A customer wants to implement a large Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct environment. Which protocol should the customer use?

Question

Options

• AVXLAN
• BRDMA
• COSPF
• DNVGRE

• A
  3% (1)
• B
  13% (4)
• C
  6% (2)
• D
  77% (24)

Explanation

Important note: The provided answer key appears to contain an error. The correct answer for this question is actually B. RDMA, not D.

Why RDMA (B) is correct: Remote Direct Memory Access is the protocol Microsoft explicitly recommends for large Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) deployments. RDMA enables high-throughput, ultra-low-latency storage traffic by allowing network transfers that bypass the CPU and OS kernel - critical for S2D's east-west storage traffic between cluster nodes.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A. VXLAN - a Layer 2 overlay/tunneling protocol for virtual networks; unrelated to S2D storage performance
• C. OSPF - a Layer 3 routing protocol; has nothing to do with storage protocols
• D. NVGRE - Microsoft's network virtualization encapsulation protocol (used in Hyper-V Network Virtualization for overlay networks), not a storage performance protocol

Memory tip: Think "S2D needs Speed → RDMA Rockets past the CPU." RDMA is the only option here that actually addresses storage I/O performance rather than network virtualization or routing.

Recommendation: If this is from a practice exam or study guide, the answer key has a typo or error - D (NVGRE) is a common distractor precisely because it's a Microsoft technology, but it serves a completely different purpose. Check your source material and trust RDMA for S2D questions.

No community discussion yet for this question.