Common Technical Interview Questions and Answers Update on September 28, 2021

Exam Question 31

Which of the following isn’t a characteristic of how metadata helps manage unstructured data?

A. Lets users locate files in a file-based system
B. Provides information on when a file was created and updated
C. Can only be used for text-based data
D. Provides descriptors about underlying objects in an object storage system
Correct Answer:
C. Can only be used for text-based data
Answer Description:
To one extent or another, metadata is used in all types of storage systems, helping users locate files, and track file names, dates of creation and updates, user IDs and the like.

Object storage systems capitalize on metadata even more, using it to connect descriptors to underlying objects. It is also used to improve data management and storage in areas such as storage virtualization, services, governance and end-user analytics. Metadata can be used with any type of data, including video, audio and image files; IoT sensor data and event logs; as well as various types of text files.

Exam Question 32

Which isn’t a reason to use NAS for unstructured data storage?

A. NAS uses an organized, simple-to-use file system
B. NAS is a highly scalable system
C. NAS is ubiquitous, with many services supporting it
D. NAS is relatively fast and provides support for applications with fast-changing data
Correct Answer:
B. NAS is a highly scalable system
Answer Description:
The advantages of NAS include its uses a hierarchical system of directories and folders that enables organizations to categorize individual files for later use. NAS services support protocols, such as NFS and SMB. It also has a speed advantage over object storage and supports applications where the data changes a lot. However, NAS doesn’t have the scaling capability that object storage offers.

Exam Question 33

Which is a clear advantage of using object storage for unstructured data compared with NAS?

A. Performance
B. Works well with fast-changing data
C. Consistent standards
D. Scalability
Correct Answer:
D. Scalability
Answer Description:
Increasing capacity is simple with object storage. Systems scale out by adding nodes to a cluster. However, performance hasn’t been a strength of traditional object stores. In addition, when data changes, both the metadata and object data must be updated, adding to update time. And, finally, when deciding between NAS or object storage, be aware that object storage standards aren’t as consistent as those for NAS.

Exam Question 34

When it comes to using machine learning with unstructured data, which of the following is not true?

A. Machine learning can be used to label and categorize unstructured data
B. Machine learning can turn unstructured data into structured data
C. Don’t worry about data visualization when using machine learning to work with unstructured data
D. Machine learning can help clean data, identifying typos and fixing errors
E. Data modeling is a key part of transitioning unstructured data to a structured format
Correct Answer:
C. Don’t worry about data visualization when using machine learning to work with unstructured data
Answer Description:
Machine learning is starting to become a factor in transitioning unstructured data to structured formats. It can be used to label and categorize data, fix errors and generally clean up data. Data modeling, where relationships in the data are identified, is a key step. Data visualization is also important in the transition process, providing ways to effectively present analysis and tell a good story with the data.