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Pure Storage Data Storage Associate (DSA) Certification Exam
Actual Test Questions and Correct Answers With Rationales
LATEST THIS YEAR
Summarized Exam Coverage – Pure Storage DSA
Storage architecture fundamentals (scale-up vs. scale-out, block vs. file, NVMe, NAND flash), Pure
Storage products (FlashArray//X, //C, //E, FlashBlade, Cloud Block Store, Portworx), Purity operating
system and data services (deduplication, compression, thin provisioning, snapshots, replication), data
protection (ActiveCluster, ActiveDR, erasure coding, backup, ransomware mitigation), connectivity
protocols (FC, iSCSI, NVMe-oF, NFS, SMB), management tools (Pure1, CLI, REST API), host integration
(multipathing, VMware, Kubernetes, containers), performance monitoring (latency, IOPS, throughput,
SAN time), capacity planning (data reduction ratio, effective capacity), cloud and hybrid storage (AWS,
Azure, Evergreen subscriptions), and troubleshooting methodologies.
1. A storage administrator needs to ensure a database server can maintain connectivity to its storage if a
single switch fails. Which technology is designed for this?
A) Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)
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B) VLAN tagging
C) Multipathing
D) Jumbo Frames
Answer: C – Multipathing uses multiple physical paths between host and storage, providing path failover
and load balancing; if a switch, cable, or HBA fails, I/O continues on remaining paths.
2. Which storage architecture is most suitable when performance and capacity must both scale
independently, allowing linear increases in both?
A) Scale-up
B) Monolithic
C) Scale-out
D) Tiered
Answer: C – Scale-out architectures distribute data across multiple nodes, enabling independent scaling
of performance and capacity; scale-up adds resources to a single controller, which eventually becomes a
bottleneck.
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3. What is the primary function of erasure coding in a Pure Storage FlashBlade?
A) Compress data to save physical space
B) Protect data against drive or node failures
C) Encrypt data at rest for security compliance
D) Accelerate read performance via caching
Answer: B – Erasure coding breaks data into fragments and encodes it with redundant pieces, allowing
reconstruction if a drive or entire node fails; it ensures durability in scale-out systems.
4. A storage administrator is troubleshooting a performance issue. Which metrics should be checked
FIRST on the storage array?
A) Status LED colors
B) Latency and IOPS for the affected volume
C) Host operating system version
D) Backup software type
Answer: B – High latency and low IOPS directly indicate a storage-side bottleneck, differentiating it from
compute or network issues.
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5. What is the purpose of a "snapshot" in data protection?
A) Full byte-for-byte copy stored on a different array
B) Point-in-time logical copy that consumes minimal space initially
C) Backup of system configuration files only
D) Process of erasing data to prepare a drive for reuse
Answer: B – A snapshot is a read-only, point-in-time replica using metadata pointers; it consumes very
little space initially, growing only as changes occur to the original data.
6. Which protocol is commonly used for out-of-band management of storage arrays to configure
settings and monitor health?
A) iSCSI
B) NVMe-oF
C) HTTPS (web GUI or REST API)
D) NFS
Answer: C – Out-of-band management uses a separate network interface accessed via HTTPS (web GUI
or REST API) for configuration and monitoring; data protocols like iSCSI and NVMe-oF are in-band.
Pure Storage Data Storage Associate (DSA) Certification Exam
Actual Test Questions and Correct Answers With Rationales
LATEST THIS YEAR
Summarized Exam Coverage – Pure Storage DSA
Storage architecture fundamentals (scale-up vs. scale-out, block vs. file, NVMe, NAND flash), Pure
Storage products (FlashArray//X, //C, //E, FlashBlade, Cloud Block Store, Portworx), Purity operating
system and data services (deduplication, compression, thin provisioning, snapshots, replication), data
protection (ActiveCluster, ActiveDR, erasure coding, backup, ransomware mitigation), connectivity
protocols (FC, iSCSI, NVMe-oF, NFS, SMB), management tools (Pure1, CLI, REST API), host integration
(multipathing, VMware, Kubernetes, containers), performance monitoring (latency, IOPS, throughput,
SAN time), capacity planning (data reduction ratio, effective capacity), cloud and hybrid storage (AWS,
Azure, Evergreen subscriptions), and troubleshooting methodologies.
1. A storage administrator needs to ensure a database server can maintain connectivity to its storage if a
single switch fails. Which technology is designed for this?
A) Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)
, Page 2 of 101
B) VLAN tagging
C) Multipathing
D) Jumbo Frames
Answer: C – Multipathing uses multiple physical paths between host and storage, providing path failover
and load balancing; if a switch, cable, or HBA fails, I/O continues on remaining paths.
2. Which storage architecture is most suitable when performance and capacity must both scale
independently, allowing linear increases in both?
A) Scale-up
B) Monolithic
C) Scale-out
D) Tiered
Answer: C – Scale-out architectures distribute data across multiple nodes, enabling independent scaling
of performance and capacity; scale-up adds resources to a single controller, which eventually becomes a
bottleneck.
, Page 3 of 101
3. What is the primary function of erasure coding in a Pure Storage FlashBlade?
A) Compress data to save physical space
B) Protect data against drive or node failures
C) Encrypt data at rest for security compliance
D) Accelerate read performance via caching
Answer: B – Erasure coding breaks data into fragments and encodes it with redundant pieces, allowing
reconstruction if a drive or entire node fails; it ensures durability in scale-out systems.
4. A storage administrator is troubleshooting a performance issue. Which metrics should be checked
FIRST on the storage array?
A) Status LED colors
B) Latency and IOPS for the affected volume
C) Host operating system version
D) Backup software type
Answer: B – High latency and low IOPS directly indicate a storage-side bottleneck, differentiating it from
compute or network issues.
, Page 4 of 101
5. What is the purpose of a "snapshot" in data protection?
A) Full byte-for-byte copy stored on a different array
B) Point-in-time logical copy that consumes minimal space initially
C) Backup of system configuration files only
D) Process of erasing data to prepare a drive for reuse
Answer: B – A snapshot is a read-only, point-in-time replica using metadata pointers; it consumes very
little space initially, growing only as changes occur to the original data.
6. Which protocol is commonly used for out-of-band management of storage arrays to configure
settings and monitor health?
A) iSCSI
B) NVMe-oF
C) HTTPS (web GUI or REST API)
D) NFS
Answer: C – Out-of-band management uses a separate network interface accessed via HTTPS (web GUI
or REST API) for configuration and monitoring; data protocols like iSCSI and NVMe-oF are in-band.
