CNIT 342 EXAM 1 REVIEW QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED ANSWERS
What are some examples of block devices? - Answers - - magnetic hard disk
- optical drives
- solid state drives
- RAID arrays (hardware, software)
- SANs (fiber channel, iSCSI, AON)
How many files can a sector contain? - Answers - one file
Sector management is a function of what? - Answers - the filesystem
A one-to-one local block device interconnection type is associated with what? - Answers
- serial
A one-to-many local block device interconnection type is associated with what? -
Answers - parallel
What does SCSI stand for? - Answers - Small Computer System Interface
What is a a storage area network (SAN)? - Answers - - block level storage that is
accessible over a network connection
- uses dedicated hardware to interconnect the storage arrays (SAN switches, fiber
channel, iSCSI)
- only machines with these interfaces can connect to the SAN
What must take place in SAN storage before a client can use it? - Answers - -
partitioning/formatting
What is network attached storage (NAS)? - Answers - - file level storage that is
available over the network
- completely different than a SAN
- NAS storage is ALREADY partitioned and formatted (appears as a share or export to
clients)
- doesn't required dedicated hardware (typically ethernet)
- sometimes uses a "head" device to act as a front end of the storage array
What is a drive? - Answers - - physical storage mechanism (platters, heads, etc)
- interconnection hardware
What is a disk controller? - Answers - - controls read/write from/to drives
- all transactions are originated by the controller
,What is RAID used for? - Answers - - used to aggregate multiple drives into a single,
fault tolerant, higher performing, storage device
- viewed as a single block device by higher layers
What is RAID? - Answers - - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks
- used to create a single LOGICAL disk from multiple PHYSICAL disks
- can provide: increased performance, fault tolerance, both
- hardware or software
What is hardware RAID? - Answers - - RAID operations managed by attachment
controller
- RAID looks like single large drive to computer
- RAID operations done in hardware (XOR engine; does not use processor clock cycles
or memory)
- creates a SINGLE POINT OF FAILURE (RAID controller fails, entire array is down)
What is software RAID? - Answers - - RAID done by operating system
- operating system itself limits the available RAID types
- uses processor clock cycles and memory
- physical drives partitioned into special RAID partitions (then combined into single
logical block device)
What is RAID 0? - Answers - - striping
- data distributed across multiple disks
- increased performance
- no redundancy (one fails, all data lost)
- at leasts 2 disks required
What is RAID 1? - Answers - - mirroring
- data duplicated across multiple disks
- no increased performance
- fault tolerant (drive fails, copy can be used)
- at leasts 2 disks required
What is RAID 5? - Answers - - striping with parity
- data is striped across multiple disks
- parity data is kept for each set of stripes
- increased performance
- provides some redundancy
- at least 3 disks required
What is RAID 10 or 1+0? - Answers - - mirrored striping
- stripes data across multiple disks which are then mirrored
- increased performance
- fault tolerant
- at least 4 disks required
, How is block storage used? - Answers - - block device (drive, RAID array, etc)
represents series of blocks/clusters that store data directly
- blocks/clusters partitioned into logical sections before use (formatted in manner
consistent with data they will hold)
What are file systems used for? - Answers - - used to hold variable length files
What are record/page/block systems used for? - Answers - - used to hold fixed length
data
What is basic disk partitioning? - Answers - - each physical disk is broken into one or
more partitions
- each partition holds one file system
- typically no dynamic way to combine/resize file systems on physical partitions
What are volumes/slices? - Answers - - physical block devices divided/aggregated into
volumes/slices
- a volume can be part of a disk or span multiple disks
- volumes can be resized
- additional drives can be added/removed to/from the volume
How are Windows machines usually partitioned? - Answers - - one partition is typically
used for everything
What is the system partition? - Answers - - contains OS files and files needed for
booting
- partition will be bootable and active
What is a swap partition? - Answers - - can be used to house swap file
- reduces/eliminates fragmentation to swap file
What is a data partition? - Answers - - optional
- can be used to separate data from other programs and files
What is the purpose of a file system? - Answers - - to store and organize files
What are the limitations for a FAT file system (Windows)? - Answers - - 8.3 filenames
- 2GB volume size limit
- share security only
What are the limitations for a FAT32 file system (Windows)? - Answers - - LFN (long file
names)
- 2TB volume size limit
- 4GB file size limit
- share security only
What are some examples of block devices? - Answers - - magnetic hard disk
- optical drives
- solid state drives
- RAID arrays (hardware, software)
- SANs (fiber channel, iSCSI, AON)
How many files can a sector contain? - Answers - one file
Sector management is a function of what? - Answers - the filesystem
A one-to-one local block device interconnection type is associated with what? - Answers
- serial
A one-to-many local block device interconnection type is associated with what? -
Answers - parallel
What does SCSI stand for? - Answers - Small Computer System Interface
What is a a storage area network (SAN)? - Answers - - block level storage that is
accessible over a network connection
- uses dedicated hardware to interconnect the storage arrays (SAN switches, fiber
channel, iSCSI)
- only machines with these interfaces can connect to the SAN
What must take place in SAN storage before a client can use it? - Answers - -
partitioning/formatting
What is network attached storage (NAS)? - Answers - - file level storage that is
available over the network
- completely different than a SAN
- NAS storage is ALREADY partitioned and formatted (appears as a share or export to
clients)
- doesn't required dedicated hardware (typically ethernet)
- sometimes uses a "head" device to act as a front end of the storage array
What is a drive? - Answers - - physical storage mechanism (platters, heads, etc)
- interconnection hardware
What is a disk controller? - Answers - - controls read/write from/to drives
- all transactions are originated by the controller
,What is RAID used for? - Answers - - used to aggregate multiple drives into a single,
fault tolerant, higher performing, storage device
- viewed as a single block device by higher layers
What is RAID? - Answers - - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks
- used to create a single LOGICAL disk from multiple PHYSICAL disks
- can provide: increased performance, fault tolerance, both
- hardware or software
What is hardware RAID? - Answers - - RAID operations managed by attachment
controller
- RAID looks like single large drive to computer
- RAID operations done in hardware (XOR engine; does not use processor clock cycles
or memory)
- creates a SINGLE POINT OF FAILURE (RAID controller fails, entire array is down)
What is software RAID? - Answers - - RAID done by operating system
- operating system itself limits the available RAID types
- uses processor clock cycles and memory
- physical drives partitioned into special RAID partitions (then combined into single
logical block device)
What is RAID 0? - Answers - - striping
- data distributed across multiple disks
- increased performance
- no redundancy (one fails, all data lost)
- at leasts 2 disks required
What is RAID 1? - Answers - - mirroring
- data duplicated across multiple disks
- no increased performance
- fault tolerant (drive fails, copy can be used)
- at leasts 2 disks required
What is RAID 5? - Answers - - striping with parity
- data is striped across multiple disks
- parity data is kept for each set of stripes
- increased performance
- provides some redundancy
- at least 3 disks required
What is RAID 10 or 1+0? - Answers - - mirrored striping
- stripes data across multiple disks which are then mirrored
- increased performance
- fault tolerant
- at least 4 disks required
, How is block storage used? - Answers - - block device (drive, RAID array, etc)
represents series of blocks/clusters that store data directly
- blocks/clusters partitioned into logical sections before use (formatted in manner
consistent with data they will hold)
What are file systems used for? - Answers - - used to hold variable length files
What are record/page/block systems used for? - Answers - - used to hold fixed length
data
What is basic disk partitioning? - Answers - - each physical disk is broken into one or
more partitions
- each partition holds one file system
- typically no dynamic way to combine/resize file systems on physical partitions
What are volumes/slices? - Answers - - physical block devices divided/aggregated into
volumes/slices
- a volume can be part of a disk or span multiple disks
- volumes can be resized
- additional drives can be added/removed to/from the volume
How are Windows machines usually partitioned? - Answers - - one partition is typically
used for everything
What is the system partition? - Answers - - contains OS files and files needed for
booting
- partition will be bootable and active
What is a swap partition? - Answers - - can be used to house swap file
- reduces/eliminates fragmentation to swap file
What is a data partition? - Answers - - optional
- can be used to separate data from other programs and files
What is the purpose of a file system? - Answers - - to store and organize files
What are the limitations for a FAT file system (Windows)? - Answers - - 8.3 filenames
- 2GB volume size limit
- share security only
What are the limitations for a FAT32 file system (Windows)? - Answers - - LFN (long file
names)
- 2TB volume size limit
- 4GB file size limit
- share security only
