Data Storage Associate

Study Guide
Generated on: 6 November 2025

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Contents
Data Storage Associate Study Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Study Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Exam Objectives and Commonly Referenced Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Sample Exam Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Sample Exam Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

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Data Storage Associate Study Guide
This study guide will prepare you for the Data Storage Associate (DSA) certification with resources and
sample questions.

About Pure® Certification Exams

Choose the career certification levels and path that best meet your experience and your desired career
path. Industry recognition assures you and your employer of the value of Pure Storage certifications.

This is the Pure Certified Data Storage Associate exam prep guide. Professional certifications:

• Show the world you have the essential skills required to administer today's most advanced flash
storage and data solutions. Obtaining a Pure Certified Associate credential demonstrates your
strong foundational knowledge, qualifying you to proficiently manage storage and data solutions.

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Introduction

The Pure Certified Data Storage Associate certification highlights your ability to contribute meaningfully to
enterprise application and data solution teams. It demonstrates that you possess the networking,
virtualization and containers, storage, cloud, data protection, and host expertise required to work
effectively across modern technology environments.

Take the Pure Certified Data Storage Associate Prep to get ready for this certification exam. All on-
demand courses are currently available at no charge through the Pure Academy with a login ID and
password. Register for instructor-led training (ILT) and virtual instructor-led training (vILT) through your
Pure Partner or Channel Account Manager.

Recommended Experience
• 3-6 months working with storage solutions

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We hope you find this guide useful in your journey towards Pure Storage Certification!

A Special Thank You to Our Subject Matter Experts!

The Certification Program extends its gratitude to all Subject Matter Experts who have contributed to the
development and ongoing success of this exam. We would especially like to recognize the SMEs who
supported the most recent maintenance phase for their valuable time, insights, and expertise.

• Shawn Darrington

• MJ Drumheller

• Neal Smith

• Charles Sonntag

• Scott Stika

• Arcelia Vinay

Without their assistance and expertise, this exam would not have been possible.

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Study Resources for the Data Storage Associate
Certification

The following list is designed to assist candidates in finding study resources to help fill any knowledge gap
areas. This list is NOT intended to be exhaustive or a required reading list. Notes, a combination of training
and successful on-the-job experience is critical for providing candidates with the knowledge and skills
needed to pass the exam.

Recommended Training Courses

• Pure Certified Data Storage Associate Prep Course (On-Demand)

• Pure Certified Data Storage Associate Prep Course (Instructor-Led Training)

• Pure Certified Data Storage Associate Prep Course (Virtual Instructor-Led Training)

Resources from Pure PEAK

• Find additional courses at Pure PEAK Education.

• Visit our growing library of knowledge articles at Pure PEAK Knowledge.

• Explore best practices in our Pure PEAK Community.

• Tune in to upcoming webinars to see relevant content.

• Get direct access to our leaders, experts, partners, and latest product news.

Exam Objectives and Commonly Referenced

Documentation for the Data Storage Associate
Certification

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The following tables list the Data Storage Associate exam objectives and how these objectives align to the
corresponding commonly referenced product documentation and resources. Candidates are encouraged
to review the applicable topics as part of their preparation for the exam.

Exam Domain 1: Networking (Weightage 20%)

Exam Objectives Applicable Documentation and Resources

1.01 - Recognize Fibre Channel use cases

Objective Subtopics:

• Identify scenarios where Fibre Channel

provides benefits over other technologies

• Understand the performance implications of

1. What is a Storage Area Network?
using Fibre Channel

• Recognize the common industries and

applications that leverage Fibre Channel

• Explain the role of Fibre Channel in high-

availability environments

1.02 - Differentiate Fibre Channel from Ethernet

Objective Subtopics:

• Compare and contrast the speed capabilities of

Fibre Channel and Ethernet 1. Storage Networking Basics Understanding
• Understand the differences in data integrity Fibre Channel
and reliability 2. Storage Protocols
• Identify use cases where one technology is 3. Fibre Channel
preferred over the other

• Explain the management and troubleshooting

differences between the two technologies

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Exam Objectives Applicable Documentation and Resources

1.03 - Identify switch types, cables, and connector options

Objective Subtopics:

• Recognize the different types of Fibre Channel

switches (e.g., director-class vs. edge)

• Identify the various types of cables used in

1. What is an Ethernet Switch?
Fibre Channel and Ethernet environments
2. iSCSI vs. FC vs. FCoE: Choosing the Right
• Understand the different connector types and
Storage Protocol for Your Business
their appropriate applications
3. Multimode Fibre
• Describe the process of selecting the
appropriate switch, cable, and connector for a
specific network setup

• Distinguish between single-mode and multi-

mode Fibre Channel cabling

1.04 - Explain Fibre Channel concepts

Objective Subtopics:

• Describe the structure and function of a Fibre

Channel fabric 1. Configuring and Managing Zones

• Understand the role of WWNs (World Wide 2. FCP (Fibre Channel Protocol)
Names) in Fibre Channel networks 3. Zoning
• Explain zoning and its importance in Fibre 4. Zone Objects
Channel environments
5. FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet)
• Identify the various classes of service in Fibre
Channel

• Describe the Fibre Channel protocol stack

1.05 - Recognize different load balancing algorithms like ECMP, FSPF

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Exam Objectives Applicable Documentation and Resources

Objective Subtopics:

• Define Equal-Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) and its

use in networking

• Explain Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF) and 1. Link Aggregation Control Protocol
how it applies to Fibre Channel networks 2. What is Load Balancing?
• Compare the effectiveness of various load
balancing algorithms in different scenarios

• Describe how load balancing algorithms

improve network performance and reliability

1.06 - Understand multipathing and how to efficiently use multiple paths

Objective Subtopics:

• Explain the concept of multipathing and its

benefits for redundancy and performance
1. Setting The MPIO Policy
• Identify the common multipathing software
solutions 2. What Is MPIO?

• Understanding how to configure and manage

multipathing in storage networks

• Explain the failover mechanisms in multipathing

1.07 - Define different technologies for maximizing throughput across Fibre Channel and Ethernet
networks

Objective Subtopics:
1. What Is MTU Size and How Do You
• Compare technologies like Jumbo Frames, QoS Calculate It?
(Quality of Service), and link aggregation 2. What Are Link Aggregation and LACP and
• Understand how to implement these How Can I Use Them In My Network
technologies to optimize network performance

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Exam Objectives Applicable Documentation and Resources

• Identify potential pitfalls and best practices in

maximizing throughput

• Describe the impact of network congestion on

throughput and how to mitigate it

1.08 - Explain iSCSI concepts

Objective Subtopics:
1. Internet Small Computer Systems
• Describe the architecture of an iSCSI network
Interface (iSCSI) Naming and Discovery
• Explain the initiator-target relationship in iSCSI (RFC 3721)
• Identify the advantages and disadvantages of 2. iSCSI Storage A Beginners Guide
using iSCSI
3. What Is iSCSI?
• Compare iSCSI with other block storage
protocols

1.09 - Explain Ethernet concepts

Objective Subtopics:

• Understand the OSI model and where Ethernet 1. Configuring VLANs

fits within it 2. Using the IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation
• Explain the differences between various MIB
Ethernet standards (e.g., 10GbE, 40GbE, 3. Difference Between Static and Dynamic
100GbE) Routing
• Identify the role of VLANs (Virtual Local Area 4. The Impact Of Hardware Firewalls On
Networks) in Ethernet networking Network Performance
• Describe the process of configuring and 5. Finding The Subnet Id
managing Ethernet networks, including
subnetting

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Exam Domain 2: Virtualization and Containers (Weightage 10%)

Exam Objectives Applicable Documentation and Resources

2.01 - Identify difference between bare metal and virtualized service storage and use cases

Objective Subtopics:

• Explain the performance implications of bare

metal vs. virtualized environments

• Identify scenarios where bare metal is

1. What's the Difference Between Type 1 and
preferred over virtualized environments
Type 2 Hypervisors?
• Recognize the benefits and limitations of
virtualized storage solutions

• Describe the management and operational

differences between bare metal and virtualized
environments

2.02 - Recognize impact of oversubscription

Objective Subtopics:

• Understand what oversubscription is and how 1. vSAN Networking - Network

it affects resource allocation Oversubscription

• Explain the potential performance issues 2. Oversubscription In Networking

caused by CPU and memory oversubscription 3. Introduction to vCloud Architecture Toolkit
• Identify best practices to manage and mitigate for Service Providers
oversubscription in virtualized environments 4. Data Deduplication
• Describe tools and techniques for monitoring
and managing oversubscription

2.03 - Identify different types of containers and orchestration

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Exam Objectives Applicable Documentation and Resources

Objective Subtopics:

• Explain the differences between containers

and virtual machines
1. Deployment
• Identify popular container orchestration
2. What is Containerization?
platforms (e.g., Kubernetes, Docker Swarm)
3. Use Containerization
• Understand the benefits of using containers for
application deployment and management 4. Container Deployment

• Describe the process of deploying and

managing containers in a production
environment

Exam Domain 3: Storage (Weightage 30%)

Exam Objectives Applicable Documentation and Resources

3.01 - Describe different storage access protocols (FC, iSCSI, NVMEoF)

Objective Subtopics:

• Compare the performance characteristics of

each protocol

• Identify the appropriate use cases for each

1. iSCSI FAQ
protocol
2. What Is NVMe?
• Explain how each protocol handles data
transfer and connectivity 3. Advantages Of NVMe Features For
Industrial Storage
• Describe the security implications of each
storage access protocol

• Differentiate between file-level, block-level,

and object-level network protocols and their
use cases.

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Exam Objectives Applicable Documentation and Resources

3.02 - Define the different networking topologies for various storage types

Objective Subtopics:

• Describe the network topologies used in SAN,

NAS, and DAS
1. iSCSI vs. FC vs. FCoE: Choosing the Right
• Understand the role of network interfaces in
Storage Protocol for Your Business
storage connectivity
2. What Is Storage Area Network?
• Compare the bandwidth and latency
requirements for different storage types

• Explain the impact of network infrastructure on

storage performance

3.03 - Explain the storage access layer for block storage

Objective Subtopics:

• Describe how block storage operates at a low

level

• Explain the benefits of block storage for 1. What Is NVMe Over Fabrics (NVMe-oF)?
database and transactional workloads 2. Logical Block Addressing
• Identify the challenges associated with
managing block storage

• Describe the process of provisioning and

managing block storage

3.04 - Recognize use cases for DAS, SAN, and NAS

Objective Subtopics: 1. File Block Object Storage

2. Why Do We Use SAN Storage?

• Identify the benefits of Direct Attached Storage
(DAS) for small environments 3. What Is NAS?

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Exam Objectives Applicable Documentation and Resources

• Explain the scalability and performance

advantages of Storage Area Networks (SAN)

• Describe the flexibility and simplicity of

Network Attached Storage (NAS) for file
sharing

• Compare the cost implications of DAS, SAN,

and NAS

3.05 - Recognize different data protection schemes such as RAID, erasure coding

Objective Subtopics:

• Explain how RAID levels provide redundancy

and performance improvements
1. NAS Raid Levels Explained Choosing The
• Describe the principles of erasure coding and
Right Level To Protect Your NAS Data
its benefits over traditional RAID
2. Erasure Coding
• Identify use cases for different data protection
schemes

• Compare the cost and performance trade-offs

of various data protection schemes

3.06 - Differentiate between disc, flash, RAM

Objective Subtopics:

• Compare the performance characteristics of 1. Is RAM Volatile?

disk, flash, and RAM storage 2. What Is Write Amplification?
• Identify the common multipathing software 3. Flash Memory
solutions
4. 10 Ways Pure Helps You Uncomplicate
• Identify scenarios where each storage type is Storage, Forever
most appropriate

• Describe the longevity and durability

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Exam Objectives Applicable Documentation and Resources

differences between storage types

3.07 - Recognize use cases for different storage types

Objective Subtopics:

• Identify the best storage solutions for high-

1. A Pure Storage Engineer Explains
performance applications
FlashArray//X
• Explain the advantages of using flash storage
2. What's the Difference Between Block, File,
for latency-sensitive workloads
and Object Storage?
• Describe the benefits of disk storage for
3. SAN vs. NAS vs. DAS: What's the
archival and backup purposes
Difference?
• Recognize the trade-offs between cost,
performance, and capacity for different
storage types

3.08 - Indicate architectural advantages of scale up vs scale out

Objective Subtopics:

• Compare the scalability of scale-up and scale-

out architectures

• Explain the benefits of scale-out storage for 1. Scale-Out vs. Scale-Up: What's the
large, distributed environments Difference?

• Identify the limitations of scale-up storage 2. What Is Scale Out Storage?

solutions

• Describe the management and operational

differences between scale-up and scale-out
architectures

3.09 - Identify architectural advantages of active-active vs active-passive

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Exam Objectives Applicable Documentation and Resources

Objective Subtopics:
1. Active Active vs Active Passive
• Describe the high availability benefits of Architecture
active-active storage architectures
2. Active-Active vs. Active-Passive:
• Explain how active-passive architectures Decoding High-Availability Configurations
provide failover capabilities for Massive Data Networks
• Compare the performance implications of 3. What Are Non Disruptive Upgrades?
active-active and active-passive configurations
4. What Is Active Active?
• Identify the cost and complexity differences
5. What Is Storage Controller?
between active-active and active-passive
architectures

Exam Domain 4: Cloud (Weightage 5%)

Exam Objectives Applicable Documentation and Resources

4.01 - Recognize benefits of public cloud, private cloud, and hybrid

Objective Subtopics:

• Compare the cost implications of public,

1. Storage Files Introduction
private, and hybrid cloud deployments
2. What is Amazon S3?
• Explain the security and compliance
considerations for each cloud model 3. What is Amazon EBS?

• Identify the scalability and flexibility benefits of 4. What's the Difference Between Block, File,
hybrid cloud solutions, including cost models and Object Storage?

• Describe the management and operational 5. What are Private, Public, and Hybrid
differences between cloud models Clouds?

• Understanding HA planning with cloud models,

availability zones, regions, and potential egress

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Exam Objectives Applicable Documentation and Resources

4.02 - Identify when to apply file, block, object storage types to cloud deployments

Objective Subtopics:

• Describe the benefits of object storage for

unstructured data in the cloud
1. Synchronous Replication vs. Asynchronous
• Explain the use cases for block storage in
Replication
cloud environments
2. Buckets
• Identify the advantages of file storage for
collaboration and sharing in the cloud

• Compare the cost and performance trade-offs

of different cloud storage types

Exam Domain 5: Data Protection (Weightage 20%)

Exam Objectives Applicable Documentation and Resources

5.01 - Recognize benefits of different replication technologies like sync, async, nearsync

Objective Subtopics:

• Explain how synchronous replication ensures

data consistency

• Describe the benefits and aspects of

asynchronous replication for disaster recovery 1. Synchronous Replication vs. Asynchronous
• Compare the bandwidth and latency Replication
requirements for different replication
technologies

• Identify use cases for near-synchronous

replication in relation to RPO objectives and the
increased benefit of synchronous replication

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Exam Objectives Applicable Documentation and Resources

5.02 - Recognize impact of different requirements for disaster recovery like recovery point objective,
recovery time objective, and fault domains

Objective Subtopics:

• Explain the importance of Recovery Point

Objective (RPO) in disaster recovery planning 1. The Essential Guide To Disaster Recovery
• Describe how Recovery Time Objective (RTO) Building Resilience For Your Enterprise
affects business continuity 2. What Is Recovery Time Objective
• Identify the role of fault domains in ensuring Definitions and Related Faqs
high availability and disaster recovery

• Describe the process of developing and testing

a disaster recovery plan

5.03 - Identify different backup solutions

Objective Subtopics:

• Compare the features of traditional backup

solutions vs. modern backup technologies 1. Differential Backups SQL Server

• Explain the benefits of incremental and 2. Hot Backup

differential backups 3. Why Should Backup Be Stored Off-Site?
• Identify the advantages of cloud-based backup 4. Snapshots vs Backups
solutions

• Describe the best practices for implementing

and managing backup solutions

5.04 - Describe snapshot technology and its benefits

Objective Subtopics: 1. Snapshot 101: Copy On Write vs Redirect

On Write
• Explain how snapshots provide point-in-time

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Exam Objectives Applicable Documentation and Resources

recovery options

• Describe the performance impact of taking

snapshots

• Identify use cases for snapshot technology in

data protection strategies

• Compare the differences between hardware-

based and software-based snapshot solutions

5.05 - Explain differences between application consistency and crash consistency and its use cases

Objective Subtopics:

• Describe how application-consistent snapshots 1. Azure Backup Glossary

ensure data integrity 2. Using FlashArray Snapshots with Microsoft
• Explain the limitations of crash-consistent SQL Server
snapshots 3. Storage 101: Crash Consistent vs
• Identify scenarios where each type of snapshot Application Consistent Snapshots
is most appropriate 4. Crash Consistent vs Application
• Describe the process of creating and managing Consistent Backup
application-consistent snapshots and crash-
consistent snapshots

5.06 - Define security domains like authentication, authorization, and accountability

Objective Subtopics:
1. Compare TACACS + and RADIUS
• Understand what different aspects of the CIA
2. Introduction to Information Security
Triad and Security domains (AAA) purposes are
3. What Is A DDoS Attack?
• Identify what threats and/or vulnerabilities are
important to consider 4. CIA Triad

• Explain the principle of least privilege and why 5. Information Security: The Ultimate Guide
it is important in storage environments

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Exam Objectives Applicable Documentation and Resources

5.07 - Explain benefits of encryption and what data should be encrypted

Objective Subtopics:

• Describe the advantages of encrypting data at

rest and in transit
1. Data Security In Transit
• Explain how encryption protects sensitive
2. How To Manage Encryption Keys
information from unauthorized access
3. Data At Rest
• Identify the types of data that should always
be encrypted

• Describe best practices for managing

encryption keys

5.08 - Recognize how to prevent and mitigate ransomware attacks

Objective Subtopics:

• Explain best practices for preventing

ransomware infections
1. Synchronous Replication vs. Asynchronous
• Describe the role of regular backups in
Replication
mitigating ransomware impact
2. Anomalous Drops in Data Reduction Ratios
• Identify tools and technologies that can detect
and respond to ransomware threats

• Correlate RPO/RTO expectations after

ransomware infestation

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Exam Domain 6: Hosts and Why Customers Have Them (Weightage 15%)

Exam Objectives Applicable Documentation and Resources

6.01 - Explain basic data center technologies especially related to storage

Objective Subtopics:

• Explain the functionality of hosts in a storage

environment

• Describe the benefits of host operating

1. What Is the NAS Protocol?
systems in managing storage
2. Time Synchronization In Data Centres
• Explain multipath I/O (MPIO) and available
MPIO rule options 3. Caching Method

• Identify high availability (HA) and redundancy

requirements for enterprise hosts

• Describe host virtualization and its impact on

storage environments

6.02 - Recognize different types of servers and clients that might access storage

Objective Subtopics:

• Compare the characteristics of blade servers,

rack servers, and tower servers

• Explain how different server types interact with 1. Using Multipathing for Efficient Storage
storage networks with the conceptual 2. Blade Server vs. Rack Server vs. Tower
understanding that a host (or compute entity) Server
can include a variety of devices in the Data
3. Blade Server vs Rack Server: GPU Server
center such as routers, switches, firewalls
Guide and Tower Comparison
• Identify the best server types for specific
storage-intensive applications

• Describe the scalability and performance

implications of different server types

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Exam Objectives Applicable Documentation and Resources

• Explain file security/access protocols (NFS,

SMB)

Sample Exam Questions for the Data Storage Associate

Certification

Review the following 20 sample questions prior to taking an exam to gain a better understanding of the
types of questions that will be presented on the exam.

These sample test questions are for informational purposes ONLY and are provided to give prospective
candidates an idea about the format and type of questions that will appear on the actual examination.
These items are not to be used to determine a candidates readiness to test. It does not guarantee a pass
or fail result.

Question 1: In Fibre Channel (FC) zoning, what role is related to target-to-initiator relationships?

A. Preventing unauthorized access to the SAN fabric

B. Ensuring proper connectivity of Fibre Channel (FC) switches

C. Defining specific relationships between storage targets and initiators

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Question 2: Which scenario is appropriate for deploying bare metal servers?

A. A startup requiring scalable and cost-effective solutions for their fluctuating workload demands.

B. A financial institution processing high-volume, latency-sensitive transactions that require optimized

physical re sources for performance consistency.

C. A small business looking to minimize upfront IT expenditures by utilizing shared resources and
centralized management.

Question 3: Which scenario describes a potential consequence of Central Processing Unit (CPU)
oversubscription in a virtualized environment?

A. Increased storage capacity, as virtual machines can share and allocate storage dynamically.

B. Reduced performance of applications due to frequent compute wait times, impacting the overall
efficiency of the virtualized environment.

C. Enhanced network throughput as virtual machines can handle more data transfers simultaneously.

Question 4: Which protocol would be used for a host to communicate with Network Attached Storage
(NAS)?

A. internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI)

B. Non-Volatile Memory express over Fabric (NVMe/oF)

C. Network File System (NFS)

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Question 5: What is an example of Block-level storage?

A. Storage Area Network (SAN)

B. Network Attached Storage (NAS)

C. Simple Storage Solution (S3)

Question 6: A customer has a high-speed application which requires fast, reliable access to storage
but minimal investment in infrastructure.

What storage device should the customer use?

A. Storage Area Network (SAN)

B. Network Attached Storage (NAS)

C. Direct Attached Storage (DAS)

Question 7: What storage type is affected negatively by write amplification?

A. Hard Disk Drive (HDD)

B. Solid State Drive (SSD)

C. Random Access Memory (RAM)

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Question 8: What storage type should be used for a backup job where access speed is NOT nearly as
important as longevity?

A. Solid State Drive (SSD)

B. Tape

C. Floppy Disk

Question 9: What is a principle of a scale-up storage architecture?

A. Increase storage capacity without needing to add compute power

B. Increase compute power without needing to add storage capacity

C. Increase both compute power and storage capacity simultaneously

Question 10: What is a principle of a dual-controller, active-active storage system?

A. Both controllers actively process and respond to initiator requests

B. One controller actively processes and responds to initiator requests

C. One controller processes and responds to initiator requests before replicating data to the second
controller

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Question 11: What is a benefit of an active-passive dual-controller storage architecture?

A. A third-site mediator can help elect the active controller in the event of a controller failure

B. Consistent performance, even in the event of a controller failure

C. All components are fully utilized at all times

Question 12: What scenario would most benefit from cloud deployment compared to an on-premise
infrastructure?

A. A government agency handling sensitive data subject to strict regulatory compliance, requiring
complete control over physical and network security

B. A tech startup that needs to quickly scale operations up and down based on dynamic market
demands and has limited initial capital for IT infrastructure

C.A large financial institution that requires a fixed, predictable computing environment with long-term
operational stability and minimum latency

Question 13: A multinational corporation is planning to expand its cloud storage infrastructure to
support a highly transactional database.

What storage type should they use to optimize performance and scalability of the database?

A. Block storage

B. File storage

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Question 13: A multinational corporation is planning to expand its cloud storage infrastructure to
support a highly transactional database.

What storage type should they use to optimize performance and scalability of the database?

C. Object storage

Question 14: What is the first step of designing a Disaster Recovery (DR) plan?

A. Conduct a risk analysis assessment

B. Set recovery objectives

C. Determine backup and data recovery methods

Question 15: Which type of storage is commonly used for backup in cloud environments?

A. Object

B. Structured

C. File

Question 16: What would be the reason to pause I/O prior to performing a snapshot on a storage
device?

A. To get an Application Consistent Snapshot

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Question 16: What would be the reason to pause I/O prior to performing a snapshot on a storage
device?

B. To get a Uniformly Consistent Snapshot

C. To get a Crash Consistent Snapshot

Question 17: What is a benefit of implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) in an IT environment?

A. Increased complexity, leading to reduced risk, in managing user access across multiple applications

B. Enhanced user experience by requiring separate credentials for each application

C. Improved security by reducing the risk of password-related vulnerabilities and centralizing user
access management

Question 18: What is the strategy for recovery from a Ransomware attack to minimize data loss?

A. A Disaster Recovery (DR) solution with a very low Recovery Point Objective (RPO)

B. A mirrored write clustering service between data centers

C. Immutable snapshots

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Question 19: A host connected to a Storage Area Network (SAN) has multiple paths to the same
Logical Unit Number (LUN).

How does Multipath Input/Output (MPIO) handle I/O requests when multiple paths are available?

A. MPIO automatically reorganizes data on the array to match host paths

B. MPIO allows multiple host to write to the same LUN simultaneously without coordination

C. MPIO can use path selection policies to distribute I/O or failover in case of path failure

Question 20: When an initiator sends a write request to a storage system, the initiator waits until
what event before the request is considered completed?

A. The initiator receives a “RAM staging” response

B. The initiator receives a “TX ready” response

C. The initiator receives an “ack” response

Sample Exam Answers for the Data Storage Associate

Certification

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1. C

2. B

3. B

4. C

5. A

6. C

7. B

8. B

9. A

10. A

11. B

12. B

13. A

14. A

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15. A

16. A

17. C

18. C

19. C

20. C

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