SAN STORAGE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Can you describe SAN in your won word?

A storage area network (SAN) is a high-speed special-purpose network (or subnetwork) that interconnects different
kinds of data storage devices with associated data servers on behalf of a larger network of users. Typically, a storage
area network is part of the overall network of computing resources for an enterprise. A storage area network is
usually clustered in close proximity to other computing resources such as IBM Power5 boxes but may also extend to
remote locations for backup and archival storage, using wide area network carrier technologies such as ATM or
SONET .

A storage area network can use existing communication technology such as IBMs optical fiber ESCON or it may use
the newer Fibre Channel technology. Some SAN system integrators liken it to the common storage bus (flow of data)
in a personal computer that is shared by different kinds of storage devices such as a hard disk or a CD-ROM player.
SANs support disk mirroring, backup and restore, archival and retrieval of archived data, data migration from one
storage device to another, and the sharing of data among different servers in a network. SANs can incorporate
subnetworks with network-attached storage (NAS) systems.

So you mention NAS, but What is NAS?

Network-attached storage (NAS) is hard disk storage that is set up with its own network address rather than being
attached to the department computer that is serving applications to a networks workstation users. By removing
storage access and its management from the department server, both application programming and files can be
served faster because they are not competing for the same processor resources. The network-attached storage
device is attached to a local area network (typically, an Ethernet network) and assigned an IP address. File requests
are mapped by the main server to the NAS file server.
Network-attached storage consists of hard disk storage, including multi-disk RAID systems, and software for
configuring and mapping file locations to the network-attached device. Network-attached storage can be a step
toward and included as part of a more sophisticated storage system known as a storage area network (SAN).

NAS software can usually handle a number of network protocols, including Microsofts Internetwork Packet Exchange
and NetBEUI, Novells Netware Internetwork Packet Exchange, and Sun Microsystems Network File System.
Configuration, including the setting of user access priorities, is usually possible using a Web browser.

What is software RAID Levels do?

Redundant Arrays of Independent Disks (RAID) is formally defined as a method to store data on any type of disk
medium.

What are the benefits of fibre channel SANs?

Fibre Channel SANs are the de facto standard for storage networking in the corporate data center because they
provide exceptional reliability, scalability, consolidation, and performance. Fibre Channel SANs provide significant
advantages over direct-attached storage through improved storage utilization, higher data availability, reduced
management costs, and highly scalable capacity and performance.

What environment is most suitable for fibre channel SANs?

Typically, Fibre Channel SANs are most suitable for large data centers running business-critical data, as well as
applications that require high-bandwidth performance such as medical imaging, streaming media, and large
databases. Fibre Channel SAN solutions can easily scale to meet the most demanding performance and availability
requirements.

What customer problems do fibre channel SANs solve?

The increased performance of Fibre Channel enables a highly effective backup and recovery approach, including
LAN-free and server-free backup models. The result is a faster, more scalable, and more reliable backup and
recovery solution. By providing flexible connectivity options and resource sharing, Fibre Channel SANs also greatly
reduce the number of physical devices and disparate systems that must be purchased and managed, which can
dramatically lower capital expenditures. Heterogeneous SAN management provides a single point of control for all
devices on the SAN, lowering costs and freeing personnel to do other tasks.

How long has fibre channel been around?

Development started in 1988, ANSI standard approval occurred in 1994, and large deployments began in 1998. Fibre
Channel is a mature, safe, and widely deployed solution for high-speed (1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB) communications and is
the foundation for the majority of SAN installations throughout the world.

What is the future of fibre channel SANs?

Fibre Channel is a well-established, widely deployed technology with a proven track record and a very large installed
base, particularly in high-performance, business-critical data center environments. Fibre Channel SANs continue to
grow and will be enhanced for a long time to come. The reduced costs of Fibre Channel components, the availability
of SAN kits, and the next generation of Fibre Channel (4 GB) are helping to fuel that growth. In addition, the Fibre
Channel roadmap includes plans to double performance every three years.

How is fibre channel different from ISCSI?

Fibre Channel and iSCSI each have a distinct place in the IT infrastructure as SAN alternatives to DAS. Fibre
Channel generally provides high performance and high availability for business-critical applications, usually in the
corporate data center. In contrast, iSCSI is generally used to provide SANs for business applications in smaller
regional or departmental data centers.

When should I deploy fibre channel instead of ISCSI?

For environments consisting of high-end servers that require high bandwidth or data center environments with
business-critical data, Fibre Channel is a better fit than iSCSI. For environments consisting of many midrange or low-
end servers, an IP SAN solution often delivers the most appropriate price/performance.

Name some of the SAN topologies ?

Point-to-point, arbitrated loop, and switched fabric topologies.

Whats the need for separate network for storage why LAN cannot be used?

LAN hardware and operating systems are geared to user traffic, and LANs are tuned for a fast user response to
messaging requests.

With a SAN, the storage units can be secured separately from the servers and totally apart from the user network
enhancing storage access in data blocks (bulk data transfers), advantageous for server-less backups.

What are the advantages of RAID?

Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks

Depending on how we configure the array, we can have the

- data mirrored [RAID 1] (duplicate copies on separate drives)
- striped [RAID 0] (interleaved across several drives), or
- parity protected [RAID 5](extra data written to identify errors).
These can be used in combination to deliver the balance of performance and reliability that the user requires.

Define RAID? Which one you feel is good choice?

RAID (Redundant array of Independent Disks) is a technology to achieve redundancy with faster I/O. There are Many
Levels of RAID to meet different needs of the customer which are: R0, R1, R3, R4, R5, R10, R6.

Generally customer chooses R5 to achieve better redundancy and speed and it is cost effective.
R0 Striped set without parity/[Non-Redundant Array].
Provides improved performance and additional storage but no fault tolerance. Any disk failure destroys the array,
which becomes more likely with more disks in the array. A single disk failure destroys the entire array because when
data is written to a RAID 0 drive, the data is broken into fragments. The number of fragments is dictated by the
number of disks in the drive. The fragments are written to their respective disks simultaneously on the same sector.
This allows smaller sections of the entire chunk of data to be read off the drive in parallel, giving this type of
arrangement huge bandwidth. RAID 0 does not implement error checking so any error is unrecoverable. More disks
in the array means higher bandwidth, but greater risk of data loss
R1 Mirrored set without parity.
Provides fault tolerance from disk errors and failure of all but one of the drives. Increased read performance occurs
when using a multi-threaded operating system that supports split seeks, very small performance reduction when
writing. Array continues to operate so long as at least one drive is functioning. Using RAID 1 with a separate
controller for each disk is sometimes called duplexing.
R3 Striped set with dedicated parity/Bit interleaved parity.
This mechanism provides an improved performance and fault tolerance similar to RAID 5, but with a dedicated parity
disk rather than rotated parity stripes. The single parity disk is a bottle-neck for writing since every write requires
updating the parity data. One minor benefit is the dedicated parity disk allows the parity drive to fail and operation will
continue without parity or performance penalty.
R4 Block level parity.
Identical to RAID 3, but does block-level striping instead of byte-level striping. In this setup, files can be distributed
between multiple disks. Each disk operates independently which allows I/O requests to be performed in parallel,
though data transfer speeds can suffer due to the type of parity. The error detection is achieved through dedicated
parity and is stored in a separate, single disk unit.
R5 Striped set with distributed parity.
Distributed parity requires all drives but one to be present to operate; drive failure requires replacement, but the array
is not destroyed by a single drive failure. Upon drive failure, any subsequent reads can be calculated from the
distributed parity such that the drive failure is masked from the end user. The array will have data loss in the event of
a second drive failure and is vulnerable until the data that was on the failed drive is rebuilt onto a replacement drive.
R6 Striped set with dual distributed Parity.
Provides fault tolerance from two drive failures; array continues to operate with up to two failed drives. This makes
larger RAID groups more practical, especially for high availability systems. This becomes increasingly important
because large-capacity drives lengthen the time needed to recover from the failure of a single drive. Single parity
RAID levels are vulnerable to data loss until the failed drive is rebuilt: the larger the drive, the longer the rebuild will
take. Dual parity gives time to rebuild the array without the data being at risk if one drive, but no more, fails before the
rebuild is complete.

What is the difference between RAID 0+1 and RAID 1+0?

RAID 0+1 (Mirrored Stripped)
In this RAID level all the data is saved on stripped volumes which are in turn mirrored, so any disk failure saves the
data loss but it makes whole stripe unavailable. The key difference from RAID 1+0 is that RAID 0+1 creates a second
striped set to mirror a primary striped set. The array continues to operate with one or more drives failed in the same
mirror set, but if drives fail on both sides of the mirror the data on the RAID system is lost. In this RAID level if one
disk is failed full mirror is marked as inactive and data is saved only one stripped volume.
RAID 1+0 (Stripped Mirrored)
In this RAID level all the data is saved on mirrored volumes which are in turn stripped, so any disk failure saves data
loss. The key difference from RAID 0+1 is that RAID 1+0 creates a striped set from a series of mirrored drives. In a
failed disk situation RAID 1+0 performs better because all the remaining disks continue to be used. The array can
sustain multiple drive losses so long as no mirror loses both its drives.
This RAID level is most preferred for high performance and high data protection because rebuilding of RAID 1+0 is
less time consuming in comparison to RAID 0+1.

When JBODs are used?

Just a Bunch of Disks

It is a collection of disks that share a common connection to the server, but dont include the mirroring,
striping, or parity facilities that RAID systems do, but these capabilities are available with host-based software.

Differentiate RAID & JBOD?

RAID: Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks
Fault-tolerant grouping of disks that server sees as a single disk volume
Combination of parity-checking, mirroring, striping
Self-contained, manageable unit of storage

JBOD: Just a Bunch of Disks

Drives independently attached to the I/O channel

Scalable, but requires server to manage multiple volumes
Do not provide protection in case of drive failure

What is a HBA?

Host bus adapters (HBAs) are needed to connect the server (host) to the storage.

What are the advantages of SAN?

Massively extended scalability.

Greatly enhanced device connectivity.

Storage consolidation.
LAN-free backup.
Server-less (active-fabric) backup.
Server clustering.
Heterogeneous data sharing.
Disaster recovery Remote mirroring.
While answering people do NOT portray clearly what they mean & what advantages each of them have, which are
cost effective & which are to be used for the clients requirements.

What is the difference b/w SAN and NAS?

The basic difference between SAN and NAS, SAN is Fabric based and NAS is Ethernet based.
SAN Storage Area Network
It accesses data on block level and produces space to host in form of disk.
NAS Network attached Storage
It accesses data on file level and produces space to host in form of shared network folder.

What is a typical storage area network consists of if we consider it for implementation in a small business
setup?

If we consider any small business following are essentials components of SAN:

Fabric Switch.
FC Controllers.
JBODs.
Can you briefly explain each of these Storage area components?
Fabric Switch: Its a device which interconnects multiple network devices .There are switches starting from 16 port to
32 ports which connect 16 or 32 machine nodes etc. vendors who manufacture these kind of switches are Brocade,
McData.

What is the most critical component in SAN?

Each component has its own criticality with respect to business needs of a company.

How is a SAN managed?

There are many management softwares used for managing SANs to name a few:

Santricity.
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager.
CA Unicenter.
Veritas Volumemanger.

Which one is the Default ID for SCSI HBA?

Generally the default ID for SCSI HBA is 7.

SCSI- Small Computer System Interface.

HBA Host Bus Adaptor.

What is the highest and lowest priority of SCSI?

There are 16 different IDs which can be assigned to SCSI device 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8.

Highest priority of SCSI is ID 7 and lowest ID is 8.

What is Array?

Array is a group of Independent physical disks to configure any Volumes or RAID volumes.

Which are the 4 types of SAN architecture types ?

Core-edge.

Full-Mesh.

Partial-Mesh.

Cascade.

Which command is used in linux to know the driver version of any

hardware device?
dmesg.

How many minimum drives are required to create R5 (RAID 5)?

You need to have at least 3 disk drives to create R5.

Can you name some of the states of RAID array?

There are states of RAID arrays that represent the status of the RAID arrays which are given below:

Online.
Degraded.
Rebuilding.
Failed.

What are the protocols used in physical/datalink and network

layer of SAN?
Ethernet.

SCSI.

Fibre Channel.

What is storage virtualization?

Storage virtualization is amalgamation of multiple n/w storage devices into single storage unit.

Describe in brief the composition of FC Frame?

Start of the Frame locator
Frame header (includes destination id and source id, 24 bytes/6 words).
Data Payload (encapsulate SCSI instruction can be 0-2112 bytes in length).
CRC (error checking, 4 bytes).
End of Frame (1 byte).

What is virtualization?
Virtualization is logical representation of physical devices. It is the technique of managing and presenting storage
devices and resources functionally, regardless of their physical layout or location. Virtualization is the pooling of
physical storage from multiple network storage devices into what appears to be a single storage device that is
managed from a central console. Storage virtualization is commonly used in a storage area network (SAN). The
management of storage devices can be tedious and time-consuming. Storage virtualization helps the storage
administrator perform the tasks of backup, archiving, and recovery more easily, and in less time, by disguising the
actual complexity of the SAN.

What is HA?
HA High Availability is a technology to achieve failover with very less latency. Its a practical requirement of data
centers these days when customers expect the servers to be running 24 hours on all 7 days around the whole 365
days a year usually referred as 24x7x365. So to achieve this, a redundant infrastructure is created to make sure if
one database server or if one app server fails there is a replica Database or Appserver ready to take-over the
operations. End customer never experiences any outage when there is a HA network infrastructure.

Can we assign a hot spare to R0 (RAID 0) array?

No, since R0 is not redundant array, failure of any disks results in failure of the entire array so we cannot rebuild the
hot spare for the R0 array.

Name the features of SCSI-3 standard?

QAS: Quick arbitration and selection.
Domain Validation.
CRC: Cyclic redundancy check.

What is Multipath I/O?

Fault tolerant technique where, there is more than one physical path between the CPU in the computer systems and
its main storage devices through the buses, controllers, switches and other bridge devices connecting them.

What is disk array?

Set of high performance storage disks that can store several terabytes of data. Single disk array can support multiple
points of connection to the network.

What are different types of protocols used in transportation and session layers of SAN?

Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP).

Internet SCSI (iSCSI).

Fibre Channel IP (FCIP).

What is the type of Encoding used in Fibre Channel?

8b/10b, as the encoding technique is able to detect all most all the bit errors

What are the main constrains of SCSI in storage networking?

Deployment distance (max. of 25 mts).

Number of devices that can be interconnected (16).

What is a Fabric?
 Interconnection of Fibre Channel Switches.

What are the services provided by Fabric to all the nodes?

1. Fabric Login.
2. SNS.
3. Fabric Address Notification.
4. Registered state change notification.
5. Broadcast Servers.
What is the difference between LUN and WWN?
LUN: Unique number that is assigned to each storage device or partition of the storage that the storage can support.

WWN: 64bit address that is hard coded into a fibre channel HBA and this is used to identify individual port (N_Port or
F_Port) in the fabric.

What are the different topologies in Fibre Channel?

1. Point-to-Point.
2. Arbitrary Loop.
3. Switched Fabric Loop.
What are the layers of Fibre Channel Protocol?
1. FC Physical Media.
2. FC Encoder and Decoder.
3. FC Framing and Flow control.
4. FC Common Services.
5. FC Upper Level Protocol Mapping.
What is zoning?
Fabric management service that can be used to create logical subsets of devices within a SAN. This enables
portioning of resources for management and access control purpose.

What is the purpose of disk array?

Probability of unavailability of data stored on the disk array
due to single point failure is totally eliminated.
How does FC Switch maintain the addresses?
FC Switch uses simple name server (SNS) to maintain the mapping table.

What are the two major classification of zoning?

Two types of zoning are:
1. Software Zoning.
2. Hardware Zoning.
What are different levels of zoning?
1. Port Level zoning.
2. WWN Level zoning.
3. Device Level zoning.
4. Protocol Level zoning.
5. LUN Level zoning.
What are the 3 prominent characteristics of SAS Protocol?
1. Native Command Queuing (NCQ.)
2. Port Multiplier.
3. Port Selector.
What is LUN Masking?
A method used to create an exclusive storage area and access control. And this can be achieved by storage device
control program.

What is snapshot?
A snapshot of data object contains an image of data at a particular point of time.

What is hot-swapping?
Devices are allowed to be removed and inserted into a system without turning off the system.

======================================================================================

3PAR
Describe the architecture of 3Par in brief?
Name some 3PAR storage models which are exiting today
What is ASIC, Control cache and Data cache and what is the use of that.
Describe the process of connecting a fresh windows or Linux host to a 3PAR
storage array and assign Lun to it.
What is CPG , chunklets and Logical disk and state the importance of that.
What happens when a working physical disk fails in 3PAR storage?
What is Adaptive optimization and Dynamic optimization
What is system reporter? How can you find a performance details from it.
What is remote copy and physical copy.
Describe some troubleshooting steps taken by you regarding 3PAR storage?

Brocade switch
> How can u check Error in brocade switch ?
Ans :- errshow
> Health checks in brocade switch?
Ans :- >switchshow
>switch statusshow
>switchstatuspolicyshow
>sensorshow

> What is failover , failback ?

Ans :- FailoverProcess of switching production to a remote. (If production server fails moves to
remote site)
> What is 24 bit addressing?
Ans :- It consists of 3 octects each of 8 bits 1st octect is for domain, 2nd octect for port ID ,
3rd octect for AL-PA(Arbitrated loop physical address)
> What is latency ?
Ans :- Time delay to reach data from source to destination
> FLOGI,PLOGI,PRLOG?
Ans :-
PRLOGI:- processlogi providing lun access permission to host.
> What are the class of services?
Ans :- Class 1:-Acknowledged connection oriented service
Class2:- Acknowledged connection less service
Class3:- :- UnAcknowledged connection less service
Class4:-Fraction bandwidth connection oriented service
ClassF:-Multicast service
Class6: - Switch switchconnection less with acknowledge service.
Here Class 2,3,f are used for san technology.
> What is FSPF?
Ans:- Fabric shortest path first path to reach destination.
> What is FCIP,FCOE, IFCP ?
Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) is a transport protocol (similar to TCP used in IP networks) that
predominantly transports SCSI commands over Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP or FC/IP, also known as Fibre Channel tunneling or storage tunneling)
is an Internet Protocol (IP) created by the Internet
Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) is a computer network technology that encapsulates Fibre
Channel frames over Ethernet networks.
iFCP (Internet Fibre Channel Protocol) is an emerging standard for extending Fibre Channel storage
networks across the Internet
> What hopcount ?
Ans :- number of (Nodes)counts to reach from source to destination

> Tell me about Fc topology ? and what is private and public?

Fc topologies are : Point-Point, FC-AL, Switched Fabric
Private : No Fabric connection
Public : attached to a ... Channel network in which up to 126 nodes are connected in a loop topology
> What is firmware?
A: permanent software programmed into a read-only memory.
> What is ASIC?
Ans :- Application specific integrated circuit. It is Brocade switch processor.
> What is SSD?
Ans :- Subsystem device driver it is a multipathing software to manage both path failover and
preferred path destination.
> What is Fabric Watch?
Ans: Fabric Watch tracks a variety of SAN fabric elements, events, and counters. Continuous
monitoring of the end-to-end fabric, switches, ports, Inter-Switch Links
> Tell me led light indication in brocade switch?
SWITCH BEACON: if it is of yellow /red then it is not working. If it indicates Green light then its
working
> What is NPIDV. How to assign NPIDV ?
Ans :- NodePortIDvirtualization is a technology that defines how multiple virtual servers can share a
single physical fiber channel port identifier
> What is Node?
It is an entity or device where we can connect it to the network to access services.
> Brocade architecture?
Ans :- It consists of ASIC processor, cache , NSD RAM, Console port(DB-9) .
> What is fabric?
Ans :- Collection of switches of same vendors or different vendors.
> what are FC protocols?
Ans :- i)FCP
ii)FCIP
iii)IFCP
iv)FCOE
> What is zoning?
Zoning is the allocation of resources for device load balancing and for selectively allowing access to
data only to certain users.

> How we can create the zoning?

1. Identify the WWPNs for the new server HBA. We can do this using Qlogic SAN Surfer or Emulex
HBAnywhere,
2. create a new alias for the server HBA port cabled to that fabric.
For each storage device that the server needs access to on fabric 1 (or possibly just switch 1), create
a new zone and include the new server alias and the alias for every relevant storage port on that
device. Repeat if you have other storage devices (so two XIVs means two new zones).
3. Put the new zone (or zones) into the active zone set (or a clone of it) and activate it.
4. Repeat on fabric 2.
> What is WWNN?
World Wide Node Name, it is 64 bit address. It is for identify the particular HBA
> What is WWPN?
World Wide Port Number: It is 64 bit address; it is for port in HBA, Every port having their own WWPN.
> What is the difference between WWNN and WWPN?
World Wide Node Name, it is 64 bit address. It is for identify the particular HBA
World Wide Port Number: It is 64 bit address; it is for port in HBA, Every port having their own WWPN
> Step by step Zoning ?
i) Alias creation
ii) Zone creation
iii) Cfg create
iv) Cfgsave
v) Cfgenable
> How will you check storage us pinging with host are not?
Check in the storage array the mapped LUNs are listing the host WWPNs or not
> Which zoning is secured ?
Soft zoning is better and Flexible .it is done with WWNs. When ever port failures connect to another
port no need to do zoning again because wwn is unique for HBA.
> What is storage portioning?
Its a logical entity consisting of one more logical drives that are shared by a group of hosts or
exclusively accessed by a single host.
> FC topologies?
i) point-point
ii) FC_AL (Fiber channel Arbitrated loop)
iii) Switched Fabric
> What is frame ?
Frame is a binary electrical digital data transfer between source and destination.frame size is 2148
bytes.
> What is Priniciple switch?
The switch which is having least domain ID in a fabric is Principal switch.
> Before shutdown switch that what will you do?
Take config save ,if we want config upload.

Oracle ZFS storage

Describe Oracle ZFS storage platform?
What is L2arc cache?
Describe various models of Oracle ZFS storage?
How to assign NFS share in Oracle zfs storage?
Guide me to find high I/O optimization for certain share as complained by
Application team?
How to assign SMB share in Oracle ZFS storage?