Dell DCA-ISM key terms

A facility housing compute, storage, and networking equipment with supporting power, cooling, and physical security, used to run business applications and store data centrally.

Data that describes other data, such as file names, timestamps, ownership, and location pointers. Storage systems use metadata to locate, organize, and manage the actual user data.

A disk array with its own processors, cache, and management software that provides RAID protection, connectivity, and advanced services such as replication and snapshots without host involvement.

Fast memory inside a storage controller that buffers reads and writes to reduce latency. It holds recently accessed or pending data before it is written to slower disk media.

Redundant Array of Independent Disks; a technique that combines multiple physical drives into one logical unit to improve performance, capacity, or protection against drive failure.

Redundant information computed from data blocks and stored on separate drives so lost data can be reconstructed if a drive fails. Used in RAID 5 and RAID 6.

Writing identical copies of data to two or more drives simultaneously so that a single drive failure does not cause data loss. Used in RAID 1 and RAID 10.

A standby drive kept available in an array that automatically replaces a failed drive and begins rebuilding data, restoring redundancy without manual intervention.

The process of reconstructing data onto a replacement drive after a failure, using parity or a mirror copy. Rebuild time affects exposure to a second failure.

A dedicated high-speed network, typically Fibre Channel, that connects servers to block storage devices so that storage appears as locally attached LUNs.

Logical Unit Number; an addressable block storage device presented to a host over a SAN. Hosts format and mount a LUN like a local disk.

A high-speed serial protocol and networking standard used for block storage traffic, offering low latency and lossless delivery through switched fabrics.

World Wide Name; a unique 64-bit identifier assigned to Fibre Channel ports and nodes, used for fabric addressing, zoning, and LUN masking.

A Fibre Channel fabric configuration that groups ports into zones so that only permitted initiators and targets can communicate, isolating traffic and limiting unauthorized access.

A protocol that carries SCSI block storage commands over TCP/IP networks, letting hosts use standard Ethernet infrastructure to reach remote storage.

Network Attached Storage; a dedicated file server that shares files over protocols such as NFS or SMB, presenting a file system rather than raw block devices to clients.

Network File System; a file-sharing protocol common in Linux and UNIX environments that lets clients mount remote directories over an IP network.

Server Message Block; a file-sharing protocol used mainly by Windows systems for accessing shared folders, printers, and named pipes over a network.

A storage architecture that manages data as discrete objects in a flat address space, each with a unique identifier, metadata, and payload, accessed through HTTP-based APIs rather than file paths.

A logical container in object storage that holds objects and provides a namespace and access policy boundary. Bucket names are typically globally unique within a service.

An HTTP-based interface for object storage using operations such as PUT, GET, and DELETE on buckets and objects. Widely adopted as a de facto interoperability standard.

A single storage system that serves both block (SAN) and file (NAS) access, consolidating protocols and management on one platform.

A storage architecture in which control and data services run as software on commodity hardware, decoupling storage functionality from proprietary appliances and enabling policy-driven automation.

A design that increases capacity and performance by adding more nodes to a cluster, distributing data across them, rather than upgrading a single controller.

A system that combines compute, storage, and virtualization in one clustered appliance or software stack, managed as a single pool.

Recovery Point Objective; the maximum acceptable amount of data loss measured in time. It determines how frequently data must be replicated or backed up.

Recovery Time Objective; the maximum acceptable time to restore a service after a disruption. It drives the choice of recovery technology and standby arrangements.

A point-in-time logical copy of data that consumes little space initially and is used for fast rollback, backup sourcing, or testing without full duplication.

Continuously or periodically copying data from one site or system to another so a secondary copy is available for recovery or read access.

The set of plans, technologies, and procedures used to restore IT services at an alternate location after a major outage, guided by RPO and RTO targets.

A SAN access control that maps a LUN only to specified host initiators, preventing other servers from seeing or writing to that device.

Protecting stored data by encrypting it on the media or within the array, so that stolen drives or unauthorized backend access do not expose readable information.

The processes and systems for generating, storing, rotating, and revoking cryptographic keys used to encrypt data, including separation of keys from the protected data.

Simple Network Management Protocol; a standard method for monitoring devices by polling object identifiers and receiving traps, commonly used for storage and network health.

The practice of forecasting storage growth and performance demand so that capacity, bandwidth, and array resources are provisioned before they run short.

Allocating physical storage to hosts on demand rather than reserving the full requested size upfront, improving utilization but requiring monitoring of overcommitment.

Storage delivered as a service over a network by a provider, billed on consumption and accessed through APIs or gateways, with durability and elasticity handled by the provider.

An environment combining private data center infrastructure with public cloud services, with data and workloads moving between them under common management and policy.

Placing data on different storage media or locations according to access frequency and value, moving cold data to cheaper tiers and keeping hot data on fast media.