CLARiiON Solutions speciality Certification is provided by EMC2 Corporation for Implementation Engineers. This certification is for storage professionals who installs and configures Solutions of EMC information infrastructure. Here I learnt about the configuration of SAN Switches, implementation devices of CLARiiON family and administrative requirements. This certification offers three types of courses, exams and practice tests. They are Associate, Specialist and Expert courses.

CLARiiON Associate courses and exam: This courses focuses on data storage and data management in virtual and cloud surroundings. The duration of the exam is 90 minutes and it includes approximately 65 questions. Few questions refers to products that were used in the training. I took practice test of Associate exam to check my preparation and to highlight contents on which I need to prepare and study further. I scored good in practice test and it boost up my confidence to face the exam.

The topics to be studied for the exam includes: Storage system - Information Storage introduction, RAID, Data Center and intelligent storage methods. Technologies of Storage networking - Fibre channel Storage Area Network, IPSAN, NAS, Object based storage. Backup, replication and archive - business continuity introduction, local and remote replication, backup and archive. Management of storage infrastructure and cloud computing - cloud computing, storage infrastructure security and management. I covered all these topics for the exam and I gained the certification of EMC Information Storage Associate v2 (EMCISA).

It offers Instructor-led training and Video Instructor-led training which takes totally 40 hours to complete the course. The course fee is around USD $600.

CLARiiON Specialist courses and Exam: This Specialist exam is for implementation Engineers. This exam concentrates on the configuration and management of CLARiiON SAN environments. It includes implementation and configuration of MirrorView, SnapView & SAN Copy solutions. The exam is for 90 minutes with 65 questions.

The Specialist level includes the following exam topics:

• CLARiiON Software, Hardware and Storage: This topic includes CLARiiON components and its features, support of fabric and direct attach topologies, environment cabling management, connection to CLARiiON using serial cable, implementing filtration for IP address and Unisphere Security.
• CLARiiON Management: This topic includes Utilities for CLARiiON management, menus of Unisphere for storage, properties of storage objects and managing with Unisphere, Navisphere Secure CLI syntax, Access Logix and powerpath functionalities, techniques for managing and migrating LUNs.
• FC SAN Configuration: It covers the configuration and management of SAN environments, identifying SAN environment's best practices.
• FC Host Configuration: It includes the installation and configuration of Powerpath, HBA drivers on windows and Linux environment, Steps to be followed for host attachment on Solaris and HP UX, Implementation of Path failover in ALUA aware environ, performing LUN masking in windows, Linux and Solaris.
• Configuration of iSCSI Host: This topic covers the configuration of iSCSI components on CX4, windows and Linux, and steps for the connection of iSCSI to Solaris.
• Implementation and Management of SnapView: This topic includes the operation of SnapView, management of SnapView with Unisphere, using admsnap and Navisphere to manage SnapView.
• Connectrix B and MDS Series management and Architecture: This topic covers the switch models of connectrix, design of series switches, identifying the available tools.
• CLARiiON EMC Tools: This topic covers the identification and utilization of CLARiiON tools and available resources.

I took all the recommended training offered for this course before taking the exam. Taking all these recommended training courses made me easier to prepare for this certification exam.

CLARiiON Expert courses and Exam: This exam focuses on the skills and knowledge required in implementing CLARiiON solutions for data replications in both local and remote, analysing CLARiiON performance and integrating with Microsoft Exchange 2012 or MS SQL server 2008 for data recovery. The exam is for 120 minutes with approximately 65 questions.

The topics to be covered for this exam includes CLARiiON Storage system management with Unisphere and Unisphere Secure CLI, troubleshooting, analysing, automating CLARiiON solutions, integration of CLARiiON with Microsoft Exchange 2010 and Microsoft SQL server. I took the recommended training and the practice test offered by the course. The materials provided made me easier to face the exam.

The book I used for this exam is Information Storage and Management, second edition by John Wiley and Sons, Inc. It includes all the topics to be covered for this certificate exam. The materials offered in the training classes helped me a lot to prepare. My dedication and proper attendance made my preparation easier to attain CLARiiON solutions Speciality certification.

Meison Breinson, Front-End Developer, K-Style Lab.