IBM Midrange Storage Sales V1 Sample Questions:

1. A customer requires 30 TB of relatively inexpensive block storage for a DB2 database in the midrange space. The customer also mentions the need for future performance increase as the project moves from test and development status to full production over the next year.
Which of the following would be an appropriate choice for this customer?

A) Relatively low cost N3220 or IM3240 with SAS drives today, and the addition of PAM (Flash Cache) when additional performance is needed.
B) A 15 module XIV System Gen3 with relatively inexpensive nearline SAS drives for capacity and low cost, with the option of adding SSD for speed in the future.
C) DS3500 with a small number of SSD and large nearline SAS drives to keep down the cost, with Easy Tier turned on when needed to optimize performance.
D) Storwize V7000 with small form factor drives, and a second disk control enclosure added laterfor additional performance.

2. A customer has 10 VMware servers and their current DS4000 system has come off of lease. They want to upgrade and replace it; however, they have limited budget, staff, and time to install.
What is the best solution to discuss with this customer?

A) Storwize V7000 Unified
B) XIV system Gen3
C) N6060
D) DS5020

3. A distribution customer with System x servers has a requirement for automated scheduling, compression and deduplication on their Tivoli Storage Manager environment.
Which of the following statements is FALSE?

A) Tivoli Storage Manager provides encryption
B) Tivoli Storage Manager provides compression
C) Tivoli Storage Manager provides automated scheduling
D) Tivoli Storage Manager provides deduplication

4. A customer is implementing a server consolidation project and is looking at storage solutions that provide primary storage deduplication.
What combination of technologies should the sales representative recommend?

A) IBM AIX server and TS7650 ProtecTIER Deduplication Appliance
B) System x server and N series
C) Tivoli Storage Productivity Center and FlashCopy Manager
D) Tivoli Storage Manager and Real-time Compression Engine

5. A customer has a DS5300 with several expansion trays, and they are beginning to have some performance problems. Their environment has grown and it appears the storage cannot keep up. While they do not need more storage capacity, they do need more performance.
Which is the first option a sales specialist should take to identify the performance problem?

A) Run a Capacity Magic study to determine if the existing storage can be reconfigured to improve performance.
B) Sell the customer a DS3500 and place some of the DS5300 disks behind the DS3500 controller to provide additional controller performance.
C) Run a Disk Magic study to determine if the existing storage can be reconfigured to improve performance.
D) Contact the local IBM ATS team to conduct a performance study to determine the best way to reconfigure the system to improve performance.

Solutions: