HPE7-J02 Questions and Answers

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:

Option C is correct because HPE StoreOnce Virtual Lock technology provides immutability at the Catalyst store level, preventing backup data from being deleted or modified for a defined retention period. This ensures ransomware or malicious actors cannot encrypt, alter, or delete the protected backups, aligning with modern data protection requirements for immutability and compliance. In integration with Veeam v12, backups stored on StoreOnce Catalyst stores can be locked, creating an additional immutability layer beyond application-consistent snapshots.

Analysis of Incorrect Options (Distractors):

A: Virtual Lock is not a Veeam feature. While Veeam v12 supports immutability on certain storage backends (object lock-enabled S3, hardened Linux repositories), HPE Virtual Lock is specific to StoreOnce Catalyst stores, not Veeam job settings.

B: VMware vCenter datastores do not have a native immutability feature. Snapshots in vCenter can be deleted or corrupted during ransomware events, making this option incorrect.

D: HPE Alletra arrays support application-consistent snapshots and replication, but they do not provide the immutability guarantee that StoreOnce Virtual Lock enforces. Array-level snapshots can still be deleted if admin credentials are compromised.

Key Concept:

This question targets knowledge of HPE StoreOnce Virtual Lock — a feature designed to enforce immutability on Catalyst backup stores, making backup data resistant to deletion or alteration during ransomware or insider attacks.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:

In B-Series (Brocade) SAN switches, trunking requires that all ports in a trunk group belong to the same port group (same ASIC) and run at the same speed. This ensures frame ordering and load balancing across ISLs.

Distractors:

A: Incorrect — cable length differences must be minimal, but not stated in meters like this.

C: Incorrect — speeds must match across all trunked ports.

D: Trunking requires a license on some Brocade models; not always enabled by default.

Key Concept: Port trunking requires same port group and same speed.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:

With Alletra and Primera Peer Persistence, the Quorum Witness is no longer a self-hosted VM. It is delivered as a cloud-based SaaS service managed by HPE. This eliminates customer responsibility for patching and ensures HPE automatically applies updates and security fixes. This resolves the audit concern.

Distractors:

A: Applies to older 3PAR environments, not Alletra/Primera.

C/D: Quorum Witness is no longer an appliance — it is SaaS managed, so these don’t apply.

Key Concept: Alletra Quorum Witness is SaaS-managed, removing patching responsibility.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:

The exhibit shows a system delivering ~2.3 GB/s sequential read. For large-block sequential workloads, aggregate host link bandwidth (number × speed of front-end ports) is the primary limiter. Increasing the count of 10/25 Gb iSCSI NICs adds parallel lanes, raising sustained read GB/s to the hosts. This is a recommended first step in HPE sizing before changing protocols.

Analysis of Incorrect Options (Distractors):

A: Adding an expansion shelf increases capacity, not front-end bandwidth.

C: Moving to 32 Gb FC can help, but simply adding more existing 10/25 Gb ports achieves the same goal without a protocol/adapter change and is the straightforward, supported scale-out path.

D: SCM (Storage Class Memory) targets latency/IOPS; it doesn’t materially lift sequential GB/s if the link budget is the bottleneck.

Key Concept: Scale front-end connectivity to increase sequential throughput; capacity or media class changes won’t fix a link-limited system.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:

From the exhibit, the system shows maximum estimated IOPS performance (over 250K IOPS read, 115K IOPS mixed, 62K write). These values align with HPE’s published performance specifications for this model with full cores enabled. The network interface count and disk count are balanced relative to controller capability. Therefore, no further upgrades are required to achieve maximum performance.

Distractors:

A: Adding NICs/HBAs may improve throughput but will not exceed controller-bound IOPS.

B: Adding disks increases capacity, not peak IOPS, as performance is primarily controller-driven.

D: The system already matches controller capability; upgrading cores is not an option in Alletra MP B10000 mid-range systems.

Key Concept: Understanding performance sizing based on controller and architecture limits, not just capacity or NICs.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:

The SAF (Storage Assessment Framework) requires engineers to manually email the collected assessment data to HPE for processing. This is different from fully automated tools like CloudPhysics or Backup assessments that integrate directly with portals. This distinction is important for new engineers performing customer assessments.

Distractors:

A: Backup assessments are usually tool-driven (StoreOnce, RMC, etc.) and automated.

C: Non-HPE assessments are outside scope and not part of HPE standard process.

D: CloudPhysics is fully automated and cloud-based — no manual email required.

Key Concept: SAF = requires manual email submission to HPE.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:

In an HPE Peer Persistence configuration (supported on HPE Alletra MP, Primera, and 3PAR), hosts see volumes presented from arrays at both sites. For optimal load balancing and transparent failover, the local array paths are shown as “Active Optimized” while the remote array paths are marked “Active Non-optimized”. The “Non-optimized” label indicates these paths are functional but involve remote access with higher latency. This design ensures automatic transparent failover if the local site becomes unavailable.

Distractors:

A: “Active Optimized” applies only to local array paths, not remote ones.

B: Passive paths are typical of ALUA implementations without Peer Persistence, not here.

D: “Standby” is not the term used in Peer Persistence multipathing.

Key Concept: MPIO with Peer Persistence (ALUA Active/Active configuration).

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:

HPE NinjaSTARS (Storage Assessment and Right Sizing) is the dedicated HPE tool for sizing and configuring StoreOnce backup appliances. It evaluates backup datasets, retention policies, deduplication ratios, and replication to recommend the right StoreOnce model and configuration.

Distractors:

A (CloudPhysics): Used for virtual infrastructure and block storage assessments, not backup target sizing.

C (Ninja Online): General sizing tool, not specific for StoreOnce.

D (OCA): Used for quoting/configuration, but sizing requires NinjaSTARS first.

Key Concept: HPE NinjaSTARS is the StoreOnce sizing tool.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:

In the exhibit, several paths show “Standby” and some appear “Dead”, while only a subset is Active (0). This typically indicates that one storage controller may be missing or offline, which reduces redundancy and can cause performance degradation. In a healthy Peer Persistence environment, both controllers should present active and non-optimized paths.

Distractors:

A & B: Having multiple active paths does not inherently reduce performance; in fact, MPIO load balances traffic. The issue here is path failures, not excessive active paths.

Key Concept: MPIO pathing in HPE Peer Persistence and controller health.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:

Option B (All) is correct because in an Active Peer Persistence deployment where both arrays and hosts are in close proximity (metro or campus cluster scenario), the hosts should be configured with Host Proximity = All. This ensures that the host (ESX31) can access both arrays symmetrically and concurrently, enabling active-active paths. This is essential to deliver seamless failover and load balancing across the arrays in an HPE Alletra MP Peer Persistence environment.

Analysis of Incorrect Options (Distractors):

A (Secondary): This is used for hosts located closer to the secondary array, to bias access toward it in asymmetric deployments. Not applicable here since the hosts are near both arrays.

C (Exclusive): This option assigns the host to a single array exclusively, preventing dual-active access. This would defeat the purpose of symmetric Peer Persistence.

D (Primary): Similar to Secondary, this biases access to only the primary array, which is not correct when arrays and hosts are in the same site for active-active.

Key Concept:

This question focuses on Host Proximity parameters in HPE Peer Persistence.

Primary/Secondary = asymmetric designs (hosts closer to one array).

All = symmetric design (hosts equidistant to both arrays, enabling active-active).

Exclusive = restricts access to one array only.