE, 2019, p. 5.
• 3: Using HPE SimpliVity Official Certification Study Guide (HPE2-K45), HPE Press, 2019, p. 27.
• 4: Using HPE SimpliVity Official Certification Study Guide (HPE2-K45), HPE Press, 2019, p. 17.

To use this option, you need to select the backup from which you want to restore the files, then click Backup Actions > Restore Files. You will be prompted to enter the following information:

• The name of the virtual machine where you want to restore the files
• The path of the folder where you want to restore the files
• The path of the folder that you want to restore from the backup
• The credentials of the virtual machine where you want to restore the files

After you enter the required information, click OK to start the restore process3.

• HPE SimpliVity Hyperconverged Infrastructure for VMware vSphere 3.7.10 Administration Guide, page 97
• HPE SimpliVity Hyperconverged Infrastructure for VMware vSphere 3.7.10 Best Practices Guide, page 20
• Restore files from a backup - techhub.hpe.com

The Total Data Stored metric in HPE InfoSight for HPE SimpliVity represents the total amount of data that is stored on the HPE SimpliVity cluster for a given VM. This includes the VM data, which is the actual size of the VM on the datastore, as well as the local backups and remote backups, which are the copies of the VM data that are stored on the same or different clusters for data protection purposes1. The Total Data Stored metric is calculated before deduplication and compression, which are the data efficiency features of HPE SimpliVity that reduce the physical storage consumption2.

The VM Storage Usage metric in vCenter represents the amount of storage space that is allocated to a VM on a datastore. This metric does not include the backups of the VM data, as they are not visible to vCenter. The VM Storage Usage metric is also calculated after deduplication and compression, which means that it reflects the actual storage consumption of the VM data on the datastore3.

Therefore, the Total Data Stored metric is significantly higher than the VM Storage Usage metric because it includes more data elements and it does not account for the data efficiency features of HPE SimpliVity.

References: 1: HPE SimpliVity frequently asked questions 2: The technology enabling HPE SimpliVity data efficiency 3: [VMware vSphere Documentation]

 HPE Reference Architectures for HPE SimpliVity provide validated configuration for a specific workload, such as VMware Horizon, SAP HANA, Microsoft SQL Server, and others. HPE Reference Architectures are designed to reduce the complexities of planning, designing, and implementing infrastructure across a variety of workloads and platforms. They document fully tested and optimized configurations that leverage HPE SimpliVity’s hyperconverged infrastructure and data services. HPE Reference Architectures for HPE SimpliVity do not provide solution pricing and possible discounts, as these may vary depending on the customer’s needs and preferences. They do not provide recommended hardware configuration in ne Config Advanced (CA) format, as this is a tool for configuring HPE products and solutions, not areference architecture. They do not provide comparison with equivalent competitor offerings, as this is not the purpose of a reference architecture. References: Reference Architectures for HPE Systems and Solutions, section “Overview”. HPE Reference Architecture for VMware Horizon on HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10, section “Abstract”. HPE Reference Architecture for SAP HANA 2.0 on HPE SimpliVity 380, section “Abstract”. HPE Reference Architecture for Microsoft SQL Server 2017 on HPE SimpliVity 380, section “Abstract”.

According to the HPE SimpliVity documents and learning resources, each datastore in an HPE SimpliVity cluster is presented to the HPE SimpliVity nodes as a VMFS datastore. A VMFS datastore is a VMware-specific file system that allows multiple ESXi hosts to access the same storage device concurrently. HPE SimpliVity uses VMFS datastores to store virtual machine files and provide shared storage to all virtual machines on the hosts. HPE SimpliVity does not use vSAN, NFS, or vVol as the datastore type. References: Using HPE SimpliVity Official Certification Study Guide, page 41; SimpliVity Video - How to Create a HPE SimpliVity Datastore

 According to the HPE SimpliVity documents and learning resources, the difference between crash consistent and application consistent cloning methods is that the application consistent method ensures that the cloned virtual machine is in a consistent state with respect to the application data and transactions. This means that the application consistent method allows the pending 10 operations to finish before committing them to the database, and flushes the memory buffers and caches to the disk. This ensures that the cloned virtual machine can resume the application without any data loss or corruption. The crash consistent method, on the other hand, does not guarantee that the cloned virtual machine is in a consistent state with respect tothe application data and transactions. This means that the crash consistent method does not wait for the pending 10 operations to finish or flush the memory buffers and caches to the disk. This may result in some data loss or corruption if the cloned virtual machine resumes the application. The crash consistent method is faster than the application consistent method, but less reliable. The other options are incorrect because they are either false or irrelevant. Both methods are not the same, and the difference is not only speed of cloning. The crash consistent method can be used for any virtual machine, not only for those with Fault Tolerance enabled. The application consistent method is available for both Windows and Linux operating systems, not only for Linux. References: Clone a virtual machine; HPE SimpliVity frequently asked questions, page 17; Using HPE SimpliVity Official Certification Study Guide, page 65

The best way to migrate virtual machines from the existing infrastructure to HPE SimpliVity is to share HPE SimpliVity datastores with standard ESXi hosts, and migrate the virtual machines using VMware vSphere® Storage vMotion®1. This method allows the virtual machines to be moved to the HPE SimpliVity datastores without any downtime or impact on the performance. The HPE SimpliVity datastores are automatically created and managed by the HPE SimpliVity Virtual Controller, and they can be shared with any ESXi host that is in the same vCenter Server® as the HPE SimpliVity cluster2. Connecting VMFS datastores holding the virtual machine files to HPE SimpliVity nodes, and migrating the virtual machines (option A) is not a supported method, as the HPE SimpliVity nodes do not have direct access to the VMFS datastores, and they can only use the HPE SimpliVity datastores3. Mapping VMFS datastores holding the virtual machine files as an RDM to HPE SimpliVity nodes, and migrating the virtual machines (option C) is not a supported method, as the HPE SimpliVity nodes do not support RDM devices, and they can only use the HPE SimpliVity datastores4. Adding ESXi system to the HPE SimpliVity cluster, and migrating the virtual machines to HPE SimpliVity datastores (option D) is not a recommended method, as it requires the ESXi system to be converted to an HPE SimpliVity node, which involves installing the HPE OmniStack software and the HPE SimpliVity Virtual Controller, and reconfiguring the network settings. This method may cause downtime and data loss, and it is only advised for specific scenarios, such as replacing a failed node or expanding the cluster. References:

• 1: Using HPE SimpliVity Official Certification Study Guide (HPE2-K45), HPE Press, 2019, p. 29.
• 2: HPE SimpliVity OmniStack Interoperability Guide 4.2.0, HPE, 2021, p. 8.
• 3: HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10 Node Data sheet, HPE, 2019, p. 5.
• 4: HPE SimpliVity OmniStack Interoperability Guide 4.2.0, HPE, 2021, p. 9.
• [5]: HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10 Node Installation and Startup Service, HPE, 2019, p. 3.

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