The question asks for the additional physical capacity the new workload will consume on the FlashArray. This is calculated by dividing the logical size of the workload by the Data Reduction Ratio (DRR). The DRR represents the combined effect of thin provisioning, deduplication, and compression.

The formula is:

Physical Space Consumed = Logical Workload Size / Data Reduction Ratio

Applying the given values:

Physical Space Consumed = 46 TiB / 3.85 ≈ 11.95 TiB

Rounding to the nearest whole number, the workload will take up approximately 12 TiB of additional physical capacity on the array.

A. 177 TiB is the result of incorrectly multiplying the workload size by the DRR (46 3.85). This implies data expansion, which is the opposite of data reduction.

B. 46 TiB represents the logical size of the workload before any data reduction is applied. The Purity Operating Environment reduces the physical footprint.

C. 28 TiB is an incorrect calculation and does not correlate with the provided workload size or the data reduction ratio.

1. Pure Storage, "FlashArray Architecture Technical White Paper": This document details the Purity Operating Environment's data services. The "Data Reduction" section explains that incoming data is reduced via deduplication and compression before being written to flash, resulting in a physical footprint that is a fraction of the logical size. The ratio of logical size to physical footprint is the data reduction ratio. (Reference: Section: "Purity Data Reduction").

2. Pure Storage, "Purity//FA Administration Guide": In the "System > Capacity" panel of the Purity GUI, the relationship between logical and physical space is explicitly shown. The "Data Reduction" metric is defined as the ratio of provisioned (logical) space to used (physical) space. This confirms the calculation method: Physical Space = Logical Space / Data Reduction. (Reference: GUI Administration Guide, Chapter: "Monitoring and Alerts", Section: "Capacity Panel").

ActiveDR is a continuous, asynchronous replication feature designed for disaster recovery (DR). It continuously replicates data to a secondary site, providing a near-zero Recovery Point Objective (RPO), typically measured in seconds. This makes it the ideal solution for protecting against a site failure when the lowest possible RPO is required, especially over a network with 35 ms latency, which is too high for synchronous replication methods.

A. ActiveCluster: This is a synchronous replication solution that requires a very low-latency network link, with a maximum supported round-trip time (RTT) of 11 ms. The 35 ms latency in the scenario makes ActiveCluster technically infeasible.

C. Snapshot replication: This is a periodic, asynchronous replication method. Its RPO is determined by the frequency of the snapshot schedule (e.g., every 5 minutes, 1 hour), which is significantly higher than the near-zero RPO offered by ActiveDR.

D. Local snapshots: This feature provides protection against data corruption or accidental deletion on a single array but offers no protection against a complete site failure, as the snapshots are stored on the same array as the source data.

1. Pure Storage Documentation, "Purity ActiveDR: Simple, Modern Disaster Recovery" White Paper (WP-ACTIVEDR-03): "ActiveDR provides a near-zero RPO by continuously replicating data from a primary FlashArray to a secondary DR site... ActiveDR is an asynchronous replication technology, so it’s not constrained by distance or latency." This document explicitly states ActiveDR's near-zero RPO and its suitability for environments with latency.

2. Pure Storage Documentation, "Purity ActiveCluster: Simple, Modern Active/Active Stretch Cluster" White Paper (WP-ACTIVECLUSTER-04): "ActiveCluster requires a low-latency, high-bandwidth network between the two sites. The maximum supported round-trip latency between the two arrays is 11 milliseconds (ms)." This confirms that the 35 ms latency in the scenario is prohibitive for ActiveCluster.

3. Pure Storage Documentation, "FlashArray Best Practices: Asynchronous Replication Configuration and Usage Guide" (Version 2.0, April 2019), Section: "Replication Overview": This guide describes traditional asynchronous replication as being based on periodic snapshots. The RPO is defined by the replication schedule interval, which is inherently higher than the continuous replication model of ActiveDR. For example, a 15-minute schedule results in a 15-minute RPO.

Cloud Block Store (CBS) is a software-defined storage solution that runs natively in public clouds, including Azure. It directly addresses the customer's requirements by providing enterprise-grade data reduction (deduplication and compression), which can significantly lower the actual cloud storage footprint and associated costs for the 100 TB database. As a cloud-native service procured through the Azure Marketplace, it aligns perfectly with a cloud-first strategy and requires no capital asset purchase, operating on a consumption-based model. CBS is specifically designed to deliver high-performance, resilient block storage for mission-critical applications like databases in the cloud.

A. Evergreen//Flex: This is a consumption-based ownership model for on-premises physical hardware, which contradicts the customer's cloud-first strategy and desire to avoid owning additional assets.

B. Evergreen//Forever: This is a subscription model that provides continuous software and hardware upgrades for customer-owned, on-premises FlashArray systems, requiring a capital expenditure.

D. Portworx DBaaS: This is a Database-as-a-Service platform for Kubernetes. While it operates in the cloud, its primary function is to automate database deployment and management, not to provide the underlying cost-optimized block storage itself.

1. Pure Storage Cloud Block Store for Microsoft Azure Datasheet: "Pure Cloud Block Store brings all the benefits of Pure’s enterprise-grade storage to the public cloud... With industry-leading data reduction, you’ll buy less cloud storage capacity." (Page 1, "Reduce Cloud Storage Costs" section). This document confirms CBS runs in Azure and its primary benefit is cost reduction through data efficiency.

2. Pure Storage Evergreen Subscriptions: "Evergreen//Forever™ (formerly Evergreen Gold) keeps your storage modern without disruptive migrations... Evergreen//Flex™ gives you a flexible, on-demand storage consumption model for the storage you own." (Pure Storage Official Website, Evergreen Page). This source clarifies that both Evergreen//Forever and //Flex are tied to on-premises, owned hardware.

3. Portworx Data Services Documentation: "Portworx Data Services (PDS) is a database-platform-as-a-service that you can use to deploy and manage data services such as Cassandra, Kafka, PostgreSQL, RabbitMQ, and Redis on any Kubernetes cluster." (Portworx Official Documentation, "About Portworx Data Services" section). This reference establishes PDS (DBaaS) as a management layer for databases on Kubernetes, distinct from the underlying block storage optimization provided by CBS.

The minimum useable capacity required on the FlashArray is the physical space needed after data reduction is applied to the logical data. This is calculated by dividing the logical data size by its corresponding data reduction ratio for each workload and then summing the results.

Oracle: 100 TiB (logical) / 4 (ratio) = 25 TiB (physical)

VDI: 200 TiB (logical) / 5 (ratio) = 40 TiB (physical)

The total minimum useable capacity is the sum of the physical capacity required for both workloads:

25 TiB + 40 TiB = 65 TiB.

A. 40TiB: This value represents the physical capacity required for the VDI workload only (200 TiB / 5), incorrectly omitting the capacity needed for the Oracle data.

C. 300TiB: This is the total logical capacity (100 TiB + 200 TiB) before applying any data reduction, not the required physical (useable) capacity.

D. 750TiB: This value is the result of an incorrect calculation and does not represent either the logical or the required physical capacity based on the provided ratios.

1. Pure Storage, "Purity//FA Architecture White Paper": This document explains the core data reduction technologies within the Purity Operating Environment. The concept of the Total Data Reduction ratio is defined as the ratio of logical user data stored to the physical flash space consumed. The calculation in the explanation directly applies this principle. (See section: "Purity Reduce").

2. Pure Storage, "FlashArray Best Practices for Oracle Database": This guide discusses typical data reduction rates for Oracle workloads, validating the concept of applying a specific ratio (like the 4:1 given in the question) to determine physical capacity needs from a logical data size. (See section: "Capacity Savings with FlashArray").

3. Pure Storage, "Sizing with Confidence" Technical Brief: This document outlines the methodology for sizing a FlashArray. It emphasizes calculating the required physical capacity by applying expected data reduction ratios to the source logical data sizes, which is the exact procedure required to solve the question. (See section: "Calculating Total Reduction").

CloudSnap is the native Pure Storage FlashArray feature that facilitates sending point-in-time snapshots to a secondary, cost-effective storage target. This functionality is specifically designed to offload snapshots to public cloud object storage, such as Amazon S3 and Microsoft Azure Blob Storage, as well as to on-premises object storage like Pure Storage FlashBlade. This enables customers to implement cloud-based data protection, archival, and recovery strategies directly from their FlashArray, leveraging the cloud's scalability and economics without requiring additional backup software or gateways.

A. Cloud Block Store: This is a software-defined version of Pure's Purity operating environment that runs natively in the public cloud, providing block storage for cloud applications.

C. ActiveCluster: This is a business continuity feature that provides synchronous replication and transparent failover between two FlashArray systems for zero Recovery Point Objective (RPO).

1. Pure Storage, Inc. "FlashArray Data Protection with Purity//FA White Paper" (Document: WP-DATAPROTECTION-PURITY-FA-01). Section: "CloudSnap: Cloud Data Protection," Page 7. This section explicitly states, "CloudSnap™ delivers native, built-in protection to the public cloud... by enabling periodic sending of snapshots to the cloud."

2. Pure Storage, Inc. "FlashArray Best Practices: Protection." Official Documentation Portal. The "CloudSnap" subsection details the process of configuring offload targets, including AWS S3 and Azure Blob, for snapshot retention.

3. Pure Storage, Inc. "ActiveCluster Technical Overview" (Document: PS-AC-TECH-OVERVIEW-01). Page 2. This document defines ActiveCluster as "a multi-site active/active stretch cluster solution that provides synchronous replication," distinguishing its purpose from cloud backup.

The performance graph in the exhibit shows extremely low latency on the Pure Storage FlashArray, with both read and write operations completing in under 300 microseconds (0.3 milliseconds). This indicates the storage array is performing optimally and is not the source of the latency. When the storage array is not the bottleneck, the issue most likely resides elsewhere in the data path. In a VMware environment, the next logical component to investigate is the ESXi host, which manages the virtual machines, networking, and storage I/O. Host-level issues like CPU contention, memory over-commitment, incorrect HBA queue depth settings, or improper multipathing configuration are common causes of application-level latency.

A. Add DirectFlash Modules as the system is disk bound: The array's sub-millisecond latency proves it is not disk-bound; the flash media is responding exceptionally fast.

B. Upgrade the controllers: The low latency demonstrates the current controllers are not a bottleneck and are easily handling the workload.

C. Add network cards to alleviate network congestion: While network issues can cause latency, investigating the ESXi host is the more direct and common troubleshooting step when array performance is confirmed to be excellent.

1. Pure Storage, "FlashArray™ and VMware vSphere® 7 Best Practices," Technical Report, Page 43, Section: "Performance Monitoring and Troubleshooting."

This document explains the different latency counters in vSphere: Guest OS Latency (GAVG), Kernel Latency (KAVG), and Device Latency (DAVG). It states, "The latency reported by the FlashArray GUI/CLI is equivalent to DAVG... If GAVG is high, but KAVG and DAVG are low, the latency is occurring within the guest itself." The exhibit shows a very low DAVG, pointing the investigation towards the host (KAVG) or guest (GAVG).

2. VMware, "Interpreting esxtop Statistics," Performance Study, Pages 16-17, Section: "Storage."

This official VMware performance guide details how to use esxtop to analyze host performance. It explains that high KAVG (Kernel Latency) values indicate latency within the ESXi kernel, often due to resource constraints or queuing on the host side, even when DAVG (Device Latency from the array) is low. This supports checking the ESXi host as the next step.

The exhibit displays the Synchronous Replication dashboard in Pure1. The question asks to identify the array that replicated the most data, which corresponds to the array with the highest replication throughput. The "Throughput" column shows the rate of data transfer.

By examining this column, we can see that two arrays, dogfood-cheesewheel and dogfood-chuckwagon, both have a throughput of 1.1 GB/s. This is the highest value in the table, greater than the 1.0 GB/s throughput for the other arrays. Therefore, both dogfood-cheesewheel and dogfood-chuckwagon replicated the most data during this period.

C. dogfood-couch: This array's replication throughput is 1.0 GB/s, which is lower than the maximum observed throughput of 1.1 GB/s.

D. dogfood-elk: This array's replication throughput is 1.0 GB/s, which is lower than the maximum observed throughput of 1.1 GB/s.

1. Pure Storage Pure1 Manage User Guide: In the section "Monitoring Performance," the "Replication" tab is described. It details the key performance indicators for replication, including "Throughput," which is defined as the rate of data being replicated between arrays, measured in bytes per second. The exhibit directly reflects this monitoring capability. (Reference: Pure1 Manage User Guide, Section: Analytics > Performance > Replication).

2. Pure Storage FlashArray Best Practices: ActiveCluster: This technical report discusses monitoring for ActiveCluster, Pure's synchronous replication solution. It emphasizes tracking performance metrics like throughput to ensure replication health and performance. The "Throughput" metric shown in the Pure1 exhibit is the primary indicator of the volume of data being replicated. (Reference: FlashArray™ Best Practices: ActiveCluster, Document: TR-180804-01, Section: "Monitoring ActiveCluster").

ActiveDR is the correct feature for this scenario. It is a continuous, near-synchronous replication solution designed specifically for disaster recovery (DR). It provides a near-zero Recovery Point Objective (RPO), often measured in seconds, by continuously replicating data from the primary array to the secondary. This design is ideal for the customer's architecture, which involves replicating from a performance-tier FlashArray//X at a production site to a capacity-tier FlashArray//C at a secondary site, fulfilling the requirement for the lowest possible RPO in a DR context.

A. ActiveCluster: This is a synchronous, active-active replication solution for business continuity, providing a zero RPO. However, it has strict, low-latency network requirements (<5ms RTT) and is not the intended solution for a typical primary-to-secondary site DR topology.

C. Async Replication: This is a traditional, snapshot-based replication method. Its RPO is determined by the snapshot schedule, which is typically measured in minutes or hours, failing to meet the requirement for the "lowest possible RPO."

1. Pure Storage ActiveDR Deployment and Best Practices Guide: "ActiveDR is a simple, modern disaster recovery solution that provides a near-zero recovery point objective (RPO)... ActiveDR is ideal for replicating from a performance-optimized array like FlashArray//X at the primary site to a capacity-optimized array like FlashArray//C at the DR site." (Section: "ActiveDR Overview," Page 4).

2. Pure Storage FlashArray Best Practices, Purity 6.1: "ActiveDR provides a near-zero RPO by continuously replicating data from a source array to a target array... In contrast, asynchronous replication is based on periodic snapshots, and the RPO is the time interval between snapshots." (Section: "Data Protection and Disaster Recovery," Subsection: "ActiveDR vs. Asynchronous Replication").

3. Pure Storage ActiveCluster Technical Overview: "ActiveCluster is a symmetric active-active stretch cluster solution that provides synchronous replication... It delivers an RPO of zero and an RTO of zero (for storage)... ActiveCluster requires a low-latency network connection between the two FlashArrays." (Section: "Introduction," Page 3). This document highlights its use for business continuity rather than the DR scenario described.

The customer requires a disaster recovery (DR) solution with failover and fallback capabilities between their on-premises data center and the public cloud. Pure Storage Cloud Block Store (CBS) is a software-defined version of the Purity//FA operating environment that runs natively in AWS and Azure. It can act as a replication target for an on-premise FlashArray. Using asynchronous snapshot replication, customers can replicate data to CBS, enabling the cloud to serve as a fully functional DR site. This configuration directly supports failing over operations to the cloud and subsequently failing back to the on-premises array once it is restored.

B. Purity//FA CloudSnap periodic offload of snapshots to AWS: CloudSnap is designed for cost-effective, long-term data retention and archival by sending snapshots to cloud object storage (e.g., S3), not for rapid DR with low RTO.

C. ActiveCluster FC replication between a FlashArray on site and Evergreen//One: ActiveCluster is a synchronous, active-active replication solution for business continuity (zero RPO/RTO), not typically used for long-distance on-prem-to-cloud DR. Also, FC is not the transport for cloud replication.

1. Pure Storage Official Documentation, "Disaster Recovery to the Cloud with Pure Cloud Block Store" Solution Brief.

Reference: Page 2, "Solution Overview" section states, "Pure Cloud Block Store™ enables disaster recovery (DR) to the cloud by providing seamless data mobility between on-premises FlashArray™ devices and the public cloud... You can use asynchronous replication to fail over to the cloud and fail back to on-premises when ready." This directly supports using snapshot replication between FlashArray and CBS for DR.

2. Pure Storage Official Documentation, "Purity//FA User Guide".

Reference: In the section on "Protection," CloudSnap is described as a feature to "offload snapshots to a cloud namespace for archival purposes." This differentiates its use case from the active DR scenario required by the question.

3. Pure Storage Official Documentation, "ActiveCluster" White Paper.

Reference: The "Overview" section describes ActiveCluster as a "multi-site active-active stretch cluster solution that provides synchronous replication." This confirms it is for business continuity with zero recovery time, a different use case than DR to the cloud, and it typically uses Fibre Channel or IP for shorter, metro distances.

The existing FlashArray//X50 has sufficient resources to accommodate the new file-based workload. With 35 TB of free usable capacity, it can easily handle the anticipated 15 TB of image data. A system load of 35% indicates ample performance headroom is available for the new service. FlashArray File Services (FA File) is a native software feature of the Purity//FA operating environment, designed to consolidate both block and file storage on a single platform. Therefore, the customer can enable and configure FA File on the array "as-is" without requiring a hardware upgrade or a new system purchase.

A. They must first upgrade the controllers to a //X70 and enable FA File.

An upgrade is unnecessary. The current //X50 has adequate performance headroom and capacity, and FA File is fully supported on this model.

C. Medical imaging always belongs on a FlashBlade.

This is an incorrect absolute. While FlashBlade is a strong solution for unstructured data, FlashArray is also engineered and validated for high-performance PACS/VNA workloads.

D. They should purchase a FlashArray//C and enable FA File.

A new purchase is not required. The existing FlashArray//X50 has more than enough free capacity and performance to service this new requirement efficiently.

1. Pure Storage, "FlashArray//X Datasheet": This document confirms that the entire FlashArray//X family, which includes the //X50 model, supports unified block and file services through the Purity//FA software. It highlights the capability to "Consolidate file and block workloads with native file services." (Accessed via Pure Storage official product documentation pages).

2. Pure Storage, "FlashArray File Services White Paper": This white paper details the architecture and use cases for FA File. Section "Introduction" states, "FlashArray File Services... extends the value of FlashArray by adding native file capabilities to the platform’s native block services." It makes no distinction that would exclude a model like the //X50 based on the described workload.

3. Pure Storage, "Modernize Your PACS with Pure Storage Solution Brief": This official solution brief explicitly positions FlashArray for medical imaging workloads. It states, "FlashArray provides the consistent low-latency performance that PACS and VNA workloads demand," directly refuting the claim that such workloads always belong on FlashBlade. (Reference found in Pure Storage's public-facing solution documents for the Healthcare industry).