Pure Storage Portworx-Enterprise-Professional Pure Certified Portworx Enterprise Professional (PEP) Exam Exam Practice Test

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To view current alerts raised by Portworx within the cluster, the primary command is pxctl alerts show. This CLI command lists all active alerts with details such as severity, affected resources, and timestamps. It helps administrators quickly identify issues impacting cluster health, storage pools, volumes, or nodes. While Grafana is a powerful visualization tool often used alongside Prometheus for monitoring, it requires additional setup and does not directly replace the immediate, real-time alert query functionality of pxctl. The pxctl cd list alerts is not a valid command. Portworx documentation emphasizes pxctl alerts show as the go-to tool for alert inspection during operational checks and troubleshooting, offering a concise and focused alert view integrated with Portworx’s internal alerting system【Pure Storage Portworx Alerting Guide†source】.

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To perform an ApplicationBackup in Portworx, two Kubernetes Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) are essential: BackupLocation and ApplicationBackup. The BackupLocation CRD defines the target backup storage, such as an S3 bucket or NFS share, including credentials and endpoints. ApplicationBackup defines the specifics of the backup operation, including which application volumes to back up, schedules, and retention policies. Together, they enable declarative backup management within Kubernetes, allowing administrators to configure, automate, and monitor backups of stateful applications using Portworx. These CRDs provide flexibility and integration with Kubernetes-native tools, improving disaster recovery capabilities. Portworx backup documentation describes these CRDs as the foundation of its application-aware backup and restore system【Pure Storage Portworx Backup Docs†source】.

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The command pxctl cluster status provides a concise summary of the Portworx cluster’s health and operational status. This includes node states, storage pool information, volume statuses, and quorum information. It is the primary CLI command for administrators to quickly assess cluster health and detect any issues affecting storage availability or performance. helm list --px is a Helm package management command unrelated to cluster status, and kubectl get pxstatus is not a valid Kubernetes or Portworx command. Portworx documentation recommends pxctl cluster status as an essential monitoring command during routine operations and troubleshooting to ensure the cluster is functioning properly and that all nodes are communicating and healthy【Pure Storage Portworx CLI Guide†source】

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When using Portworx Asynchronous Disaster Recovery (DR) to migrate workloads and storage across clusters, network policies can sometimes interfere with seamless failover. The label skipNetworkPolicyCheck: true can be used to instruct the DR mechanism to bypass strict network policy checks during migration. This allows applications and volumes to migrate even if network policies differ or are incompatible between source and destination clusters. Without this label, migration might be blocked or fail due to network restrictions. By default, network policies are not always migrated, and strict checks are performed unless explicitly skipped. Portworx DR documentation details this option as a means to increase migration flexibility, reduce operational friction, and enable faster recovery during disaster scenarios while administrators work on aligning network configurations【Pure Storage Portworx DR Guide†source】.

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Portworx uses node labeling as a mechanism to control on which Kubernetes nodes Portworx is installed and allowed to operate. To restrict Portworx installation on specific nodes, those nodes should be labeled with px/enabled=false. This label tells the Portworx Operator or installation scripts to exclude these nodes from Portworx deployment, preventing Portworx daemons from running there. This feature is useful for reserving nodes for non-storage workloads or avoiding unsupported hardware. Labels like px/service=stop or px/storage-node=false are not recognized by Portworx as controls for installation exclusion. The official Portworx deployment and node labeling documentation specify px/enabled=false as the standard method for controlling node participation in the storage cluster, offering administrators fine-grained control over cluster topology and resource allocation【Pure Storage Portworx Deployment Guide†source】.

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Adding a new drive to an existing Portworx storage cluster involves bringing the physical device online for Portworx management. The correct command for this is pxctl service drive add -drive /dev/dm-1 -operation start. This command instructs Portworx to recognize and incorporate the new drive specified by the device path (e.g., /dev/dm-1) into its storage pool. After this operation, Portworx can use the drive for provisioning volumes or expanding capacity. The -operation start flag signals Portworx to initialize and prepare the drive for use. This method is part of Portworx’s dynamic storage management capabilities, allowing flexible scaling of storage resources without downtime. Official CLI documentation outlines this command as the supported approach to adding drives to running clusters safely and efficiently【Pure Storage Portworx CLI Guide†source】.

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Portworx provides a mechanism to control KVDB pod placement through the kvdb.selector.matchNodeName field in the StorageCluster Custom Resource Definition (CRD). This allows administrators to explicitly specify node names where KVDB pods will be deployed. By setting this selector to include NODE01, NODE03, and NODE05, KVDB pods will run exclusively on these nodes, ensuring better control of quorum, fault tolerance, and performance. Node labeling alone is insufficient unless the labels are properly referenced in the spec, making direct node name matching the most straightforward and reliable method. This configuration must be done prior to cluster installation to ensure proper pod placement. Official Portworx documentation on cluster deployment and KVDB configuration confirms this method as the recommended best practice for managing KVDB nodes, critical for maintaining database availability and consistency within the Portworx cluster【Pure Storage Portworx Install Guide†source】.

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Portworx’s Volume Placement Strategy ensures that persistent volumes are co-located with the pods that use them, enhancing performance and reducing latency. This strategy involves applying placement rules and constraints that guide Kubernetes scheduler and Portworx storage operations to place data volumes on nodes close to or the same as the pods. Co-location improves I/O throughput and application responsiveness by minimizing network hops between compute and storage resources. While Autopilot automates scaling and Stork manages storage-aware scheduling, Volume Placement Strategy specifically handles volume location relative to workloads. The Portworx architecture documentation highlights this component as critical for optimizing storage efficiency and workload performance in Kubernetes environments running Portworx storage【Pure Storage Portworx Architecture Docs†source】.

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Stork version 2.3 is the minimum version required to support Application Backup features in Portworx. Application Backup allows for consistent snapshots and restores of complex, multi-volume, and multi-pod stateful applications. This capability depends on enhancements introduced in Stork 2.3 that enable application-aware backup orchestration, coordination between Kubernetes and storage layers, and integration with backup policies. Earlier Stork versions lack these features, making them unsuitable for application-level backups. Portworx release notes and Stork documentation confirm that version 2.3 introduced key functionalities that underpin the reliable backup and restore workflows for stateful workloads, making it a baseline requirement for disaster recovery and business continuity implementations involving application backups【Pure Storage Portworx Backup Docs†source】.

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To create a StorageClass in Kubernetes for Portworx volumes that are encrypted and replicated twice, the correct parameters are encrypted: "true" to enable encryption and repl: "2" to specify two replicas. Option A accurately sets these parameters, ensuring volumes provisioned with this StorageClass will be encrypted at rest and maintain two replicas for data redundancy. Option B uses sharedv4: "true", which relates to NFS-like sharing, not encryption. Option C uses secure: "true", which is not the recognized parameter for enabling encryption in Portworx StorageClass definitions. The official Portworx StorageClass parameter documentation confirms encrypted as the correct flag for encryption and repl to specify replication factor, enabling administrators to enforce data security and availability policies declaratively through Kubernetes manifests【Pure Storage Portworx StorageClass Guide†source】.

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When telemetry is enabled, Portworx deploys a telemetry pod on each node whose primary function is to collect diagnostic and performance data and securely upload it to Pure1, Pure Storage’s cloud-based management and analytics platform. This pod gathers metrics such as resource utilization, error rates, and configuration changes, enabling proactive monitoring and predictive analytics. The data helps Pure1 provide customers with actionable insights, alerting, and automated support features, improving cluster reliability and reducing operational overhead. The telemetry pod does not directly monitor node health (which is the role of other components) nor manage network settings; its focus is on data collection and communication with Pure1. Official Portworx telemetry documentation highlights this pod as critical for enabling cloud-based health monitoring and customer support enhancements【Pure Storage Portworx Telemetry Guide†source】.

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If a drive fails and the associated storage pool contains critical metadata, the safest and recommended action is to decommission the entire node. Metadata loss can compromise the integrity of volume allocations and cluster state. Decommissioning the node allows Portworx to safely remove the node from the cluster, replicate data, and redistribute workloads, preventing data loss or corruption. Deleting the pool or reformatting the disk without proper precautions risks losing metadata and causing cluster inconsistencies. Portworx’s operational guidelines emphasize that nodes with failed drives holding metadata require careful decommissioning procedures to maintain cluster health and data durability, ensuring data is rebalanced and availability is preserved【Pure Storage Portworx Operations Guide†source】.

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If Portworx logs indicate that a node is not in quorum, the administrator’s first step is to verify the status of each storage node in the cluster using the command pxctl status. This command provides detailed information about node connectivity, quorum status, and cluster health. The quorum is critical for distributed consensus and cluster consistency. Checking each node’s status helps identify network partitions, node failures, or communication issues causing quorum loss. Simply running pxctl service status provides service-level info but not the comprehensive node quorum details needed. The Portworx troubleshooting documentation stresses using pxctl status as the primary diagnostic tool when encountering quorum-related alerts to ensure cluster stability and resolve issues promptly【Pure Storage Portworx Troubleshooting Guide†source】.

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Cloud Snapshots are designed to store snapshots of critical application volumes directly into an external Object Store such as Amazon S3 or other S3-compatible storage. This solution provides offsite durability, disaster recovery capability, and long-term retention beyond the cluster’s local storage capacity. Cloud Snapshots allow administrators to create consistent, incremental snapshots that are efficiently uploaded to cloud storage, enabling protection against data loss scenarios such as cluster failure or site outages. This contrasts with Local Snapshots, which remain on the cluster’s local storage, and Backups, which may refer to full data copies. The Portworx documentation explains Cloud Snapshots as the recommended approach for storing critical volume snapshots securely and durably offsite, supporting business continuity strategies【Pure Storage Portworx Cloud Snapshot Guide†source】.

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To ensure Portworx volumes for an ElasticSearch application are created only on specific Kubernetes nodes, the Volume Placement Strategy feature is used. This feature allows administrators to define node affinity or anti-affinity rules that restrict volume provisioning to a subset of nodes. By tagging the six nodes with appropriate labels and configuring the StorageClass or volume parameters to respect these labels, Portworx guarantees that volumes will only be provisioned on those nodes. This targeted volume placement is critical for performance optimization, data locality, and compliance with infrastructure constraints. Autopilot automates scaling and Stork manages storage-aware scheduling but does not directly control volume node placement. The Portworx deployment documentation highlights Volume Placement Strategy as the tool for precise volume-to-node mapping in Kubernetes clusters【Pure Storage Portworx Deployment Guide†source】.

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Portworx requires a minimum Linux kernel version of 3.10 or greater to operate properly. This requirement stems from Portworx’s dependencies on certain kernel features and modules that became standard from kernel version 3.10 onwards. The kernel version affects support for device-mapper, overlay filesystems, network stack enhancements, and other low-level capabilities essential for Portworx’s block storage functionality and performance. Although newer kernels (like 4.15+) offer additional features and improvements, Portworx maintains compatibility back to 3.10 to support a wide range of enterprise Linux distributions such as RHEL, CentOS, and Ubuntu LTS releases. The official Portworx system requirements document explicitly states kernel 3.10 as the minimum supported version to ensure stability and compatibility in production environments【Pure Storage Portworx System Requirements†source】.

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The Kubernetes secret named px-kvdb-auth is used to store external KVDB certificates in a Portworx deployment. These certificates enable mutual TLS authentication for the KVDB pods, ensuring secure and authenticated communication between the distributed KVDB instances running on different nodes. The px-kvdb-auth secret includes private keys and certificate chains that are essential for encrypting KVDB traffic and verifying peer identities within the cluster. This security feature prevents unauthorized access and protects sensitive KVDB data in transit. Portworx’sofficial security and KVDB documentation detail the use of this secret, highlighting its role in certificate management and enabling encryption for high-availability clusters running on Kubernetes environments【Pure Storage Portworx Security Guide†source】.

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Skinny Snapshots are a space-efficient snapshot technique used by Portworx for replicated volumes (Repl 2 or 3) when storage capacity is limited and no external Object Store is configured. Unlike full snapshots that duplicate data blocks, skinny snapshots capture only the differences (deltas) since the last snapshot, minimizing space consumption. This method allows administrators to take frequent snapshots without significantly impacting storage availability. Skinny Snapshots are particularly useful for on-premises environments or clusters without access to cloud object storage, balancing snapshot granularity with resource constraints. Official Portworx snapshot documentation explains how skinny snapshots work internally, improving backup and recovery capabilities under tight storage conditions without requiring cloud integration【Pure Storage Portworx Snapshot Guide†source】.

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Once two Portworx clusters are paired, for example in disaster recovery setups, data migration between them can be initiated. The command pxctl cloudmigrate start triggers this migration process. It synchronizes volumes, ensuring that data is copied securely and consistently from the source cluster to the destination. This migration is transparent to applications and supports incremental syncs, which helps reduce downtime. The CLI command also provides operational feedback and logs for administrators to monitor progress. Portworx’s documentation on disaster recovery workflows emphasizes this command as essential for starting volume migration post-cluster pairing, streamlining data protection and business continuity strategies across multiple sites or cloud regions【Pure Storage Portworx Disaster Recovery Guide†source】.

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Enabling Alertmanager in Portworx involves creating a Kubernetes Secret containing the Alertmanager configuration (such as alert routing rules and notification channels) and referencing this secret in the Portworx StorageCluster manifest. This integration allows Portworx’s monitoring stack to forward alerts to Alertmanager for centralized alert processing and notifications. Unlike ConfigMaps, which are generally used for non-sensitive data, Secrets protect sensitive alert configuration. Enabling Alertmanager via pxctl CLI is not supported as Portworx relies on Kubernetes declarative configuration for monitoring components. Additionally, deploying Alertmanager independently and integrating through webhooks requires manual setup but is not the recommended or integrated approach. Portworx official observability documentation details the secret-based configuration as the standard and secure method to enable and manage Alertmanager within Portworx clusters for robust alert handling【Pure Storage Portworx Monitoring Guide†source】.

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Portworx alerts are generated for several resource types within the storage cluster environment, primarily including Nodes, Disks, Pods, Namespaces, and Volumes. These alerts provide real-time notifications of events such as node failures, disk health degradation, volume status changes, pod crashes, or namespace-level issues affecting storage consumption or performance. Monitoring these resource types helps administrators proactively manage cluster health, maintain high availability, and troubleshoot faults before they impact applications. The Portworx alerting framework aggregates data from these resources and integrates with external monitoring systems for centralized alert management. Official Portworx observability and alerting documentation list these resource categories as the core focus of Portworx alerting mechanisms, critical for operational awareness and automation【Pure Storage Portworx Observability Guide†source】.

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Portworx primarily relies on Direct Attached Storage (DAS) for its storage provisioning. DAS refers to physical disks or SSDs directly connected to the nodes running Portworx. Using DAS enables high-performance, low-latency access to storage resources, crucial for stateful containerized applications. Portworx aggregates and abstracts these local devices into distributed storage pools, providing features like replication, encryption, and snapshots. While Portworx integrates with Object Storage for cloud snapshots and disaster recovery, and can support NFS for certain use cases, the core storage provisioning and volume management depend on DAS. The Portworx architecture documentation clarifies that leveraging local node storage is essential for delivering performant, resilient, and scalable persistent storage in Kubernetes environments【Pure Storage Portworx Architecture Guide†source】.