HPE2-K45 Sample Questions Answers

HPE SimpliVity 2600 is a compact solution optimized for edge and remote office, branch office (ROBO) environments. It is available on HPE Apollo 2000 servers, which are designed for high-density computing and can fit up to four nodes in a 2U chassis. HPE SimpliVity 2600 provides enterprise-grade data protection and resiliency for virtualized workloads, as well as simplified management and scalability. It is ideal for customers who have very limited rack space and need a hyperconverged solution that can deliver high performance and efficiency. References: HPE SimpliVity 2600 - Product Information Reference, HPE SimpliVity 2600 | HPE Store US, Introducing Our New High-Density Hyperconverged Solution: HPE SimpliVity 2600

The Intelligent Workload Optimizer is a feature of HPE SimpliVity that automatically balances the virtual machine workloads across the nodes in a cluster, based on the CPU, memory, and storage utilization1. This feature helps to improve the performance and efficiency of the cluster, and to avoid hotspots and bottlenecks. The Intelligent Workload Optimizer can be configured to run periodically or on demand, and it can also take into account the affinity and anti-affinity rules for the virtual machines2. The Resource Balancer (option A) is a feature of HPE SimpliVity that automatically balances the storage capacity across the nodes in a cluster, based on the free space and deduplication ratio3. This feature helps to optimize the storage utilization and availability of the cluster, and to avoid capacity issues and data loss. The Resource Balancer does not balance the virtual machine workloads or the I/O traffic. The Management Virtual Appliance (option B) is a component of HPE SimpliVity that provides the management interface and functionality for the cluster, such as backup, restore, clone, move, and federation operations4. The Management Virtual Appliance does not balance the virtual machine workloads or the I/O traffic. The Arbiter (option C) is a component of HPE SimpliVity that provides the quorum service for the cluster, ensuring data consistency and availability in the event of a node or site failure5. The Arbiter does not balance the virtual machine workloads or the I/O traffic. References:

• 1: Using HPE SimpliVity Official Certification Study Guide (HPE2-K45), HPE Press, 2019, p. 83.
• 2: HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10 Node Data sheet, HPE, 2019, p. 4.
• 3: Using HPE SimpliVity Official Certification Study Guide (HPE2-K45), HPE Press, 2019, p. 84.
• 4: Using HPE SimpliVity Official Certification Study Guide (HPE2-K45), HPE Press, 2019, p. 81.
• 5: Using HPE SimpliVity Official Certification Study Guide (HPE2-K45), HPE Press, 2019, p. 82.

• HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10 LFF H and HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10 SFF H nodes are two types of HPE SimpliVity nodes that differ in their form factor, storage capacity, and performance. LFF stands for large form factor, which means that the node has 3.5-inch hard disk drives (HDDs) and can support up to 40 TB of raw storage capacity. SFF stands for small form factor, which means that the node has 2.5-inch solid state drives (SSDs) and can support up to 23.4 TB of raw storage capacity12.
• HPE SimpliVity nodes can be grouped into clusters, which are logical units of compute and storage resources that share the same configuration and policies. HPE SimpliVity clusters can be further grouped into federations, which are collections of clusters that span across different physical locations and provide unified management and data protection34.
• For this setup, the recommended design is to put SFF and LFF nodes in separate clusters, but within the same federation. According to the HPE SimpliVity Federation Design and Scaling Guide document, the following reasons support this recommendation:

References:

1: HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10 LFF H Node Data sheet 2: HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10 SFF H Node Data sheet 3: HPE SimpliVity Data Virtualization Platform 4: HPE SimpliVity Federation Design and Scaling Guide : [HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10 Node Data sheet - PSNow] : [HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10 Node | HPE Store US] : [HPE SimpliVity Intelligent Workload Optimizer] : [HPE SimpliVity with HPE StoreOnce Reference Architecture] : [HPE SimpliVity Stretched Cluster Guide] : [HPE SimpliVity Remote RapidDR Software Installation and Startup Service]

• HPE SimpliVity RapidDR is a disaster recovery orchestration tool that automates and simplifies the recovery process of VMs protected by HPE SimpliVity backups. It can be used in the event of disaster to efficiently restore VMs across the primary and secondary sites, which consist of multiple HPE SimpliVity nodes12.
• HPE SimpliVity RapidDR requires VMware vCenter Server, a centralized management platform for VMware vSphere environments, to perform the recovery operations. VMware vCenter Server is licensed per instance, which means that each vCenter Server installation requires a separate license3 .
• To reduce the vCenter Server license cost, a customer can use only a single vCenter Server instance to manage the HPE SimpliVity federation, which is a group of HPE SimpliVity clusters that share the same configuration and policies. This deployment scenario is possible when the federation is managed centrally, which means that all the HPE SimpliVity nodes are registered to the same vCenter Server instance, regardless of their physical location .
• The other options are not valid for reducing the vCenter Server license cost. The number of VMs covered by a single recovery plan does not affect the vCenter Server license requirement, as long as the VMs are managed by the same vCenter Server instance. Enabling Enhanced Linked Mode for vCenter allows multiple vCenter Server instances to share information and provide a single pane of glass view, but it does not eliminate the need for separate licenses for each vCenter Server instance. Disabling Intelligent Workload Optimizer, a feature that balances the VM workload across the HPE SimpliVity cluster, has no impact on the vCenter Server license requirement.

References:

1: HPE SimpliVity RapidDR 2: HPE SimpliVity RapidDR - Starter License - 25 VMs - CDW 3: VMware vCenter Server - VMware : VMware vCenter Server Licensing, Pricing and Packaging : [HPE SimpliVity Federation Design and Scaling Guide] : [HPE SimpliVity with HPE StoreOnce Reference Architecture] : [HPE SimpliVity Data Virtualization Platform] : [HPE SimpliVity Intelligent Workload Optimizer] : [HPE SimpliVity Stretched Cluster Guide] : [HPE SimpliVity Remote RapidDR Software Installation and Startup Service]

• 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.

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

 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

 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.