📖 About this Domain
This domain covers the core data protection workflows in Cohesity DataProtect. You will focus on registering sources, configuring protection policies, and executing protection jobs for primary workloads.
🎓 What You Will Learn
- Register and manage data sources like VMware vCenter, physical servers, and NAS within the Cohesity UI.
- Configure Protection Policies to define RPO, retention periods, quiescing, and replication targets.
- Create and manage Protection Groups to apply policies to specific sources and objects for backup.
- Execute recovery workflows including Instant Volume Mount, file/folder recovery, and full VM recovery.
🛠️ Skills You Will Build
- Configure end-to-end data protection for virtual machines, physical servers, and NAS workloads.
- Implement granular Protection Policies to meet defined Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
- Monitor protection job runs, interpret job status, and troubleshoot common backup errors.
- Perform various data recovery tasks from granular file restores to Instant Mass Recovery.
💡 Top Tips to Prepare
- Practice creating Protection Policies with varied settings for frequency, retention, and quiescing.
- Register multiple source types like vCenter and physical servers in a lab to understand the process.
- Execute different recovery types, including Instant Mass Recovery and granular restores, to master the workflows.
- Analyze protection job logs to understand job performance and identify troubleshooting data points.
📖 About this Domain
This domain details the foundational storage architecture of the Cohesity Data Cloud. It focuses on the logical constructs used to manage and present storage, such as Storage Domains and Views. The core technology, SpanFS, and its data services are central to this domain.
🎓 What You Will Learn
- You will learn about Storage Domains, the logical storage pools that aggregate physical capacity from nodes in a Cohesity cluster.
- You will learn to create and manage Views, which are the NFS and SMB shares presented from the cluster for file services.
- You will learn how Cohesity's data reduction technologies, including global inline deduplication and compression, optimize storage capacity.
- You will learn the methods for securing data, specifically data-at-rest encryption (D@RE) using software keys or an external KMS.
🛠️ Skills You Will Build
- You will build the skill to provision and configure Storage Domains based on workload and data retention requirements.
- You will build the ability to deploy and manage Cohesity Views, including setting quotas, QoS policies, and share-level permissions.
- You will build skills in monitoring storage utilization, interpreting data reduction ratios, and forecasting capacity needs.
- You will build the competence to implement and manage encryption settings for a Cohesity cluster to meet security mandates.
💡 Top Tips to Prepare
- Master the hierarchy of physical disks, partitions, and logical Storage Domains as it is a fundamental concept.
- Practice the CLI and UI workflows for creating a View and applying a Quality of Service (QoS) policy to it.
- Understand how SpanFS handles data ingest, including inline deduplication and compression, to maximize storage efficiency.
- Know the distinct configuration steps for enabling software-based encryption versus integrating an external Key Management Server (KMS).
📖 About this Domain
This domain covers the security posture of the Cohesity DataProtect platform. It focuses on securing the cluster, its data, and implementing robust defenses against threats. Key areas include access control, data-at-rest encryption, and ransomware mitigation strategies.
🎓 What You Will Learn
- Configure users, groups, and Active Directory integration for granular Role-Based Access Control (RBAC).
- Understand data-at-rest encryption using software encryption, SEDs, and external Key Management Server (KMS) integration.
- Implement ransomware defense mechanisms including DataLock (WORM), multi-factor authentication (MFA), and anomaly detection.
- Learn cluster hardening techniques such as managing SSL certificates and configuring secure remote access.
🛠️ Skills You Will Build
- Implement least-privilege access by assigning predefined and custom roles to users and API keys.
- Configure immutable backup policies using DataLock to protect critical data from modification or deletion.
- Enforce MFA for local and Active Directory users to strengthen authentication security.
- Manage the cluster's security settings, including certificate replacement and syslog server configuration for auditing.
💡 Top Tips to Prepare
- Memorize the specific permissions associated with built-in roles like Admin, Operator, and Viewer.
- Understand the workflow for enabling DataLock and how it differs from requiring a Quorum for sensitive operations.
- Focus on the configuration steps for both software encryption and integrating with an external KMS.
- Review how Helios uses machine learning to detect anomalies indicative of a ransomware attack.
📖 About this Domain
This domain covers the critical processes for restoring data and workloads managed by the Cohesity DataProtect platform. You will explore various recovery workflows, from granular file-level restores to full virtual machine and application recovery. Understanding these recovery options is essential for meeting recovery time objectives (RTOs).
🎓 What You Will Learn
- Perform various recovery tasks, including restoring files, folders, and entire virtual machines to their original or new locations.
- Execute Instant Mass Restore for rapid recovery of multiple VMs to meet stringent RTOs.
- Conduct granular, application-consistent recoveries for workloads like Microsoft SQL databases and Oracle databases.
- Utilize the cloning workflow to create zero-cost clones of protected objects for test and development environments.
🛠️ Skills You Will Build
- Initiate and monitor various restore tasks directly from the Cohesity Helios or on-prem UI for different protected sources.
- Select the correct recovery point and recovery type based on specific business requirements and failure scenarios.
- Configure advanced restore options, including network settings and datastore selection for alternate location recoveries.
- Troubleshoot and validate the integrity of restored data and applications post-recovery operations.
💡 Top Tips to Prepare
- Master the distinctions between different recovery options, such as recovering files versus recovering a full VM or using Instant Mass Restore.
- Use a lab environment to practice the step-by-step process for restoring objects to both original and alternate locations.
- Pay close attention to the unique workflows for application-aware recoveries, including SQL point-in-time recovery.
- Review the prerequisites and configuration options for each recovery type, including network and storage settings.
📖 About this Domain
This domain focuses on the administrative functions for maintaining the Cohesity DataProtect platform. It covers cluster management, security configurations, and system lifecycle operations. You will learn the core tasks for ensuring optimal cluster health and security posture.
🎓 What You Will Learn
- You will learn to manage users and groups using Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and integrate with external identity providers like Active Directory.
- You will learn to monitor cluster health, capacity utilization, and performance metrics using the Helios management interface.
- You will learn the procedures for performing non-disruptive upgrades (NDU) of the Cohesity operating system (AOS).
- You will learn to configure platform-level security settings, including multi-factor authentication (MFA), KMS integration, and data-at-rest encryption.
🛠️ Skills You Will Build
- You will build skills in configuring and managing Cohesity cluster settings, including networking, storage domains, and node operations.
- You will build the ability to implement security hardening on the platform by configuring access control, encryption, and audit logging.
- You will build proficiency in using the Cohesity CLI and APIs for automating routine platform management tasks.
- You will build competence in diagnosing and troubleshooting common platform issues using system alerts, logs, and performance dashboards.
💡 Top Tips to Prepare
- Memorize the specific permissions associated with default Cohesity roles such as Admin, Operator, and Viewer.
- Practice navigating the Helios UI to locate key administrative sections like cluster settings, user management, and the upgrade center.
- Review the official documentation for the non-disruptive upgrade (NDU) process, including pre-checks and rollback procedures.
- Understand the workflow for adding a new node to an existing Cohesity cluster and the impact on the storage domain.
📖 About this Domain
This domain covers the methodologies for identifying and resolving common issues within the Cohesity DataProtect environment. It focuses on utilizing Cohesity's built-in diagnostic tools, interpreting alerts, and analyzing log files to maintain system health and data protection integrity.
🎓 What You Will Learn
- Learn to interpret and respond to system alerts and events generated by the Cohesity cluster to proactively address potential issues.
- Understand how to use the Cohesity CLI (Iris CLI) and API for advanced diagnostics and information gathering beyond the UI.
- Discover methods for collecting and analyzing log bundles to provide detailed information for support cases or deep-dive analysis.
- Identify common failure scenarios for protection jobs, replication tasks, and archival policies and learn the steps to remediate them.
🛠️ Skills You Will Build
- You will build the skill to diagnose protection group failures by analyzing run logs and error messages within the Helios or on-prem UI.
- You will develop proficiency in using command-line tools like iris_cli to check cluster status, service health, and node connectivity.
- You will gain the ability to effectively escalate issues by generating and retrieving comprehensive log bundles for Cohesity Support.
- You will build the competence to troubleshoot connectivity problems with registered sources, external targets, and replication partners.
💡 Top Tips to Prepare
- Familiarize yourself with the location and meaning of common alerts and health checks in the Cohesity Dashboard.
- Practice common iris_cli commands for checking cluster health, such as 'cluster status' and service status checks.
- Review the official Cohesity documentation on generating log bundles and understanding the process for opening a support ticket.
- Understand the typical root causes for job failures, such as source connectivity issues, snapshot provider errors, or target storage unavailability.
📖 About this Domain
This domain covers the foundational Cohesity Data Cloud architecture. It details the scale-out, distributed file system, SpanFS, and its core components like clusters, nodes, and partitions. Understanding this architecture is essential for platform deployment and management.
🎓 What You Will Learn
- You will learn the roles of key hardware and software components, including nodes, blocks, and the cluster construct.
- You will understand the function of SpanFS as a distributed, web-scale file system for data management.
- You will learn about data resiliency mechanisms like Replication Factor (RF) and erasure coding for ensuring high availability.
- You will learn how Storage Domains and Views provide multitenancy and expose storage via standard protocols like NFS and SMB.
🛠️ Skills You Will Build
- You will build the skill to articulate the Cohesity software-defined architecture and its core services.
- You will be able to differentiate between logical and physical components such as clusters, partitions, and views.
- You will develop the ability to trace data ingest and protection workflows within the SpanFS architecture.
- You will gain foundational skills for planning cluster deployments based on node configuration and RF settings.
💡 Top Tips to Prepare
- Master the core concepts of SpanFS, including its metadata handling and data distribution across nodes.
- Memorize the relationship between nodes, blocks, and partitions to understand the scale-out design.
- Focus on the differences and use cases for Replication Factor (RF) and erasure coding for data resiliency.
- Utilize official Cohesity architecture whitepapers and documentation to learn precise terminology.
