000-221 · Question #229
Which resource is required to make the cluster configuration data available when using Cluster Aware AIX?
The correct answer is C. A supported disk in a highly available storage configuration that is accessible by all nodes that form the cluster. Cluster Aware AIX requires a shared repository disk accessible by all nodes to store and manage cluster configuration data.
Question
Which resource is required to make the cluster configuration data available when using Cluster Aware AIX?
Options
- AA cluster controller node that keeps the cluster configuration data synchronized between nodes.
- BAn NFS file system that is accessible with read/write permissions by all nodes that form the cluster.
- CA supported disk in a highly available storage configuration that is accessible by all nodes that form the cluster
- DA "quorum busting" disk to prevent loss of quorum from impacting availability of the cluster configuration data.
How the community answered
(38 responses)- A5% (2)
- B13% (5)
- C79% (30)
- D3% (1)
Why each option
Cluster Aware AIX requires a shared repository disk accessible by all nodes to store and manage cluster configuration data.
CAA is a peer-based clustering technology with no dedicated cluster controller node; all nodes participate equally and configuration is stored on the shared repository disk, not managed by a controller.
CAA does not rely on NFS for cluster configuration storage; using NFS would introduce a network-based single point of failure that undermines the high availability goals of the cluster.
CAA uses a dedicated repository disk - a shared physical disk in a highly available storage configuration - that every cluster node can access directly. This disk stores cluster configuration data and serves as the quorum tiebreaker, making it the required resource for CAA cluster operation.
There is no 'quorum busting' disk concept in CAA; the repository disk provides quorum functionality rather than bypassing it, and bypassing quorum would reduce rather than improve availability.
Concept tested: Cluster Aware AIX repository disk requirement
Source: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/aix/7.3?topic=administering-cluster-aware-aix
Topics
Community Discussion
8
Yelena Q.Jun 11, 2026C is your answer, and if you missed it you need to go back and read the CAA chapter again. Cluster Aware AIX requires a repository disk, which is a supported disk sitting in a highly available storage configuration that every node in the cluster can reach. That disk is how CAA handles cluster configuration data persistence and how the nodes communicate heartbeat and configuration state below the operating system layer. Option A describes something that does not exist in CAA architecture, and option B would make your cluster dependent on NFS, which is roughly the same as building a firewall out of paper. Option D is a distractor term that IBM has never used in any CAA documentation I have seen in the last decade.
Grace U.Jun 13, 2026The tiebreaker role of that repository disk is worth locking in too, because exam writers love asking what happens during a network partition when only one site can still see it.
Grace U.Jun 20, 2026C is correct, that shared disk serves as the CAA repository disk.
Wesley A.Jun 23, 2026Right, and the detail that tripped me up the first time was not knowing that the repository disk is also the tiebreaker when CAA loses network paths, so locking that function in your head is what separates C from the distractors that mention shared disks in a different role.
Dervla O.Jun 4, 2026The stem is asking specifically about what makes configuration data available to the cluster, and that word "available" should pull your eye straight to a storage resource rather than a service or protocol. Option A sounds reasonable on first read because a controller node synchronizing data is a familiar pattern from other clustering products, but CAA does not depend on a dedicated controller node, and if you know anything about single points of failure you should be nervous about any answer that puts coordination responsibility on one node. Option B is the real trap here, because NFS read/write access sounds like shared storage, but NFS has its own availability dependencies and is not the supported mechanism CAA uses to make configuration data accessible across nodes. The answer is C, the repository disk, a supported shared disk sitting in highly available storage that every node in the cluster can reach, which is how CAA keeps configuration data accessible independent of any single node going down. Option D should take under five seconds to eliminate, because "quorum busting" is not a real term in this context and any answer built around invented jargon is almost always noise.
Wesley A.May 29, 2026C is right, shared disk is the backbone of Cluster Aware AIX config access.
Viktor S.Jun 15, 2026Think about what happens if the thing storing your cluster config goes down right along with one of your nodes, because that is exactly the scenario this question is testing you on. If you understand why shared disk access beats NFS or a controller node in terms of surviving node failures, what does that tell you about where IBM designed CA AIX to actually persist that config data?
Wesley A.Jun 16, 2026Viktor nails the survivability angle, but worth pinning down the term: CA AIX stores the cluster configuration in the Repository Disk, a shared raw disk device that all nodes can access independently, so even total loss of one node leaves the config untouched and available to the survivors.