D-PSC-DY-23 Sample Questions & Answers
Cluster networking and SmartConnect configuration carry the top weight, alongside file filtering and quota data services, SMB and NFS client access, SmartPools tiering, data protection and layout, identity mapping, PowerScale and OneFS basics, and monitoring tools.
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- Question 1Intermediate
Configuring Storage Pools · File Pool Policies for Data Placement
A media production house is deploying a PowerScale cluster for video editing workflows. They have a high-performance tier of Gen 6.5 nodes with NVMe SSDs and a large capacity tier of hybrid nodes. Editors save project files in
/ifs/media/projects, and the transcoding system writes proxy files to/ifs/media/proxies. New project files must be written to the high-performance tier, and new proxy files directly to the capacity tier, at the time of file creation. Which PowerScale feature is best suited to automate this data placement?Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
File pool policies (SmartPools) match files on criteria such as path, name, size and timestamps, and set a storage target. When a file is created in a directory covered by a path-based file pool policy, it is written directly to that policy's target pool without waiting for a SmartPools job. Files matched only on other attributes, such as a *.mp4 name pattern, are first written to the default pool and moved the next time the SmartPools job runs (daily by default). CloudPools tiers data to cloud storage, SmartQuotas limits capacity, and SyncIQ replicates data between clusters.
- Question 2Advanced
Foundations of Data Protection and Layout · Interpreting Protection Levels
Which OneFS command displays the requested protection, the current actual protection, and the write-coalescing status of files in a directory?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
isi getlists file attributes, including the requested protection, the current actual protection, and whether write-coalescing is enabled (output columns POLICY, LEVEL, PERFORMANCE, COAL). Add -D for more detail or -R to recurse into subdirectories.isi setchanges attributes such as requested protection but does not report them.isi storagepool settings viewshows global SmartPools settings, andisi quota quotas viewshows a quota. - Question 3Beginner
Configuring the Foundations for Access · Access Zone Configuration
True or False: When creating a new Access Zone on a PowerScale cluster, you must immediately assign a unique base directory that does not overlap with the base directory of any other Access Zone, including the System zone.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
False. OneFS recommends giving each access zone a unique base directory that does not overlap another zone's base directory (the System zone is the exception), because that isolates data. This is a best practice, not a requirement. OneFS supports overlapping base directories when workflows need shared data. In that case the zones should share authentication providers, or use SID as the on-disk identity, so that users keep consistent identities.
- Question 4Intermediate
Configuring Identity Management and Authorization · ZRBAC Role Assignment
A large enterprise uses Zone-Based Role-Based Access Control (ZRBAC) to delegate administrative tasks. A junior administrator for the 'Engineering' access zone needs the ability to manage SMB shares and NFS exports in that zone, but must be prevented from modifying authentication providers for the zone. Which built-in ZRBAC role should be assigned?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
In a non-System access zone the integrated ZoneAdmin role includes ISI_PRIV_SMB and ISI_PRIV_NFS, as well as S3, HDFS, file filtering, audit and namespace access privileges, but not ISI_PRIV_AUTH or ISI_PRIV_ROLE. Authentication providers are managed by the separate ZoneSecurityAdmin role (LOGIN_PAPI, AUTH, ROLE). SecurityAdmin and SystemAdmin are System-zone roles with cluster-wide scope, and there is no built-in 'Data Protection Administrator' role.
- Question 5Intermediate
Configuring Storage Pools · CloudPools Functionality
A hospital is archiving medical images to a PowerScale cluster and needs to ensure data is retained for 10 years for compliance. They are concerned about storage costs for this long-term retention. The plan is to use CloudPools to tier data older than one year to a public cloud provider. What is a key characteristic of how CloudPools handles tiered files?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
A core function of CloudPools is to maintain a seamless namespace. When a file is tiered, its data blocks are moved to the cloud object store, but the file's inode and metadata remain on the PowerScale cluster. A small stub file acts as a pointer to the data in the cloud. This makes the file still visible and accessible from its original path, though accessing it will incur recall latency from the cloud.
- Question 6Beginner
Configuring Client Access to Data · SMB Share Configuration
During a PowerScale deployment, an administrator is configuring an SMB share for a new department. The requirement is that users should only see the folders within the share to which they have explicit access permissions. Folders they cannot access should not be visible at all. Which SMB share setting must be enabled to achieve this?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Access-Based Enumeration (ABE) is the specific SMB feature that filters directory listings based on user permissions. When ABE is enabled on a share, a user browsing the share will only see the files and folders for which they have at least Read access. This prevents users from discovering the existence of resources they are not permitted to access.
- Question 7Intermediate
Foundations of Data Protection and Layout · Concurrent vs Streaming Data Layouts
A PowerScale cluster is configured with the default data layout access pattern. An administrator observes that for a specific workload involving large, sequential video file reads, the performance is suboptimal. Which data layout model would be more appropriate for this workload, and why?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
OneFS optimizes striping for concurrent access by default. For lower-concurrency, higher single-stream workloads such as video, the streaming access pattern stripes data across more drives and prefetches data aggressively, which improves sequential read performance; it is most effective for large files. The stripe unit stays 128 KB in every pattern; streaming changes the stripe width and prefetch, not the stripe-unit size. The pattern can be set per file or directory, or as an action of a file pool policy.
- Question 8Advanced
Configuring the Foundations for Access · Multi-tenancy with Access Zones and ZRBAC
A company has a single PowerScale cluster that serves three distinct departments: Marketing, Engineering, and Finance. The IT team wants to implement a solution with the following characteristics:
- Each department should have its own set of authentication providers.
- Client connections for each department must be routed to separate, dedicated IP address pools.
- Administration of SMB shares within a department should be delegated to a departmental admin.
Which combination of PowerScale features should be implemented to meet all these requirements?
graph TD subgraph PowerScale_Cluster subgraph AZ_Marketing [Access Zone: Marketing] Auth1[Auth: AD_MKT] Pool1[IP Pool: 10.10.1.0/24] Admin1[Admin: MKT_Admin] end subgraph AZ_Engineering [Access Zone: Engineering] Auth2[Auth: AD_ENG] Pool2[IP Pool: 10.10.2.0/24] Admin2[Admin: ENG_Admin] end subgraph AZ_Finance [Access Zone: Finance] Auth3[Auth: AD_FIN] Pool3[IP Pool: 10.10.3.0/24] Admin3[Admin: FIN_Admin] end endShow answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
This combination correctly addresses all requirements. Access Zones provide the foundational multi-tenancy, allowing for separate authentication providers and base directories. SmartConnect Zones, mapped to these Access Zones, provide dedicated connection points via separate IP Pools. Zone-Based RBAC (ZRBAC) allows for the delegation of administrative privileges (like share management) that are scoped only to a specific Access Zone.
- Question 9Intermediate
Configuring Data Services · SmartDedupe Configuration
A new PowerScale cluster is being deployed. The administrator needs to enable deduplication to save capacity. The primary workload consists of VDI user profiles, which have high data redundancy. The administrator is concerned about potential performance impact during peak login hours (8-10 AM). Which SmartDedupe configuration is most appropriate for this scenario?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
For performance-sensitive workloads like VDI, post-process (or scheduled) deduplication is the best practice. This approach allows data to be written to the cluster at maximum speed without the overhead of inline deduplication. The deduplication job can then be scheduled to run during off-peak hours (e.g., overnight) to reclaim space without impacting user experience during critical login periods.
- Question 10BeginnerSelect 3
Configuring the Foundations for Access · Link Aggregation Technologies
Which of the following are valid link aggregation types that can be configured on a PowerScale Gen 6 cluster? (Select THREE)
Show answer & explanation
Correct answers: B, C, D
OneFS 9.5 supports four link aggregation modes on an IP address pool. LACP is dynamic (IEEE 802.3ad) and is the default for new pools. Loadbalance/FEC is a static, hash-based mode (the CLI value is fec). Round-robin is static, and Active/Passive Failover is static. 'Static EtherChannel' and PAgP are switch-side terms, not OneFS aggregation modes.
OneFS 9.5 supports four link aggregation modes on an IP address pool. LACP is dynamic (IEEE 802.3ad) and is the default for new pools. Loadbalance/FEC is a static, hash-based mode (the CLI value is fec). Round-robin is static, and Active/Passive Failover is static. 'Static EtherChannel' and PAgP are switch-side terms, not OneFS aggregation modes.
OneFS 9.5 supports four link aggregation modes on an IP address pool. LACP is dynamic (IEEE 802.3ad) and is the default for new pools. Loadbalance/FEC is a static, hash-based mode (the CLI value is fec). Round-robin is static, and Active/Passive Failover is static. 'Static EtherChannel' and PAgP are switch-side terms, not OneFS aggregation modes.
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