350-601 Practice Test 34 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A data center uses Cisco ACI with multiple tenants. The security policy requires that all traffic between EPGs must be explicitly allowed via contracts. However, the operations team reports that communication between two EPGs in the same bridge domain is working even though no contract is applied. What is the most likely reason?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

The default behavior in ACI allows communication between EPGs in the same bridge domain without a contract. In Cisco ACI, the default behavior for EPGs within the same bridge domain (BD) is that they can communicate without a contract. This is because EPGs in the same BD share the same Layer 2 domain, and ACI does not enforce contract-based filtering for intra-BD traffic unless a contract is explicitly applied. The security policy requiring contracts applies only to inter-BD or inter-VRF traffic, not to intra-BD communication.

Answer

The contract is applied but not enforced due to a configuration error

Answer

The VRF has a default route that bypasses contract enforcement

Answer

A preferred group contract is applied to the VRF

Question 2

A network engineer is configuring a Fabric Extender (FEX) to connect to a parent switch. Which best practice should be followed for FEX host interfaces?

Accepted Answer

Enable Virtual Port Channel (vPC) on the parent switch.. Enabling Virtual Port Channel (vPC) on the parent switch is a best practice for FEX host interfaces because it allows the FEX to be dual-homed to two separate parent switches, providing link-level redundancy and active-active forwarding. Without vPC, the FEX would rely on a single parent switch, creating a single point of failure and potentially causing traffic black-holing during a parent switch failure.

Answer

Configure all host interfaces as trunk ports.

Answer

Use the same FEX ID for redundancy.

Answer

Use LACP for the FEX uplinks.

Answer

Disable spanning-tree on FEX host interfaces.

Question 3

In a spine-leaf architecture using eBGP, which of the following is the recommended BGP configuration for the spine switches?

Accepted Answer

Unique ASN for each spine switch. In eBGP-based spine-leaf architectures, each spine switch should use a unique ASN to enable BGP’s loop prevention mechanism (the AS_PATH attribute). This ensures that leaf switches can detect and discard routes received from two different spines that originated from the same leaf, preventing routing loops and allowing load balancing across multiple spines. A unique ASN per spine is the recommended design per Cisco’s best practices for data center fabrics.

Answer

No BGP; use OSPF instead

Answer

Single ASN for all spines

Answer

Same ASN as leaves

Question 4

In a centralized anycast gateway VXLAN EVPN design, which is a requirement?

Accepted Answer

All VTEPs share a common anycast IP address for the default gateway.. In a centralized anycast gateway VXLAN EVPN design, all VTEPs share a common anycast IP address and MAC address for the default gateway. This allows any VTEP to serve as the first-hop router for hosts, enabling optimal east-west traffic forwarding without requiring a separate gateway device. The anycast IP is configured on each VTEP's VLAN interface, and the same IP/MAC is advertised via EVPN Type-2 routes.

Answer

Each VTEP has a unique anycast IP address.

Answer

The anycast gateway is configured on the spine switches.

Answer

The route reflector is an external BGP speaker.

Question 5

A Cisco Intersight managed UCS domain has a policy that requires all firmware updates to be applied within 30 days of release. An engineer needs to check compliance for a specific server. Which Intersight feature should be used?

Accepted Answer

Compliance and drift management. Compliance and drift management in Intersight continuously monitors the firmware versions of managed UCS servers against the defined baseline policies. When a policy requires updates within 30 days of release, this feature automatically detects servers that are out of compliance and reports the drift, allowing the engineer to verify compliance for a specific server without manual checks.

Answer

Software repository

Answer

Actions tab with pending updates

Answer

Firmware update policy

Question 6

A UCS domain is configured with two fabric interconnects in end-host mode. The engineer needs to ensure that traffic from a specific VLAN is load-balanced across both uplinks to the upstream network. Which THREE of the following are valid methods to achieve load balancing on the uplink ports?

Accepted Answer

Fabric port channel with LACP. A Fabric Port Channel with LACP allows multiple uplink ports to be aggregated into a single logical link, providing load balancing across the physical links based on a hash algorithm (e.g., source/destination MAC or IP). This is a standard method for distributing traffic from a specific VLAN across both uplinks to the upstream network in a UCS domain configured with two fabric interconnects in end-host mode.

Answer

VLAN load balancing using the pin-groups

Answer

Configure SPAN on the uplink ports

Question 7

A network engineer needs to create a consistent QoS policy for all servers in a UCS service profile template. Which policy must be attached to the template to ensure uniform traffic management?

Accepted Answer

QoS Policy. A QoS Policy is the correct attachment because it defines traffic classification, marking, and queuing behavior at the interface level within a UCS service profile template. By applying a QoS Policy, the engineer ensures uniform traffic management across all servers by controlling bandwidth allocation, priority, and drop preferences consistently. This policy directly maps to the system class definitions in UCS Manager, enabling per-interface QoS settings that are inherited by all service profiles using the template.

Answer

Network Control Policy

Answer

LAN Connectivity Policy

Answer

Flow Control Policy

Question 8

What is the purpose of NPIV (N_Port ID Virtualization) in a Fibre Channel SAN?

Accepted Answer

Allow a single physical port to register multiple N_port IDs.. NPIV allows a single physical Fibre Channel N_Port to register multiple unique N_Port IDs (FCIDs) with the fabric. This is essential for virtualizing Fibre Channel connectivity, enabling multiple virtual machines or logical partitions to share one physical HBA port while each appearing as a distinct initiator to the SAN.

Answer

Provide encryption on Fibre Channel links.

Answer

Enable multiple paths between initiator and target.

Answer

Allow a switch to act as an NPV device.

Question 9

A storage administrator reports that an FC initiator cannot log in to the SAN. The FC switch shows the following on the interface connected to the initiator: 'VSAN 100, State: Offline'. Which action should be taken to resolve the issue?

Accepted Answer

Configure port speed manually on the switch interface. The interface state 'Offline' in VSAN 100 indicates a Layer 1 or Layer 2 issue, often caused by a speed mismatch between the FC initiator and the switch interface. Configuring the port speed manually on the switch interface forces the link to negotiate at a specific speed, resolving the mismatch and bringing the interface online. This is a common fix when auto-negotiation fails or the initiator does not support the default speed settings.

Answer

Create a zone including the initiator and target

Answer

Change the interface VSAN to match the initiator

Answer

Increase the number of buffer credits on the interface

Question 10

What is the primary purpose of NX-API on Cisco Nexus switches in a data center automation context?

Accepted Answer

To provide a RESTful API that allows programmatic access to CLI commands and structured data output.. NX-API provides a RESTful API interface on Cisco Nexus switches, enabling programmatic access to CLI commands and returning structured data in formats like JSON or XML. This is essential for data center automation because it allows external tools (e.g., Ansible, Python scripts) to configure and retrieve state from the switch without requiring interactive CLI sessions, directly supporting infrastructure-as-code workflows.

Answer

To replace SNMP for monitoring and alerting.

Answer

To enable direct configuration from a web browser without CLI.

Answer

To create a web-based GUI for manual switch configuration.

Question 11

Which TWO of the following are valid methods to recover from buffer credit loss on a Fibre Channel link?

Accepted Answer

Reduce the link speed.. Reducing the link speed is a valid method to recover from buffer credit loss because it decreases the number of frames transmitted per unit time, allowing the receiver's buffer credits to replenish and preventing further overrun. This is a temporary workaround that reduces the effective bandwidth but can stabilize the link when buffer credit starvation occurs due to distance or congestion.

Answer

Enable WRED on the switch.

Answer

Use port channel to aggregate links.

Answer

Credit recovery using RDMA.

Question 12

A UCS domain has two Fabric Interconnects in end-host mode. Which statement about server-side traffic is true?

Accepted Answer

The Fabric Interconnect learns server MAC addresses on the server-facing ports.. In end-host mode, the Fabric Interconnect (FI) acts as a Layer-2 forwarding device that learns server MAC addresses on the server-facing ports to build its forwarding table. This is required because the FI does not run Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) on those ports; instead, it relies on MAC learning to forward traffic correctly between servers and the upstream network.

Answer

Fabric Interconnects run IEEE 802.1D STP on the server-facing ports.

Answer

The Fabric Interconnect performs VLAN-based load balancing to the upstream network.

Answer

Each Fabric Interconnect independently forwards frames to the upstream switches using the same uplink.

Question 13

A company is deploying a new SAN with two MDS 9148S switches in a single VSAN. They want to ensure that a failure of one switch does not affect storage traffic. Which technology should be implemented?

Accepted Answer

Create a redundant fabric by connecting both switches to each storage array and host via multiple paths.. Implementing a redundant fabric by connecting both switches to each storage array and host via multiple paths ensures that if one switch fails, the other switch continues to carry storage traffic. This is achieved through multipathing software (e.g., Fibre Channel multipathing) and redundant physical connections, which provide active-active or active-passive failover without disrupting the SAN.

Answer

Implement FCoE to Ethernet storage.

Answer

Enable NPIV on all ports.

Answer

Configure a port channel between the switches.

Question 14

A storage network engineer notices high buffer credit starvation counters on an inter-switch link. What is the most effective solution to reduce this issue?

Accepted Answer

Increase the number of buffer credits on the ISL.. High buffer credit starvation counters on an inter-switch link (ISL) indicate that the switch is running out of buffer credits to send frames, causing pauses in transmission. Increasing the number of buffer credits on the ISL directly addresses this by providing more credit pool for the link, allowing the switch to send more frames before needing acknowledgment, thus reducing starvation and improving throughput.

Answer

Change the ISL port mode from E to F.

Answer

Reduce the ISL speed to 1 Gbps.

Answer

Enable QoS to prioritize buffer credit recovery.

Question 15

Refer to the exhibit. A Python script is processing the response from NX-API. It attempts to extract the interface state using `response['ins_api']['outputs']['output']['body']['ROW_interface']['state']` but receives a KeyError. What is the most likely reason?

Accepted Answer

The JSON structure has an extra level 'TABLE_interface' before 'ROW_interface'.. The NX-API response for interface commands includes a 'TABLE_interface' key that wraps the 'ROW_interface' key. The script attempts to access 'ROW_interface' directly under 'body', but the correct path is `response['ins_api']['outputs']['output']['body']['TABLE_interface']['ROW_interface']['state']`. Option B correctly identifies this missing intermediate level.

Answer

The 'output' key is a list, not a dictionary.

Answer

The 'ins_api' key is nested inside another object.

Answer

The 'body' key is missing because the command failed.