350-601 Storage Network — 10 Questions

Question 1

Which FCoE component is responsible for encapsulating Fibre Channel frames into Ethernet frames?

Accepted Answer

FCoE module on the switch or adapter. The FCoE module on the switch or adapter is the component that performs the encapsulation of native Fibre Channel frames into Ethernet frames. This module handles the conversion by adding an Ethernet header, including the EtherType 0x8906 for FCoE, and managing the mapping of Fibre Channel constructs (e.g., VSANs) to VLANs. Without this module, Fibre Channel traffic cannot traverse an Ethernet network.

Answer

FCoE Forwarder (FCF)

Answer

Virtual Fibre Channel interface (VFC)

Answer

VN interface

Question 2

A medium-sized enterprise has a Cisco UCS environment with two Fabric Interconnects (FIs) in a cluster. There are 10 blade servers, each with a VIC 1340 adapter. The SAN consists of two MDS 9148S switches in a VSAN for storage. Each server is configured with two vHBAs (primary and secondary) connecting to the SAN via the FIs. Recently, after a firmware upgrade on the MDS switches, several servers are unable to boot from SAN. The storage administrator confirms that the storage array LUNs are accessible from the MDS switches. The UCS administrator reports that the vHBAs show a 'link down' status on the FI. Which action should be taken to resolve the issue?

Accepted Answer

Verify the active zone set on the MDS switches and re-activate it if necessary.. The 'link down' status on the vHBAs indicates that the Fibre Channel fabric is not properly delivering the FLOGI (Fabric Login) response to the initiators. Since the storage LUNs are accessible from the MDS switches, the issue is likely that the active zone set was deactivated or not saved after the firmware upgrade, preventing the vHBAs from logging into the fabric. Re-activating the zone set on the MDS switches will re-establish the FC zones and allow the vHBAs to complete FLOGI and resume boot from SAN.

Answer

Reconfigure the vHBAs on the UCS Manager with new WWPNs.

Answer

Check the storage array LUN masking and re-apply LUN access.

Answer

Downgrade the MDS firmware to the previous version.

Question 3

A large financial institution operates a dual-fabric Fibre Channel SAN with two separate MDS 9710 directors. Each fabric has multiple storage arrays and hundreds of hosts. The SAN is configured with VSANs to isolate different environments (production, development, backup). Recently, the backup VSAN has been experiencing slow performance during backup windows. Analysis shows that the ISLs between the directors in the backup VSAN are heavily utilized (near 100%) while other ISLs have spare capacity. The backup traffic consists of large sequential reads and writes. The SAN administrator has confirmed that there are no CRC errors or link issues. The backup VSAN uses a single 16 Gbps ISL. Which of the following is the best solution to improve backup performance?

Accepted Answer

Add an additional 16 Gbps ISL and configure a port channel for the backup VSAN.. Adding an additional 16 Gbps ISL and configuring a port channel for the backup VSAN increases the available bandwidth for backup traffic, which consists of large sequential reads and writes that can fully utilize the link. Port channels provide load balancing across member links based on source/destination IDs, effectively distributing the backup traffic and reducing congestion on the single ISL. This directly addresses the near-100% utilization without introducing complexity or relying on other fabrics.

Answer

Reduce the buffer credit count on the backup VSAN ISLs to reduce latency.

Answer

Enable QoS to prioritize backup traffic over other traffic.

Answer

Implement IVR to route backup traffic through the other fabric.

Question 4

A storage administrator reports that a host cannot reach any of the targets on a Cisco MDS 9000 Series switch. The VSAN configuration is correct, and all interfaces are up. Which two commands should be used to verify the Fibre Channel name server database and zoning configuration?

Accepted Answer

show zoneset active. The 'show zoneset active' command displays the currently active zone set, which is essential for verifying which zones are enforced by the switch. Since the VSAN configuration is correct and interfaces are up, a missing or incorrect active zone set could prevent the host from reaching any targets, even if the name server database is populated.

Answer

show zone

Answer

show flogi database

Answer

show fcns details

Question 5

A storage network engineer is designing a Fibre Channel SAN with two Cisco MDS switches in a single VSAN. The design requires that if one switch fails, the storage traffic continues to flow without manual intervention. Which two technologies should be implemented?

Accepted Answer

Fibre Channel multipathing. Fibre Channel multipathing (E) is correct because it allows initiators and targets to use multiple physical paths across different switches, automatically failing over if one switch fails. Port channels (B) only aggregate links for redundancy against link failures, not switch failures, and therefore do not meet the requirement. Options A, C, and D are incorrect: NPV is for N_Port virtualization, VSAN trunking virtualizes VSANs, and IVR interconnects VSANs; none provide automatic failover upon switch failure.

Answer

NPV

Answer

Port channels

Answer

VSAN trunking

Answer

IVR

Question 6

An engineer is troubleshooting a performance issue on a Cisco MDS 9700 switch. The 'show interface fc1/1' output shows CRC errors incrementing slowly. The interface is connected to a storage array. Which two actions should the engineer take to resolve the issue?

Accepted Answer

Replace the fiber optic cable and SFP.. CRC errors on a Fibre Channel interface typically indicate physical-layer issues such as faulty cabling, damaged SFPs, or dirty optical connectors. Replacing the fiber optic cable and SFP (Option B) directly addresses the most common root cause of CRC errors. Additionally, enabling BB_credit recovery (Option C) helps mitigate performance degradation caused by buffer credit starvation, which can manifest as CRC-like symptoms in some scenarios.

Answer

Increase the MTU size on the interface.

Answer

Clear the interface counters.

Answer

Change the interface speed from auto to a fixed value.

Question 7

Refer to the exhibit. The interface fc1/1 is configured as an E_port. The connected switch also has an E_port configured. However, the interface shows an 'init' state. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The speed on the remote switch interface is set to 8000 Mbps.. The 'init' state on an E_port indicates that the link is up but the port is still initializing the Exchange Link Parameters (ELP) and Exchange Switch Capabilities (ESC) protocols. If the remote switch interface speed is set to 8000 Mbps (8 Gbps) while the local interface is configured for a different speed (e.g., 4 Gbps or 16 Gbps), the speed negotiation will fail, preventing the E_port from transitioning to the 'online' state. Cisco MDS switches require matching speed settings on both ends of an E_port for successful initialization.

Answer

The domain ID is not configured on either switch.

Answer

The port VSAN on the local interface is different from the remote.

Answer

The remote switch interface is not configured as a trunk.

Question 8

A company has two Cisco MDS 9700 switches in a dual-fabric SAN. Each fabric has its own set of storage arrays and hosts. The company wants to enable selective communication between specific devices in Fabric A and Fabric B without merging the fabrics. Which Cisco technology should be used?

Accepted Answer

IVR. Cisco IVR (Inter-VSAN Routing) allows selective communication between devices in different VSANs without merging the fabrics. In this dual-fabric SAN scenario, IVR enables specific hosts in Fabric A to communicate with specific storage arrays in Fabric B while keeping the VSANs and fabrics logically isolated, preserving fault domains and administrative boundaries.

Answer

FCIP

Answer

NPV

Answer

Port channels

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

A data center engineer is designing a storage network for a virtualized environment with 100 hosts and 50 storage arrays. Each host requires 4 Gbps of bandwidth to storage, and each storage array provides 8 Gbps. All devices use 16 Gbps FC links. What is the minimum number of 16 Gbps FC links required to support the total bandwidth demand without oversubscription?

Accepted Answer

25. The total bandwidth demand from hosts is 100 hosts × 4 Gbps = 400 Gbps. Each storage array provides 8 Gbps, so total storage bandwidth is 50 arrays × 8 Gbps = 400 Gbps. Since all links are 16 Gbps FC, the minimum number of links required to carry 400 Gbps without oversubscription is 400 / 16 = 25 links. This assumes full-duplex links and no oversubscription in the fabric.

Answer

50

Answer

200

Answer

100