Storage jobs blog Interview Questions has more than 150 blog posts[Blog articles]

I am very happy to share that this blog has grown with more than 150 articles(blog posts).

Click on "Blog Archive" at the bottom right hand corner below "Friendfinder" image. You can click through the year,dates & the article titles to read all important articles.

It is really a nice milestone for me as an author of this blog to complete. I love to share stories that too stories which can inspire others. So let me share a little story (history) about this blog.(You will not find any personal info about me though- I am sorry but I like to remain at the background & let this blog do its work better).

This blog was started in 2006 August 25th with the intention of helping people get better career guidance in Information Technology. If you are a new visitor to this blog & if you are not sure what Storage or SAN is all about then we are talking about Computer Data Storage & How real big enterprises manage or store data .

There was & There will always be a huge need for Storage professionals.

Even today when I talk to many Storage company teams they are expressing that there is a huge number of job openings for storage professionals. But, But the main thing is there are not many good candidates & even worse, there is no proper stream to guide/train/motivate people to explore career options in storage.

So I thought let me start this small blog where I can post few tips & share some stories to help people get some guidance in this highly lucrative Storage technology.

I have recieved more than 1000 emails till today (my email id is roger.smithson@gmail.com ) & there are atleast 20 emails on an average everyday. I try to reply to every email but sometimes i do miss.

This blog has given me a lot of satisfaction as it has helped more than 100 people get job in just last 6 months. These are the people who replied back saying this blog helped. There are also innumerable blog readers who benefited from the blog but forgot to email me :)

Anyway more than emails I am interested in how well this blog can help someone like YOU, who had taken out time to visit & read through the articles. I really appreciate your visit to this blog & would love to see an email from you with a feedback.I will try to improve the content & quality of this blog. I understand the ads have been a bit of annoyance but due to some reasons I request you to consider it as a small servicefee for the amount of things this blog is offering for FREE.

If you just spare 10 minutes to browse though the previous posts apart from posts on this page you will find real people sharing their story of how they got their Career in Storage or related technologies like Backup,Network Management,System administration etc. So please take time & bookmark this blog .Visit regularly to read all the latest updates.

I've made up a resolution to update this blog daily & if possible every 4 hours once. You will find many interesting things soon apart from Interview Questions & Tutorials. Also you will get a FREE Storage Student Guide if you email roger.smithson@gmail.com

Keep reading this blog & forward the weblink http://storage-jobs.blogspot.com to all your friends or loved ones whom you think can benefit from this.

Thanks for your support

Take Mock Interview Online for FREE & Get prepared to be Hired

The only reason people are not getting Better Job or Better pay is that they fear Interviews. Thats true even I feared attending interviews reasons being that interview preparation needs lots of effort
- U need to prepare ur resume which is a pain in the a*s*
- U need to recall all your previous projects again another pain in the neck
- U need to rewrite & retrieve all the info interms of ur role/responsibility in present & past projects/companies & get refreshed on all of them
- U need to sharpen all your wit & wisdom & knowledge base about all those old technologies
- U need to be abreast with the latest technology & how well u can manage the yet to be released "Buzz word of the Techie" stuff
- U need to make ur resume reaches out to all the right consultans & companies & never Your own Boss' hand :)
- Schedule the Interviews out of your very very limited free time
- Make sure you can attend the Interviews really (either thru telephonic or in person)

So many pain points & very little support.

So why not take atleast a little preparation burden on me I thought - So for next 1 week I am willing to take MOCK INTERVIEWS ONLINE Through Googletalk .
If you want me to take a mock interview for you,
- You must send your CV to roger.smithson@gmail.com
Also write which topic/areas you like to be interviewed or tested.

& I will schedule your Mock interview time & email you. I will be online for most of the time online this week & coming one.( I am a net addict & I am addicted to help Job Hunters Like YOU )
I only have 2 conditions -
1.I am serious interviewer - plz dont waste ur & my time if u r not prepared on even the basic stuff
2. Make sure u r online at the said time & plz make sure u let me know what duration of time u r willing to sit online & what % of coverage U would like to see.

FOR THOSE WHO CAN PAY ME $10 FOR MOCK INTERVIEWS - YOU WILL BE GIVEN PRIORITY & U WILL BE GIVEN PREFERCE IN CHOOSING UR TIME OF CONVENIENCE. Payment is thru paypal or credit card - do email roger.smithson@gmail.com if you are interested to pay & get your Mock interview scheduled immediately.

How to Get Interviews and more Job Opportunities

How can I get more interviews , how can I get more job opportunities - this is the most frequently asked question from any job seeker. Experienced guys know the secrets to get more interview calls, more telephonic rounds, more personal interview rounds & increase their chances of getting an offer letter. So these experienced guys are sharing their secrets with you in this posting.

1. Build a powerful resume - this is crucial & the base - if you dont get the base right you may not progress much. If you want me to help you in building your resume , Click on the below banner ( link ) create A NEW ACCOUNT this is very important - U need to create a new account by clicking "Not a Member" - create your new account & upload your present resume on this monster job portal site. also email roger.smithson@gmail.com a copy of your resume/CV/Job profile.
If you create a new account on Monster Job portal by clicking the below banner I will send you 3 Free Powerful Material (Easy downloadable PDF's)to help in your Storage or Networking Career Building which includes a SAN Student Guide & Storage Basics PDF files.

CLICK ON BELOW BANNER & CREATE A NEW ACCOUNT IN THIS POWERFUL JOB PORTAL



2. Once you have a strong & industry oriented resume created you need to upload it to the major job portals some of whom i am giving the links below.



3. Prepare well for every word you are saying on your resume - many people just ignore this aspect & fail miserably.

4. Build a good network of People who are in industry who can guide you & show you where are the openings & what is the expected job profile - I can help you in this email me (roger.smithson@gmail.com) & I will guide you.

Read all posts on this blog as they share lots of real industry experiences which help you build your knowledge base.

Where to start if you are preparing for a job in Storage technology

How To Start Planning & Preparing for a Software Job or a Job in Storage (specifically)
Thanks to Triveni Rao one of the blog visitor for contributing this article.

If you want to get a Job in Storage related technology area, prepare on below topics

Fibre Channel networking fundamentals
HBAs (Host Bus Adaptors)
RAID mirroring Backup and Recovery fundamentals
Basic Understanding of File system
Database storage functions
Basic understanding of Storage Virtualization
Loops and Switches (Networking)
How zoning is applied
How LUN masking is applied
Volume management fundamentals
Media management automation
Basic Ethernet/IP networking knowledge
Grip of OS administration(Linux/Solaris preferred)

Start your preparation by knowing all the above mentioned topics theoritically : which means long hours of studying the Big reference books ( Or reading this whole blog as most of these topics are covered on this blog ).
Try to have a practical lab setup where u can configure switches/networks, create & test RAID, Experiment on Volume Management etc.

Once u are good with theory & done several pracitical lab sessions on the above coverable topics - then u start narrowing down on a Job profile which u are interested to work in. It may start with (Job Roles in Storage domain)
- Storage Support
- Storage Field Engineer
- Storage Testing
- Storage documentation
- Storage Planning
- Storage deployment
- Storage interoperability
- Storage Virtualization
- Storage Disaster Recovery
- Storage Migration

Ur role may keep changing but thats how u learn many things in any technology.
Once u are well aware of whats expected of u in a Job Description or Job Profile - you start improving your theoritical as well as practical knowledge in these specific areas.

Once you are confident about the above steps - start attending MOCK INTERVIEWS. If you want I can arrange for a Mock Interview session provided you have prepared well - FREE SERVICE.

Once u have taken enough Mock interviews - start applying for the real company jobs & get some interviews - attend & keep attending interviews. Also dont forget to improve your Domain strengths & reduce the failures in any other related area like - Softskills,HR,PR etc.

KEEP READING & EMAILING ME roger.smithson@gmail.com & I will workwith you to help you succeed & get a High Paying Job in Storage Technology.

Previous Posts on Storage Technology Jobs

Email ur friends about this blog & CC me roger.smithson@gmail.com . I Will send u links of Storage or Tech Job Video with lots of Real Industry Exposure for every friend you email. I want to spread the word & help more people thru this blog .U'll also get many more Surprise Gifts to Boost your Career & Salary.

Network Attached Storage Introduction

What is NAS (Network Attached Storage)

In a NAS architecture, corporate information resides in a storage system that is attached to a dedicated server, which in turn is directly connected to a network, and uses a common communications protocol, such as TCP/IP. In a corporate IT infrastructure, the NAS operates as a server in a typical client/server environment. The NAS is connected to a network by standard connectivity options such as Ethernet, FDDI and ATM. In some cases, a single specialized NAS server can have up to 30 Ethernet connections.

A NAS server (a processor with an operating system) is necessary in order to transfer the data between it and the NAS storage device, and then move the data on to the corporate network. This is done via traditional file I/O protocol. The most common of these protocols are Network File System (NFS) and Common Internet File Service (CIFS).

NFS was originally developed by Sun Microsystems and is now part of the Open Network Computing (ONC) initiative. It is the most common file access protocol to access shared files in a UNIX environment. CIFS is a file access protocol designed for the Internet, and based on the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol used by the Microsoft Windows operating system. CIFS does not replace the use of NFS, but rather complements it, because of its ability to provide synchronization between client and server.

Although a NAS with NFS can be implemented on readily available tightly-coupled server and disk storage arrays, there are actually only three (3) major vendors that currently have a large marketshare of the NAS marketspace. They are: Network Appliance (also known as NetApps), Auspex Systems, and Sun Microsystems. Both NetApps and Auspex use proprietary tightly integrated servers and storage devices. In the majority of cases, the Sun implementation uses a dedicated Sun server, and typically connected to external Sun storage; although any external storage that is certified to be connected to a Sun server can also be used. However, this is not the case with NetApps or Auspex, as additional storage requirements must be acquired from the respective NAS vendor.

The NAS server permits multiple clients to share files, since clients can access files as if they were local files, with the exception that they must be accessed over a network. In this way, common files can be maintained in a central location, and accessed by many clients, which eliminates the need for multiple copies of files on multiple client systems. In addition, this improves data integrity, data security and reduces costly duplication of files. Major applications that benefit from the use of NAS to share large amounts of information include CAD/CAM (Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacturing), document management, imaging as well as other similar application serving environments.


Because data travels over the network, NAS is not always suitable for applications such as data warehouses and On-Line Transaction Processing (OLTP), since these applications need to sustain high I/O data rates with little, or no degradation in response times to the clients.

- You Can Write/Contribute & Win Some COOL Stuff
- Know Basically What is Storage Area Network
- If You want a High Paying Job what should be your Strategy.
- It has more than 90 interview questions listed in this single blog
Interview questions series 1
Interview questions series 2
Interview questions series 3
Interview questions series 4
Interview questions series 5
Interview questions series 6
Interview questions series 7
Interview questions series 8
Interview questions series 9
Interview questions series 10
- Know what happens in office routine of a Storage professional
- Know what sort of job roles are there in Storage area networking
- Know what they ask in a storage job interview
- Need guidance to revamp or improve your Resume
- It has one simple storage implementation Case study
- Basic questions a Software job hunter asks
- Answers for the questions like Job Opportunities in Storage
- Want to see details of Job requirement for Storage
- U like to take a Virtual tour of Cisco Production Data Center
- Every one talks about HA or High Availability - should'nt You
- Dont forget that Career in Any field requires dedication and hard work - U can do it Dude

FOR PREVIOUS POSTS CLICK THIS LINK

Answers to Interview Questions on Veritas Volume Manager

EMAIL roger.smithson@gmail.com & GET FREE SAN TUTORIAL GUIDE.(PDF:124 PAGES)

Thanks to Ashish Pathak for all the questions and also answers to Interview questions on Veritas Volume Manager.

# Name the mandatory disk group in VxVM 3.5 ? How will you configure VxVM in 3.5 ?
ANS: rootdg is the mandatory disk group in VxVM 3.5, vxinstall is the command to configure VxVM, It will create the disk groups, initializes the disks and adds them to the group.

# How will you create private and shared disk group using VxVM ?
ANS: For Private DG:
Command: vxdg init

For Shared DG:
Command: vxdg -s init < disk1 disk2 disk3 >

# Which are the different layouts for volumes in VxVM ?
ANS: mirror, stripe, concat (default one), raid5, stripe-mirror, mirror-stripe.

# What is the basic difference between private disk group and shared disk group ?
ANS: Private DG: The DG which is only visible for the host on which you have created it, if the host is a part of cluster, the private DG will not be visible to the other cluster nodes.
Shared DG: The DG which is sharable and visible to the other cluster nodes.

# How will you add new disk to the existing disk group ?
ANS: Run vxdiskadm command, which will open menu driven program to do various disk operations, select add disks option or you can use another command vxdiskadd.

# How will you grow/shrink the volume/file system ? What is the meaning of growby and growto options ? What is the meaning on shrinkto and shrinkby options ?
ANS: vxassist command is used to do all volume administration, following is the description and syntax.

Growby option: This is will grow your file system by adding new size to the existing file system.

Growto option: This will grow your file system as per the new size. This WILL NOT ADD new size to the existing one.

Shrinkby option: This will shrink your file system by reducing new size from existing file system.

Shrinkto option: This will shrink your file system as per the new size. This WILL NOT REDUCE the file system by reducing new size.

Command:
vxassist -g [growto, growby, shrinkto, shrinkby] length

# How will you setup and unsetup disks explicitly using VxVM ?
ANS: You can use /etc/vx/bin/vxdiskunsetup to unsetup the disk, and /etc/vx/vxdisksetup to setup the disk.

# How will you list the disks, which are in different disk groups ?
ANS: vxdisk list is the command will list the disks from the DG which is currently imported, you can check the same using vxprint command too. vxdisk -o alldgs list command list all the disks which are in different dg's.

# What is the private region in VxVM ?
ANS: Private region stores the structured VxVM information, it also stores the disk ID and disk geometry. In short words it has metadata of the disk.

# If, vxdisk list command gives you disks status as "error", what steps you will follow to make the respective disks online ?
ANS: If you faced this issue because of fabric disconnection then simply do vxdisk scandisks, otherwise unsetup the disk using using /etc/vx/bin/vxdiskunsetup and setup the disks again using /etc/vx/bin/vxdisksetup, this will definitely help! [ /etc/vx/bin/vxdiskunsetup will remove the private region from the disk and destroys data, backup the data before using this option]

I am greatly thankful to Ashish Pathak ashish.rp AT gmail.com for emailing & contributing this real interview questions on Veritas Volume Manager

Storage area networking Interview Questions

PREVIOUS POSTS CAN BE FOUND BY CLICKING THIS LINK
EMAIL roger.smithson@gmail.com for FREE EASY to understand SAN Student Guide PDF tutorial

Some more interview questions contributed by Jai
51) What is one of the constrains of using storage switch?
Latency

52) What is the difference between NAS and SAN?

NAS
Cables used in the n/w
n/w protocols (TCP/IP, IPx) and file sharing protocols (IFS & NFS)
Lower TCO
Support heterogeneous clients
Slow

SAN
High-speed connectivity such as FC
Do not use n/w protocols because data request are not made over LAN
Higher TCO
Requires special s/w to provide access to heterogeneous clients
Fast

53) What is Jitter?
Jitter refers to any deviation in timing that a bit stream suffers as it traverses the physical medium and the circuitry on-board the end devices. A certain amount of deviation from the original signaling will occur naturally as serial bit stream propagates over fibre-optic or copper cabling.

Mainly caused by electro magnetic interference

54) What is BER/Bit error rate?
Probability that a transmitted bit will be erroneously received is the measure of number of bits (erroneous) at the output of the receiver and dividing by the total number of bits in transmission.

55) What is WWPN?
WWPN is the 16bit character that is assigned to the port, SAN volume controller uses it to uniquely identify the fibre channel HBA that is installed in the host system.

56) What is connection allegiance?
Given multiple connections are established, individual command/response pair must flow over the same connection. This connection allegiance ensures that specific read or writes commands are fulfilled without the additional overhead of monitoring multiple connections and to see whether a particular request is completed.

57) What is burst Length?
The burst length is the number of bytes that the SCSI initiator sends to the SCSI target in the FCP_DATA sequence.

58) Explain different types of RAID?
RAID 0: data striping blocks are written sequentially, no redundancy, high performance than single disk access.

RAID 1: Mirroring, data blocks written to both disk at once, 100% redundancy, 100% additional capacity required. Read can be distributed across both the disks to increase performance.

RAID 3: Striping with byte parity, adds parity information to rebuild data in the event of disk failure, high transfer rate and availability with lower capacity required than RAID 1. Transactions performance low because all disks operate in lock step.

RAID 4: striping with block parity, independently accessible disks, data blocks written sequentially to each disk failure. Dedicated parity disk is write bottleneck and leads to poor performance.

RAID 5: Striping with rotational parity, parity blocks written per row and distributed across all disks, parity distribution eliminates single write bottleneck overhead for parity calculation on write supplemented with parallel microprocessors or caching.

59) What is NAS in detail ?
NAS or Network Attached Storage
“NAS is used to refer to storage elements that connect to a network and provide file
access services to computer systems. Abbreviated NAS. A NAS Storage Element consists of an interface or engine, which implements the file services, and one or more devices, on which data is stored.
NAS elements may be attached to any type of network. When attached to SANs, NAS elements may be considered to be members of the SAS (SAN Attached Storage) class of storage elements.

A class of systems that provide file services to host computers. A host system that uses network attached storage uses a file system device driver to access data using file access protocols such as NFS or CIFS. NAS systems interpret these commands and perform the internal file and device I/O operations necessary to execute them.”

Though the NAS does speed up bulk transfers, it does not offload the LAN like a SAN does. Most storage devices cannot just plug into gigabit Ethernet and be shared - this requires a specialized file server the variety of supported devices is more limited.NAS has various protocols established for such needed features as discovery, access control, and name services.

60)Briefly list the advantages of SAN ?
SANs fully exploit high-performance, highconnectivity network technologies
SANs expand easily to keep pace with fast growing storage needs
SANs allow any server to access any data
SANs help centralize management of storage resources
SANs reduce total cost of ownership (TCO)

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