Started on Tuesday, dune 8, 2021, 3:05 AM

State Finished
Completed on Tuesday, dune 8, 2021, 3:31 AM
Time taken 25 mins 29 secs
Grade 21.00 out of 25.00 (84%)
Feedback A minimum of 19 correct answers required to pass

Congratulations, you passed the Power9 Enterprise Servers Level 2 Quiz!

Question1 Your client is interested in moving to an E950 for their high-volume transaction processing system. There are
thousands of end users that will be using the system each day to record point of sale transactions into the
Correct
database running on the E950. The client needs the highest possible throughput from the system. They plan
1.00 points out
to populate all 4 sockets but are not sure which core option would be best for them. Which of the following
of 1.00
statements would provide them with the best solution?

Select one:
All the POWER9 core options provide the same performance and throughput and therefore it really only
depends on how much they want to spend so work with the client to select the core option that best meets
their budget.

The client is looking for the highest throughput possible and with a large number of concurrent users
they would benefit greatly from the 12-core processor option.

The client should try to balance the memory affinity effects of populating all 4 sockets and therefore we
should recommend the 10-core processor option.

The client is populating all 4 sockets and therefore, to reduce costs, they should consider the 8-core
processor option.

Question 2 On the E950, the maximum amount of memory that can be configured if the server has 2 sockets populated is:

Correct
Select one:
1.00 points out
of 1.00 2TB

4TB

8TB
*
16TB
Question 3 A client you are working with has a workload that is memory intensive but only at the end of each month. They
would like to purchase enough memory for their peak demand but only activate a portion of that memory to
Correct
support regular, non-peak, periods. They are considering an E950 with 2 sockets populated and they require
1.00 points out
128GB of memory during their peak demand. Which of the following statements is accurate regarding the
of 1.00
memory activations on the E950?

Select one:
a. The minimum memory activated is 50% of the installed memory and since the client requires only 128GB
installed to meet their peak demand they can activate only 64GB as a minimum.

b. The minimum memory installed is 128GB and the minimum activated is 50% of the installed memory
or 128GB (whichever is greater) and therefore they must install and activate all 128GB that they need
for their peak demand.

c. The minimum amount of active memory is one riser card per socket. Each riser card must have a minimum
of 16 DIMMs installed and therefore the minimum active memory is 256GB (16 DIMMs x 8GB x 1riser
card per CPU x 2 sockets populated).

d. The minimum amount of active memory is a single 8GB DIMM.

Question 4 All of the P0WER9 servers have advanced Power Management Modes in order to save energy but still deliver
optimal performance. Which of the following statements is correct with respect to the power management
Incorrect
modes of the E950 and E980?
0.00 points out
of 1.00
Select one:
We know that the E980 is often used for consolidation and therefore often has some processors that are
*
idle and therefore it ships with Static Nominal mode as the default. The E950 often has higher CPU
utilization at client locations due to the fewer processor cores in the box and therefore we set that by
default to Maximum Performance mode.

Both the E950 and E980 are shipped by default in Maximum Performance mode to give clients the best
possible performance right out of the box.

The E950 is more cost competitive and therefore ships with Dynamic Performance mode while the E980
ships with Maximum Performance mode for higher performance.

Both the E950 and E980 are shipped by default with Dynamic Performance mode to give clients the best
cost benefits by using less power when needed.

Question 5 A client is considering an E950 with only 2 sockets populated. How many PCIe slots are available on the E950
for the client to populate in this configuration?
Correct

1.00 points out

Select one:
of 1.00
The E950 has 12 PCIe slots with one slot reserved for the Service Processor Card. Therefore, only half of
the slots could be activated minus the 1service processor card slot which would mean 5 PCIe slots would
be available in this configuration.

With 2 sockets populated the client would be able to populate 7 of the 11 PCIe slots available plus the *
one Service Processor Card slot.

The E950 has 12 PCIe slots with one slot reserved for the Service Processor Card. Therefore, 11 slots can
be populated in this configuration.

The E950 has 12 PCIe slots but with only half of the sockets populated, the client would only be able to use
6 PCIe slots.
Question 6 Which of the following components can be migrated from an E850 to the E950?

Correct
Select one:
1.00 points out
of 1.00 10 drawers, DASD drawers, and some supported 10 adapters.

Power supplies, 10 drawers, and DASD drawers.

Power supplies, 10 drawers, DDR4 memory and DASD drawers.

10 drawers, DDR3 and DDR4 memory, power supplies and some supported I/O adapters.

Question 7 When talking to existing P0WER7 and P0WER8 customers, it is important to understand how much more
capacity and bandwidth the P0WER9 E950 has compared to the older generations. Which of the following
Correct
statements is correct when comparing the E950 to both the E850 and the E760?
1.00 points out
of 1.00
Select one:
The E950 can have up to 2x more memory and 20% more memory bandwidth compared to the E850 and
can have up to 4x more memory and 3x more memory bandwidth compared to the E760.

The E950 can have up to 8x more memory and 3x more memory bandwidth compared to both the E850 and
E760.

The E950 can has the same amount of memory as the E850, but with the new industry standard DIMMs, the
E950 delivers 20% more memory bandwidth compared to the E850 and 4x more memory bandwidth
compared to the E760.

The E950 can have up to 4x more memory and 20% more memory bandwidth compared to the E850
and can have up to 8x more memory and 3x more memory bandwidth compared to the E760.

Question 8 Which of the following statements is true regarding Elastic Capacity on Demand for the E950 and E980?

Correct
Select one:
1.00 points out
of 1.00 Clients can activate capacity on demand for memory only on the E950. They can increase or decrease
memory in units of 8GB. Processor capacity on demand is not available on the E950 but is available on the
E980.

Clients can activate capacity on demand for both processors and memory. They can increase processors in
units of 1core and can increase memory in units of 8GB. Note that on the E950 you cannot decrease
processors or memory using elastic capacity on demand. Decreasing processors and memory capacity
using elastic capacity on demand is only available on the E980.

Clients can activate capacity on demand for processors only on the E950. They can increase or decrease
processors in units of 1core. Memory capacity on demand is not available on the E950 but is available on
the E980.

Clients can activate capacity on demand for both processors and memory. They can increase or
decrease processors in units of 1core and can increase or decrease memory in units of 8GB.
Question 9 Which of the following is NOT an option for the E980 processor?

Correct
Select one:
1.00 points out
of 1.00 16-core processor V

8-core processor
11-core processor

12-core processor

Question 10 A client is looking to leverage Elastic Capacity on Demand for their E980 system. What is the minimum
number of cores that must be active on a 2 node E980?
Correct

1.00 points out

Select one:
of 1.00
32

16

Question 11 A client is interested in a 2 node E980 with a total of 8 sockets populated. What is the maximum amount of
memory that can be configured for this system?
Correct

1.00 points out

Select one:
of 1.00
48TB

64TB

16TB

32TB

Question 12 Which of the following statements is true about the memory in the E950 and E980?

Correct
Select one:
1.00 points out
of 1.00 Both the E950 and E980 use buffered memory but the E950 uses industry standard DIMMs installed on
a set of riser cards while the E980 leverages CDIMMs similar to POWER8 which allows clients to move
memory from POWER8 systems but only to the E980 systems.

Both the E950 and E980 use buffered memory but the E980 uses industry standard DIMMs installed on a
set of riser cards while the E950 leverages CDIMMs similar to POWER8 which allows clients to move
memory from POWER8 systems but only to the E950 systems.

The E950 and E980 both use buffered memory leveraging CDIMMs, similar to POWER8, with 8 CDIMM slots
per socket. This allows clients to move their memory over from POWER8 to POWER9.

The E950 and E980 both use buffered memory with industry standard DIMMs installed on a set of riser
cards (2 riser cards per socket).
Question 13 Clients are allowed to move their POWER8 DDR3 and DDR4 CDIMMs over to an E980 but there are some

Correct considerations that they must take into account. Which of the following statements is correct regarding the use

1.00 points out of POWER8 DDR3 and DDR4 CDIMMs?

of 1.00
Select one:
Clients can mix DDR3 and DDR4 memory in the same system, but a single riser card must have only one
type of memory (either DDR3 or DDR4) and not both.

Clients cannot mix DDR3 and DDR4 memory in the same system. They must either move only DDR3 or
DDR4 but not both.

Clients can mix DDR3 and DDR4 memory in the same system, but a single drawer must have only one
type of memory (either DDR3 or DDR4) and not both.

Clients can mix DDR3 and DDR4 memory without restrictions in an E980 system.

Question 14 Which of the following statements is correct regarding the Operating Systems support on the E980 and E950?

Correct
Select one:
1.00 points out
of 1.00 The E950 supports AIX and Linux only while the E980 supports AIX, Linux and IBM i.

Both systems support AIX, Linux, and IBM i.

Both systems support only AIX and IBM i. They will also support Linux but for SAP HANA implementations
only with the H950 and H980.

Both systems support AIX and Linux. They will also support IBM  i but for SAP HANA
implementations only with the H950 and H980.

Question 15 It is important to understand how existing POWER7 and POWER8 customers can benefit by moving to
POWER9. Which of the following statements is correct when comparing the E980 to both the E880C and the
Incorrect
E780?
0.00 points out
of 1.00
Select one:
The E980 can has the same amount of memory as the E880C but delivers 20% more memory X

bandwidth. Compared to the E780, the E980 can have 4x more memory and 4x more memory
bandwidth.

The E980 can have up to 2x more memory and 20% more memory bandwidth compared to the E880C. The
E980 can have up to 16x more memory and 3x more memory bandwidth compared to the E780.

The E980 can have up to 2x more memory but has the same memory bandwidth as the E880C. The E980
can have up to 16x more memory and 3x more memory bandwidth compared to the E780.

The E980 can have up to 8x more memory and more than 3x the memory bandwidth compared to both the
E880C and E780.
Question 16 For large scale applications, especially those that are memory intensive like SAP PIANA and other in-memory
databases, the effects of accessing remote memory across nodes can cause latency issues. To reduce the
Correct
effects of memory affinity issues, the E980 has a flatter SMP topology and increased internode bandwidth
1.00 points out
compared to the E880C. What is the increase in internode bandwidth between the E880C and the E980?
of 1.00

Select one:
6x

4x

8x

2x

Question 17 You are speaking to an existing Power client who has a set of Power 770 servers and they are discussing that
they would like to consolidate some of that workload but need your help with justifying a move from Power
Correct
770 to POWER9. What is your response?
1.00 points out
of 1.00
Select one:
You talk to the client about using POWER9 servers for new workloads while they continue to run their
existing workloads on their current Power 770s because there is no cost advantage to migrate from existing
hardware to new hardware but there are significant benefits for deploying new workloads on POWER9.

You talk to them about how they can buy a 64 core E950 to replace their current 64 core E770 and transfer
those licenses one for one to the POWER9. This should give them equivalent performance as their 770 but
give them better reliability and therefore save them money when it comes to the cost of downtime.

You show them that the E950 delivers 1.5x the performance compared to an older Power 770 sever and
therefore they can slightly reduce the number of processor cores they need for their workload. The savings
on power and cooling will easily justify the purchase.

You show them a financial example of moving from Power 770 to Power E950 and demonstrate how the **
total cost of ownership savings can be over 50% thanks to the 3 years of maintenance that is included
with the E950 and the software savings by moving to fewer but more powerful cores.

Question 18 In the first release of the E980 in September 2018, IBM shipped a maximum of 2 drawers with a maximum of
96 cores, 32TB of memory, 16 PCIe Gen4 slots, and 4 I/O expansion drawers. In November 2018, IBM plans
Correct
to release the E980 with support for up to 4 drawers. Which of the following statements is NOT true regarding
1.00 points out
the 4Q18 release compared to the 3Q18 release?
of 1.00

Select one:
The 4Q18 E980 will double the number of PCIe Gen4 slots to 32.

The 4Q18 E980 will double the maximum number of cores to 192.

The 4Q18 E980 will double the maximum number of I/O expansion drawers to 8.

The 4Q18 E980 will double the maximum total memory to 64TB.
Question 19 Which of the following statements best describes the support for Enterprise Pools with POWER9?

Incorrect
Select one:
0.00 points out
of 1.00 Clients can purchase POWER9 activations and use them in their POWER8 resource pools, but they cannot
purchase POWER8 activations and use them in their POWER9 resource pools.

Clients can add POWER9 servers to their existing POWER8 enterprise resource pools and can move CoD
resource activations among the systems in a pool as needed.

Clients can create new enterprise pools for POWER9 systems and can move mobile capacity on demand x
(CoD) resource activations between POWER9 servers. They can also continue to move mobile CoD
activations among their POWERS resource pools. However, they cannot move Mobile CoD resource
activations between POWER9 and POWER8 resource pools.

Client can move CoD activations from POWER8 systems to POWER9 systems but only for migrating
workloads from POWER8 to POWER9 and for a 3-month window when both systems may be active at the
same time during a migration from POWER8 to POWER9. After that window of upgrade, mobile CoD must
not go between POWER8 and POWER9.

Question 20 What percentage of Fortune 100 customers leverage Power Systems?

Correct
Select one:
1.00 points out
of 1.00 50%

100%

75%

80%

Question 21 Eliminating data breaches is a top imperative for IT organizations worldwide. Enterprise customers are at an

Correct increased risk of data breaches due to their popularity and the size of their organization. According to a Ponemon

1.00 points out Institute 2018 Data Breach Study, what is the likelihood that an organization will have one or more data
of 1.00 breaches in the next two years?

Select one:
100%

28% V

48%

5%
Question 22 You are speaking with a client and talking about what downtime costs their business. The client mentions that
their system is mission critical for their internal users to be able to do their work, however, this system will not
Incorrect
be client facing and therefore there will not be any revenue impact for them if the system were to go down.
0.00 points out
The client says that cost savings therefore should not be added to any TCO evaluation. How should you
of 1.00
respond?

Select one:
Highlight to the client that according to an HIS Markit study on downtime, 78% of the cost of an outage is
attributed to lost productivity within a company and only 17% was due to revenue loss. Ask them what the
impact is to their internal users of this system if it is ever down and what impact that has on their
productivity.

Agree with the client that not all systems affect the bottom line and try to get a deeper discount on the
server to ensure the system is cost justified
Inform the client that according to Gartner, downtime typically costs clients between $1M and $5M per
hour and so no matter what the system is, the cost of downtime can be considerable and that they should
use these numbers in their TCO calculations to see the value of the reliability that POWER9 Enterprise
Systems brings to the table.

Make sure the client understands that all systems are interconnected and that all systems in a X

customer&rsquo.'s business affect their revenue in one way or another. Challenge them on their
conclusion that revenue is not impacted by this proposed system because every system generates
revenue.

Question 23 According to the ITIC 2020 Global Server Hardware, Server OS Reliability Survey, how many years in a row has
IBM Power Systems been ranked as the “most reliable server”?
Correct

1.00 points out

Select one:
of 1.00
5

12 V

20

Question 24 When discussing the security and vulnerability benefits of the POWER9 Enterprise servers, your client
mentions that they have been having trouble keeping up with all the vulnerability patches in their existing x86
Correct
systems. Which of the following statements is true and might pique their interest in Enterprise Servers?
1.00 points out
of 1.00
Select one:
Linux is much more secure than Microsoft Windows and hardly ever needs to be patched. Clients running
Linux rarely need to apply vulnerability patches.

POWER9 Enterprise Servers are designed to be your on-premises private cloud behind your
company’s firewall. As such there is less of a need for vulnerability patches because you are already
protected by your company firewalls.

KVM is an open source hypervisor that runs on Power Enterprise systems. Most open source software is
more secure than proprietary software because there are more developers looking at the code and finding
security vulnerabilities before they get exploited.

PowerVM is the only hypervisor amongst its major competitors with no reported vulnerabilities and
comes preinstalled as the default hypervisor for all Power systems, including enterprise servers.
 Question 25 Meltdown and Spectre are two security issues that have received a lot of attention in the marketplace. For the
Correct POWER9 Enterprise servers, which of the following statements is true?

1.00 points out

of 1.00 Select one:
a. IBM will be shipping patches to address these issues in the first half of 2019.

b. IBM is shipping servers with the patches installed and turned on by default even though this will have
a small performance impact for clients. Clients can choose to run with the patches turned off for
higher performance if they understand the exposure.

c. IBM will only be shipping and turning on security patches in the scale out server line as these are the
mission critical servers from IBM. Scale out servers can be patched by clients if they so choose.

d. IBM is shipping all POWER9 servers with the patches installed, however, these patches are turned off by
default in order to maximize performance for clients running behind a firewall in private clouds.

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