HPE2-K45 Using HPE SimpliVity Questions and Answers

HPE SimpliVity provides storage HA by creating two copies of each virtual machine data across different nodes in a cluster. This ensures that the virtual machines can continue to run even if one node fails. However, this also consumes twice the storage capacity for each virtual machine. For development virtual machines that do not require storage HA, the customer can save storage capacity by creating a single-replica datastore for these virtual machines. A single-replica datastore is a datastore that has only one copy of the virtual machine data on one node. This reduces the storage consumption by 50%, but also increases the risk of data loss and unavailability in case of node failure. Therefore, the customer should carefully weigh the trade-offs between storage efficiency and data protection when using a single-replica datastore.  References :  HPE SimpliVity Data Virtualization Platform ;  HPE SimpliVity User Guide

A stretched cluster is a configuration that allows two or more HPE SimpliVity clusters to span across different physical locations, while maintaining a single logical cluster and a single management interface.  A stretched cluster provides high availability, disaster recovery, and workload mobility for the virtual machines (VMs) running on the HPE SimpliVity platform 1 2 .

A VDI infrastructure is a virtualization solution that delivers desktops and applications to end users from a centralized data center. VDI infrastructure can use different types of VMs, such as linked clones or full clones, to provide the desktops and applications to the end users.  Linked clones are VMs that share a common base image and consume less storage space, while full clones are VMs that have their own independent copies of the base image and consume more storage space 3 4 .

According to the HPE Reference Architecture for VMware Horizon on HPE SimpliVity document, both linked clones and full clones are supported on a stretched cluster. The document states that "HPE SimpliVity supports both linked clones and full clones on a stretched cluster. Linked clones are recommended for better storage efficiency and performance.  Full clones can be used for persistent desktops that require more customization and personalization." 5  The document also provides the design considerations and best practices for deploying VDI infrastructure on HPE SimpliVity stretched cluster, such as the network requirements, the VM placement, the backup and restore policies, and the failover and failback scenarios.

References:

1 :  HPE SimpliVity Stretched Cluster Guide   2 :  HPE SimpliVity Stretched Cluster   3 :  What is VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure)? - VMware   4 :  What is a Linked Clone? - Definition from Techopedia   5 :  HPE Reference Architecture for VMware Horizon on HPE SimpliVity  : [HPE SimpliVity Data Virtualization Platform] : [HPE SimpliVity Intelligent Workload Optimizer] : [HPE SimpliVity Federation Design and Scaling Guide]

Compute nodes are x86 servers that run ESXi and consume the HPE SimpliVity datastores for storage. They provide additional CPU and memory resources to the environment without requiring additional SimpliVity licenses. However, they must reside in the same cluster as HPE SimpliVity nodes, as this is a requirement for the SimpliVity Data Virtualization Platform (DVP) to function properly. The number of compute nodes that can be connected per SimpliVity node is not limited to 5, but depends on the available network bandwidth and storage capacity. Additional license is not required to connect ESXi nodes to SimpliVity datastores, as this is a native capability of the SimpliVity DVP. Connecting ESXi compute nodes is not possible only when VMFS datastores are configured at SimpliVity Federation level, as this is not a prerequisite for the SimpliVity DVP.  References :  Using HPE SimpliVity Official Certification Study Guide , page 29, section 2.2.  Preparing Compute Nodes to Use SimpliVity DVP , section “Preparing Compute Nodes to Use SimpliVity DVP”.  HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10 Node , section “Features”.

HPE SimpliVity is a hyperconverged infrastructure solution that combines compute, storage, networking, and data services in a single platform.  HPE SimpliVity integrates with HPE StoreOnce, a disk-based backup appliance, to provide efficient and reliable data protection and disaster recovery for distributed edge sites 1 2 .

HPE SimpliVity uses HPE StoreOnce Catalyst, a deduplication protocol, to replicate data from HPE SimpliVity clusters to HPE StoreOnce appliances.  HPE SimpliVity leverages its global deduplication and compression capabilities to send only the unique data blocks to HPE StoreOnce, reducing the bandwidth and storage requirements 3 4 .

To optimize the replication performance, the design aspects that need to be evaluated are the number of the HPE SimpliVity clusters and Catalyst stores used. According to the HPE SimpliVity with HPE StoreOnce Reference Architecture document, the following best practices are recommended:

Use one Catalyst store per HPE SimpliVity cluster. This simplifies the configuration and management, and avoids potential performance issues due to contention or fragmentation.

Use one Catalyst store per HPE StoreOnce appliance. This ensures optimal deduplication ratios and avoids unnecessary data movement across appliances.

Use one HPE StoreOnce appliance per HPE SimpliVity federation. This minimizes the network hops and latency, and maximizes the throughput and efficiency.

Use dedicated network interfaces and VLANs for the replication traffic. This isolates the replication traffic from the production traffic, and provides better security and performance.

The other options are not relevant for optimizing the replication performance. The performance optimization features provided by VMFS datastores compared to NFS datastores are not applicable for HPE SimpliVity, as it uses its own file system and data virtualization platform. The intelligent workload optimizer settings are not related to the replication performance, but to the VM placement and load balancing within the HPE SimpliVity cluster. The HPE SimpliVity model used does not affect the replication performance, as long as it meets the minimum requirements for the HPE StoreOnce integration.

References:

1 :  SimpliVity Hyperconverged | HPE   2 :  Expand backups to secondary storage with HPE SimpliVity hyperconverged infrastructure and HPE StoreOnce   3 :  HPE SimpliVity with HPE StoreOnce   4 :  HPE SimpliVity with HPE StoreOnce: A better together story  : [HPE SimpliVity with HPE StoreOnce Reference Architecture] : [HPE SimpliVity Data Virtualization Platform] : [HPE SimpliVity Intelligent Workload Optimizer]

According to the HPE SimpliVity documents and learning resources, the best practice for designing an HPE SimpliVity solution is to use nodes with the same drive configuration and capacity within a cluster, and avoid mixing All-flash and hybrid nodes, or nodes with different drive types, sizes, or speeds. This is because mixing nodes with different drive configurations can result in unbalanced 10 performance and capacity utilization, as well as compatibility issues. Therefore, the recommended option for this design is to create a new cluster with HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10 H SFF nodes at the remote site, and keep the existing cluster with HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10 hardware accelerated nodes at the primary site. The other options are incorrect because they do not follow the best practice and can cause performance and capacity problems.  References :  Using HPE SimpliVity Official Certification Study Guide , page 42;  HPE SimpliVity networking explained ;  HPE SimpliVity Releases

According to the HPE SimpliVity Administration Guide 1 , one of the major considerations for integrating HPE Storence with HPE SimpliVity is the physical location of the HPE Storence system. The guide recommends that the HPE Storence system should be located in a third site that is independent from the two HPE SimpliVity sites, and that the network latency between the sites should be less than 10 ms. This ensures that the HPE Storence system can act as a reliable backup target for the HPE SimpliVity federation, and that the backup and restore operations can be performed efficiently and securely. The other options are not correct because:

The number of HPE Storence/SimpliVity integration licenses is not a major consideration for this integration.  The HPE SimpliVity federation does not require any additional licenses to integrate with HPE Storence 1 .

The number of the stores configured with HPE SimpliVity is not a major consideration for this integration.  The HPE SimpliVity federation can integrate with any number of HPE Storence stores, as long as they are configured with the HPE Storence Catalyst protocol 1 .

The limited support from software-optimized HPE SimpliVity models is not a major consideration for this integration.  The HPE SimpliVity federation can integrate with HPE Storence regardless of the hardware model of the HPE SimpliVity nodes, as long as they are running the same software version 1 .  References :  1 : HPE SimpliVity Administration Guide (A00019350ENW), pages 105-107.

You can apply a backup policy at the datastore level, as this is the level at which HPE SimpliVity manages the virtual machines and their backups 1 . A backup policy consists of one or more rules that specify the destination, frequency, and retention of the backups. You can assign a backup policy to a datastore, and all the virtual machines in that datastore will inherit the backup policy.  You can also override the backup policy for individual virtual machines, if needed 2 . Applying a backup policy at the cluster level (option A), the datacenter level (option B), or the vCenter Server level (option C) is not possible, as these are not the levels at which HPE SimpliVity manages the virtual machines and their backups. These levels are used for organizing and managing the ESXi hosts and the HPE SimpliVity nodes, but not for applying backup policies.  References :

1 : Using HPE SimpliVity Official Certification Study Guide (HPE2-K45), HPE Press, 2019, p. 28.

2 : HPE SimpliVity OmniStack Interoperability Guide 4.2.0, HPE, 2021, p. 8.

 According to the HPE SimpliVity Solution Design Guide 1 , Lanamark is a cloud-based service that collects and analyzes data from customer environments to support the solution design process. Lanamark can collect data from various sources, such as vCenter Server, Hyper-V, XenServer, physical servers, and storage arrays. However, if the customer environment is not connected to the internet, Lanamark Snap can be used to collect the data offline and then upload it manually to the Lanamark portal. Lanamark Snap is a portable tool that can be downloaded from the Lanamark portal and run on any Windows workstation that has access to the customer environment. Lanamark Snap can connect to the vCenter Server and collect the performance data from the ESXi hosts and virtual machines. Lanamark Snap can also collect data from other sources, such as physical servers and storage arrays, by using agents or scripts. Lanamark Snap saves the collected data in a compressed file that can be uploaded to the Lanamark portal for analysis and reporting.

Therefore, the correct answer is D. Download Lanamark Snap and use it to collect the data, and then upload manually to the Lanamark portal, as this is the best option to collect data from an ESXi infrastructure that is not connected to the internet.  References :

1 : HPE SimpliVity Solution Design Guide, https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/getdocument.aspx?docname=a00019351enw, page 15-16

 HPE Reference Architectures for HPE SimpliVity provide validated configuration for a specific workload, such as VMware Horizon, SAP HANA, Microsoft SQL Server, and others. HPE Reference Architectures are designed to reduce the complexities of planning, designing, and implementing infrastructure across a variety of workloads and platforms. They document fully tested and optimized configurations that leverage HPE SimpliVity’s hyperconverged infrastructure and data services. HPE Reference Architectures for HPE SimpliVity do not provide solution pricing and possible discounts, as these may vary depending on the customer’s needs and preferences. They do not provide recommended hardware configuration in ne Config Advanced (CA) format, as this is a tool for configuring HPE products and solutions, not a reference architecture. They do not provide comparison with equivalent competitor offerings, as this is not the purpose of a reference architecture.  References :  Reference Architectures for HPE Systems and Solutions , section “Overview”.  HPE Reference Architecture for VMware Horizon on HPE SimpliVity 380 Gen10 , section “Abstract”.  HPE Reference Architecture for SAP HANA 2.0 on HPE SimpliVity 380 , section “Abstract”.  HPE Reference Architecture for Microsoft SQL Server 2017 on HPE SimpliVity 380 , section “Abstract”.