Exam Objectives and Commonly Referenced Documentation for FlashArray Support Specialist Certification

Validate hardware and system health during diagnostics using appropriate tools

Troubleshoot common hardware alerts, including Dark Site alerts and smart signals

Perform and troubleshoot shelf evacuations and shelf adds

Verify different types of errors

Execute operational troubleshooting commands to validate and resolve hardware issue

Check hardware health, power supply, Flash modules, and controller health using GUI tools

Verify component status and health using CLI tools

Check and interpret hardware error counters on HBA ports and shelf ports to diagnose potential faults

Assess drive health and parity status to maintain data integrity and redundancy

Follow the Purity//FA upgrade guidelines and verify successful upgrades

Troubleshoot basic failover events, including logs and alert analysis

Identify and troubleshoot write group issues, including redundancy and quorum

Interpret log files for error identification and troubleshooting

Identify and resolve host configuration issues, including personality mismatches

Troubleshoot FA File connectivity and authentication issues

Troubleshoot FlashArray Purity issues

Understand and utilize SafeMode settings to lock or disable system actions

Verify NVRAM and flash module redundancy within write groups

Analyze application health and drive metadata using CLI commands

Perform SSU Upgrades

Manage remote storage and fleet operations using Fusion V2

Troubleshoot EMS Self-Service Upgrades

Conduct health checks using CLI tools to assess system status and performance

Review and interpret performance statistics in the GUI to identify potential issues

Utilize the upgrade script to verify compatibility and system readiness

Monitor and validate ActiveCluster health and connectivity status

Assess Remote Assist session settings and expiration guidelines

Identify and diagnose degraded drives or write groups using CLI command

Identify and resolve network errors in the GUI and CLI

Use CLI commands to investigate Phonehome and connectivity issues

Verify connectivity to Phonehome servers and mediators

Troubleshoot IPV4 and IPV6 connectivity issues

Check and interpret port speeds and network status using CLI commands

Diagnose replication network performance using appropriate commands

Evaluate DNS functionality and resolve connectivity issues

Verify Fibre Channel (FC) port configurations and identify logged-in host WWNs

Check SFP statistics and power levels for connectivity and health

Verify Ethernet port configurations for SAN connectivity

Use CLI commands to identify array Fibre Channel ports and view diagnostics

Troubleshoot CTIO errors and their impact on Fibre Channel (FC) performance

Describe FlashArray File topology and validate its setup

Troubleshoot file access and export issues, including SMB and NFS client connectivity

Resolve issues with secure LDAP communication during FA File Services setup

Determine health and network performance issues using GUI and CLI tools

Analyze FA tool and log outputs to identify bottlenecks, including driver stalls and throttling events

Investigate latency sources using timeline logs and diagnostic commands

Resolve Fibre Channel slow drain issues and related connectivity problem

Use the GUI to locate sources of latency or performance degradation

Differentiate between SAN latency categories

Analyze driver stages such as alloc_stall and alloc_done_to_exec for latency diagnostics

Interpret performance data and metrics using the OpenMetrics Collector

Verify latency caused by backend operations such as lookaside cache usage

Use the GUI to locate the source of the capacity or space issues

Conduct additional investigation for performance and space issues via Support Toolkits

Differentiate between the different space categories

Interpret the FA tools space output

Troubleshoot possible system space causes

Check and verify reported speeds and replication topology performance via GUI and CLI tools

Use support tools to analyze and troubleshoot replication issues

Diagnose replication issues, including data transfer and connection errors

Verify and troubleshoot replication networking configurations and best practices

Troubleshoot ActiveCluster issues, including connectivity and mediator errors, via GUI and CLI

Gather and interpret command outputs for detailed troubleshooting

Investigate and resolve failover or outage events in ActiveCluster environments

Implement ActiveCluster setups and configurations to prevent connectivity failures

Understand ActiveWorkload

Upgrade considerations for ActiveCluster

Implement and configure ActiveDR using GUI and CLI tools

Manage and monitor pods, including pod promotion and demotion processes

Gather and analyze command outputs to diagnose replication issues

Prevent data loss during pod demotion for source replica links

Understand File replication setup

Gather and interpret command output from support tools to resolve issues

Monitor and troubleshoot File replication performance

Manage and understand CloudSnap, including connectivity and troubleshooting

Verify offload behavior and space consumption changes after snapshot eradication

Analyze snapshot and volume behavior during replication and offloading

Transition from SnapToNFS to CloudSnap