350-601 Compute — 10 Questions

Question 1

An engineer is deploying a new UCS chassis with two Fabric Interconnects. The design requires that server traffic can fail over to the secondary FI if the primary FI fails, without requiring any changes to the server's network configuration. Which technology must be enabled on the uplink ports of the Fabric Interconnects to the upstream switches to ensure transparent failover of server traffic?

Accepted Answer

Enable pin groups with 'failover' mode on the server ports.. Pin groups with 'failover' mode enable transparent server traffic failover by pinning server vNICs to a specific Fabric Interconnect (FI) and automatically repinning them to the secondary FI upon primary FI failure, without requiring any changes to the server's network configuration. This ensures that the server's MAC and IP addresses remain active on the secondary FI, maintaining connectivity without manual intervention.

Answer

Configure a virtual PortChannel (vPC) between the Fabric Interconnects and upstream switches.

Answer

Apply QoS policies to prioritize failover traffic.

Answer

Implement Private VLANs on the uplink ports to isolate traffic.

Question 2

A UCS administrator notices that a service profile associated with a vNIC template that uses 'fabric failover' is not failing over to the secondary Fabric Interconnect when the primary link goes down. The vNIC template is set to 'fabric failover' enabled, and both Fabric Interconnects are in the same VLAN. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The 'Primary Fabric' setting is not defined in the vNIC template.. When 'fabric failover' is enabled on a vNIC template, the UCS Manager requires the 'Primary Fabric' setting to be explicitly defined to determine which Fabric Interconnect (FI-A or FI-B) should be the active path. Without this setting, the system cannot properly orchestrate the failover behavior, causing the vNIC to remain pinned to the primary FI even when its link goes down. This is a common misconfiguration because the 'fabric failover' checkbox alone does not imply a primary fabric assignment.

Answer

The server is pinned to the primary Fabric Interconnect via a pin group.

Answer

The MTU size on the secondary Fabric Interconnect is set to 1500 instead of 9000.

Answer

The 'MAC Address' policy is set to 'pool-based' instead of 'static'.

Question 3

An engineer is configuring a UCS server profile for a database application that requires low latency. The server will use a Cisco UCS VIC 1340 adapter. Which vNIC placement policy should be selected to minimize latency?

Accepted Answer

Assigned. The Assigned vNIC placement policy binds each vNIC to a specific physical port on the Cisco UCS VIC 1340 adapter, ensuring deterministic traffic flow and predictable latency. For low-latency database applications, this eliminates the variability introduced by dynamic placement, allowing the engineer to align vNICs with the most direct PCIe path to the CPU or memory.

Answer

Any

Answer

Default

Answer

Round-Robin

Question 4

Which TWO statements correctly describe the use of Cisco UCS Manager service profiles for server deployment?

Accepted Answer

Service profiles decouple server identity from hardware, enabling rapid provisioning.. Service profiles decouple the logical server identity (UUID, MAC addresses, WWPNs) from the physical hardware. This allows an administrator to rapidly provision or repurpose a server by simply associating the profile with a different blade or rack server, without reconfiguring the OS or SAN/NIC settings. This abstraction is the core value of Cisco UCS Manager for scalable, stateless computing.

Answer

Service profiles can only be applied to servers of the same model.

Answer

A service profile can be associated with multiple servers simultaneously.

Answer

Service profiles are stored locally on the server's boot drive.

Question 5

Which THREE components are required to configure a Cisco UCS Direct-attached storage environment using SAS expanders?

Accepted Answer

SAS cables connecting the storage enclosure to the server's storage controller.. Option A is correct because in a Cisco UCS Direct-attached storage environment using SAS expanders, SAS cables are required to physically connect the storage enclosure to the server's storage controller (typically an LSI-based SAS HBA). This direct cabling enables the SAS protocol to carry SCSI commands and data between the server and the drives without any intervening network fabric.

Answer

Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) uplinks from the storage enclosure to the Fabric Interconnect.

Answer

Fibre Channel switch for SAN connectivity.

Question 6

Refer to the exhibit. A UCS administrator has configured vNIC templates as shown. Both Fabric Interconnects have identical uplink configurations. The vNIC templates have 'Failover: Enabled'. However, when Fabric Interconnect A fails, servers using vNIC-A do not fail over to Fabric Interconnect B. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The server's service profile does not include a secondary vNIC for Fabric B.. Option D is correct because the server's service profile must include both a primary vNIC (for Fabric Interconnect A) and a secondary vNIC (for Fabric Interconnect B) to enable failover. The 'Failover: Enabled' setting on the vNIC template only allows the vNIC to use the other fabric's uplink if a secondary vNIC is explicitly defined in the service profile; without it, the vNIC is pinned to its original fabric and cannot fail over.

Answer

A pin group is configured that forces traffic to Fabric Interconnect A.

Answer

The native VLAN (10) is not allowed on Fabric Interconnect B's trunk.

Answer

The uplink interfaces are configured with 'spanning-tree port type edge trunk', which blocks failover traffic.

Question 7

Refer to the exhibit. A server with vNIC eth0 is experiencing packet drops on its Ethernet interface. The server is sending jumbo frames (MTU 9000) on VLAN 100. The QoS system class 'Class-Platinum' has an MTU of 9216 and is configured with 'Drop'. The vNIC is not assigned to any QoS policy. What is the most likely reason for the drops?

Accepted Answer

The vNIC is not mapped to a QoS policy, so it uses the default best-effort class which has an MTU of 1500 and drops jumbo frames.. When a vNIC is not assigned to a QoS policy, it defaults to the best-effair class, which typically has an MTU of 1500 bytes. Since the server is sending jumbo frames (MTU 9000) on VLAN 100, these frames exceed the default MTU and are dropped at the Ethernet interface. The 'Class-Platinum' system class with MTU 9216 is irrelevant because the vNIC is not mapped to it.

Answer

The QoS system class for jumbo frames requires a 'No Drop' policy to avoid drops.

Answer

The server is sending frames larger than 9216 bytes.

Answer

The native VLAN setting on the vNIC causes the QoS system class to be ignored.

Question 8

A company is deploying a new Cisco UCS Mini with a single Fabric Interconnect 6324. They need to connect to an existing Fibre Channel SAN. Which action is required to enable Fibre Channel connectivity?

Accepted Answer

Add a Cisco MDS 9148S Fibre Channel switch and connect it to the Fabric Interconnect via FC uplinks.. The Cisco UCS Mini with a single Fabric Interconnect 6324 does not have native Fibre Channel ports; it only supports Ethernet uplinks. To connect to an existing Fibre Channel SAN, an external Fibre Channel switch (such as the Cisco MDS 9148S) must be added, and the Fabric Interconnect connects to it via FC uplinks, which are typically configured as unified ports. This allows the UCS Mini to leverage the MDS switch for Fibre Channel connectivity, as the 6324 itself cannot directly terminate Fibre Channel links.

Answer

Enable NPV mode on the Fabric Interconnect to connect to the SAN.

Answer

Install a Fibre Channel module in the Fabric Interconnect.

Answer

Configure the uplink Ethernet ports as unified ports to support Fibre Channel.

Question 9

A UCS administrator needs to deploy 20 identical servers with the same firmware, BIOS, and boot order. Which approach is the most efficient?

Accepted Answer

Create a service profile template and then generate service profiles from it.. Creating a service profile template and then generating service profiles from it is the most efficient approach because it allows you to define the firmware, BIOS, and boot order once in a reusable template, then automatically create multiple service profiles with unique identities (e.g., UUID, MAC, WWN) for each of the 20 identical servers. This leverages Cisco UCS Manager's built-in template-to-instance workflow, ensuring consistency and reducing manual effort.

Answer

Use a UUID suffix pool to auto-generate identities.

Answer

Use a Cisco UCS Central 'Gold' template to deploy the servers.

Answer

Create a service profile for each server manually.

Question 10

A data center engineer is deploying a new application on Cisco UCS Manager. The application requires consistent low-latency access to storage. The engineer decides to use SAN boot from a Fibre Channel SAN. Which configuration change is necessary on the UCS service profile to enable SAN boot?

Accepted Answer

Assign a persistent WWPN to the vHBA. To enable SAN boot from a Fibre Channel SAN, the UCS service profile must assign a persistent WWPN to the vHBA. The WWPN is used by the Fibre Channel fabric to identify the initiator and to zone the storage LUNs; a persistent WWPN ensures that after a server reboot or vHBA reconfiguration, the same WWPN is presented to the SAN, allowing the boot LUN to remain accessible. Without a persistent WWPN, the vHBA would use a dynamically generated WWPN, which would break the SAN zoning and boot path.

Answer

Enable VIF (Virtual Interface) on the vHBA

Answer

Configure a QoS policy for the vHBA

Answer

Set the vNIC to use dynamic MAC address