You can see it againUnder pressure people bring back shapes and positions long after the wording has gone.
Picture superiority · Shepard 1967, Standing 1973
DELL TECHNOLOGIESDell Data Protection and Management Foundations v2
The Dell Data Protection and Management Foundations v2 certification validates your understanding of modern data protection and availability solutions across data center and cloud environments. It is designed for IT professionals who need to make informed decisions about data protection technologies. Earning this credential builds a strong foundation for advanced data protection concepts and prepares you for more specialized Dell Proven Professional certifications.
DeliveryPearson VUE
Free questions681
Content last reviewed 30 July 2026 · Up to date
The certification
What Dell Data Protection and Management Foundations v2 proves, and what it asks of you
What this certification covers, who it is written for, and what the exam itself looks like on the day.
7domains
30objectives
157concepts
What it is
What this certification is
What it validates, who it is written for, and the experience it assumes.
About this certification
The Dell Data Protection and Management Foundations v2 certification provides a comprehensive understanding of the various data protection and availability solutions for modern data protection wherever data lives, including cloud and data center. It enables participants to make informed decisions on data protection-related technologies and provides a strong understanding of data protection technologies and prepares participants for advanced concepts, technologies, and processes.
This certification is part of the Dell Proven Professional program, which recognizes industry-recognized credentials across cloud, infrastructure, security, and enterprise technology solutions. By earning this credential, you demonstrate a solid grasp of data protection fundamentals, positioning yourself for further specialization in Dell data protection solutions.
Who it’s for
This certification is for IT professionals who are new to data protection or who need a foundational understanding of data protection and availability solutions. It is ideal for those who work with or support data protection technologies in data center and cloud environments and who need to make informed decisions about data protection strategies. Typical roles include storage administrators, backup administrators, IT generalists, and presales or technical support professionals who want to build a solid foundation in data protection before moving on to more advanced Dell Proven Professional certifications.
Recommended experience
No formal prerequisites are required, but a basic understanding of data center and cloud concepts is recommended. Basic knowledge of data center infrastructure; Familiarity with cloud computing concepts; Awareness of common data protection challenges and solutions
The syllabus
What you’ll learn
Every domain and objective Dell Technologies measures, with the weight they carry on the exam.
The official Dell Technologies exam outline · checked 30 July 2026 · See the source
Data Protection and Management Introduction
- Describe the need for data protection and management
- Explain data availability measurement, RPO, and RTO
- Describe the causes and impact of data unavailability
- Describe data protection and availability solutions
- Explain data protection architecture components
Fault Tolerance Techniques
- Explain fault tolerance infrastructure
- Describe compute-based fault tolerance techniques
- Describe storage-based fault tolerance techniques
- Describe network-based fault tolerance techniques
- Explain fault tolerance techniques - Application and Availability Zones
Data Backup and Deduplication
- Explain backup architecture, operations, and granularities
- Describe various backup methods
- Describe various backup topologies
- Explain the need and benefits of deduplication
- Describe deduplication granularities and methods
Replication and Data Archiving
- Explain primary uses of replicas and types of replications
- Describe various local replication methods
- Describe various remote replication methods
- Describe data archiving benefits and architecture
- Explain data archiving operation and storage.
Cloud-based Data Protection
- Describe cloud-based data protection drivers and considerations
- Explain various cloud-based data protection types
- Describe multi-cloud data protection
Securing the Data Protection Environment
- Describe data security elements, AAA, and GRC
- Explain security threats in a data protection environment
- Describe various security controls
- Explain cybersecurity
Managing the Data Protection Environment
- Explain data management functions - Discovery and Operations Management
- Describe the importance of monitoring as part of data protection and management
- Explain various operation management activities
On the day
The exam itself
Everything Dell Technologies publishes about sitting it, and nothing we inferred.
Prerequisites
No mandatory prerequisites — this certification has no required predecessor exam or credential.
CertificationDell Data Protection and Management Foundations v2
DeliveryPearson VUE
LanguagesEnglish
After you pass
Where this credential goes next
The path Dell Technologies lays out, how the credential is kept, and where to book.
Step-by-step path to Dell Data Protection and Management Foundations v2
Credential earnedDell Data Protection and Management Foundations v2 Certification Lifecycle status
This certification is currently active and available. Dell Technologies maintains this certification to validate current skills and industry relevance.
Exam status: ActiveMaintained by Dell Technologies
Exam registration
Register for the exam through Pearson VUE, Dell Technologies’s authorized testing partner.
Schedule your examVisit the official Dell Technologies certification page for exam policies and requirements.
View the official pageYour coach
And when you are serious, your coach Pip takes over
Your coach in the app reads what you have answered with the book closed and tells you one thing to do tonight. It will not count an answer you gave with the page open, and it will tell you when you are not ready.
See how the coach worksBefore you book
Questions people ask
How does the Data Protection and Management Foundations v2 exam relate to the previous version?
The v2 exam updates the content to cover modern data protection solutions across cloud and data center environments. Dell Technologies does not publish a detailed comparison of the v1 and v2 exams.
Do I need to earn a lower-level Dell certification before taking this exam?
No. Dell Technologies lists no mandatory prerequisites for this exam. It is a Foundations-level certification that can be taken directly.
How do I schedule, reschedule, or cancel my exam appointment?
You can schedule, reschedule, and cancel your exam through Pearson VUE. Cancellations made less than 24 hours in advance are subject to a same-day forfeit fee, and no-shows are charged the full exam fee.
What are the retake policies for this exam?
If you do not pass on your first attempt, you must wait 7 days to retake. After a second attempt, you must wait at least 14 days between each additional attempt. If you need to retake an exam you have already passed to fulfill a certification track requirement, you may do so after 3 months.
Is there a hands-on or lab component in this exam?
The official exam description does not mention a hands-on or lab component. Dell Technologies does not publish details of a lab section for this exam.
How soon will I receive my exam results?
All exams are computer scored immediately upon completion, and candidates receive a provisional score report. The final score is transmitted to your CertTracker account within 72 hours after statistical analysis is conducted.
What job roles does this certification map to?
This certification is designed for IT professionals who need a foundational understanding of data protection, including storage administrators, backup administrators, and presales or technical support roles.
Can I recertify by passing a different Dell exam?
Dell Technologies certifications must be renewed periodically, but specific recertification options for this credential are not published on the official exam page.
Information freshness · Content last reviewed on 2026-07-30 Up to date
Practice free questions 681 questions, free, no account needed.
The curriculum
The whole exam, mapped and written
Every domain, every objective, and every concept Dell Technologies measures — each one written out.
7domains
30objectives
157concepts
150free pages
The domains, and what sits inside them
Every objective below is a page you can open and practise now, without an account.
The official Dell Technologies exam outline · checked 30 July 2026 · See the source
1Data Protection and Management Introduction126 questions
Describe the need for data protection and management5 concepts · 6 pagesOpen →Explain data availability measurement, RPO, and RTO4 concepts · 3 pagesOpen →Describe the causes and impact of data unavailability2 concepts · 4 pagesOpen →Describe data protection and availability solutions7 concepts · 7 pagesOpen →Explain data protection architecture components10 concepts · 7 pagesOpen →
2Fault Tolerance Techniques125 questions
Explain fault tolerance infrastructure8 concepts · 5 pagesOpen →Describe compute-based fault tolerance techniques8 concepts · 5 pagesOpen →Describe storage-based fault tolerance techniques5 concepts · 5 pagesOpen →Describe network-based fault tolerance techniques9 concepts · 7 pagesOpen →Explain fault tolerance techniques - Application and Availability Zones5 concepts · 5 pagesOpen →
3Data Backup and Deduplication92 questions
Explain backup architecture, operations, and granularities7 concepts · 5 pagesOpen →Describe various backup methods6 concepts · 3 pagesOpen →Describe various backup topologies7 concepts · 5 pagesOpen →Explain the need and benefits of deduplication3 concepts · 5 pagesOpen →Describe deduplication granularities and methods2 concepts · 2 pagesOpen →
4Replication and Data Archiving100 questions
Explain primary uses of replicas and types of replications2 concepts · 3 pagesOpen →Describe various local replication methods6 concepts · 5 pagesOpen →Describe various remote replication methods6 concepts · 6 pagesOpen →Describe data archiving benefits and architecture2 concepts · 5 pagesOpen →Explain data archiving operation and storage.2 concepts · 4 pagesOpen →
5Cloud-based Data Protection65 questions
6Securing the Data Protection Environment88 questions
7Managing the Data Protection Environment85 questions
Not a table of contents
Every line on this map already opens
In front of every objective the practice pages are already there, free and without an account. This is one objective, opened.
Describe the need for data protection and management6 pagesOpen →
Free in front of it
26 questions on this objective, five to a page. Every range above is a real page, open now, with no account.
Reading the map is not the same as knowing the ground
The curriculum tells you what is on the exam. Proving you know it is a different job — and it is the one the closed-book run does.
Free questions
681 questions. No account, no card.
The whole bank is open. 5 questions to a page, every answer explained, and a discussion thread on each one.
681questions
150pages
30objectives
Freealways
Browse by domain
Every objective, and every page range, is a link — so you can pick up exactly where you left off.
1Data Protection and Management Introduction126 questions
2Fault Tolerance Techniques125 questions
3Data Backup and Deduplication92 questions
4Replication and Data Archiving100 questions
5Cloud-based Data Protection65 questions
6Securing the Data Protection Environment88 questions
7Managing the Data Protection Environment85 questions
What a practice page gives you
1Five to a page
Short enough to finish, long enough to matter.
2Every answer explained
Not only which one is right — why the others are wrong.
3A discussion on each
Ask, answer, and vote. Every question has its own thread.
A question, and the idea behind it
Every question comes from a concept
These are not trivia. Each one is written against a concept in the book, so when you get one wrong there is somewhere to go and find out why.
The visual book
See it once. Carry it into the exam.
The pages shown here come from our AI-900 book — an example of how each concept is written in plain language and, where the idea needs one, drawn as a full page you can take in at a glance.
157concepts
681free questions
Why a picture, and not another paragraph
Three reasons, and each one is a real finding rather than a slogan.
You can see it againThe whole idea at onceWhere it starts, what happens in the middle, what comes out, and the mistake to avoid.
Multimedia principle · MayerThe look-alikes sit togetherThe pairs the exam tests are drawn side by side, so the difference is seen, not told.
Dual coding · PaivioWhat one page is made of
You are never asked to read a poster here — only to see how one is built. After that, every other page is legible at a glance.
1A numbered strip on top
The idea as a sequence, followed with a finger before a word is read.
2Panels for the parts
What it is, how the machine learns it, when it is the right tool.
3The trap, framed
The distinction the exam tests, given its own box instead of buried in prose.
4One line at the bottom
The sentence to carry into the exam room.
Open book, on purpose
Answer it with the picture beside you
This is the part that teaches. The illustration and the written explanation stay where they are while you work, so a scenario stops being a memory test and becomes something you can simply look at.
It teaches · it does not count
A smartphone uses AI to unlock when the owner looks at the camera. Which AI capability is being used?
AImage classification
BFacial recognition
COptical character recognition
DObject detection
Look at the five steps. Detect finds a face, align straightens it, encode turns it into numbers, search compares it with a stored face, and decide answers one question: is this the same person? Classification would only say “a face”. Detection would only draw a box. Neither decides whose.
Then the page shuts, and it starts counting
The same questions come back with the book closed — that run is the one that counts. After it, your coach picks one thing for tonight, sized to the time you have, and brings pages back before you lose them.
Testing effect · Roediger & Karpicke 2006 · spacing effect · Cepeda et al. 2006
Official resources
Straight from Dell Technologies
Where the exam is defined, scheduled and scored.
3official links
157concepts mapped
The source
Dell Technologies’s own pages
We link to them rather than repeat them, so nothing here goes stale behind them.
Checked against the source
Every objective on the official Dell Technologies outline already has questions here
We build from the official skills outline, not from a summary of it — 30 objectives, 157 concepts written under them, and free questions against every one. When Dell Technologies changes the outline, this page changes with it.
30objectives on the outline→157concepts written→681free questions
An official page tells you what will be asked. It cannot tell you what you will get right.
That is the only question worth answering the night before, and no link answers it. You answer it by taking the questions with the book closed, and seeing what comes back.