350-601 Storage Network Practice Test 15 — 15 Questions

Question 1

During a SAN migration, an engineer connects new storage to an existing MDS switch. The new storage array is configured with WWPNs that were previously used by decommissioned servers. After zoning is updated, some servers fail to see the correct LUNs. What is the most likely cause?

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

Accepted Answer

Duplicate WWPNs exist in the fabric, causing device login conflicts.. The new storage array is configured with WWPNs that were previously used by decommissioned servers. When these WWPNs are introduced into the fabric, the switch detects duplicate WWPNs because the fabric name server still holds the old entries (or the devices are still logged in). This causes login conflicts, preventing the servers from correctly discovering the LUNs. The correct answer is B.

Answer

The NPV feature is enabled on the switch causing proxy login issues.

Answer

The new storage is not in the same VSAN as the servers.

Answer

The switch is running an older firmware that does not support the new storage.

Question 2

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 3

A data center architect is designing a SAN with two MDS switches using VSANs. Which method ensures traffic isolation between departments while allowing sharing of a tape library?

Accepted Answer

Create separate VSANs for each department and a shared VSAN for the tape library with inter-VSAN routing (IVR).. It uses separate VSANs to isolate each department's traffic at Layer 2, while inter-VSAN routing (IVR) selectively allows the tape library to be shared across VSANs without merging them. IVR enables controlled communication between specific initiators and targets in different VSANs, preserving isolation for all other traffic.

Answer

Use FCIP tunnels for each department.

Answer

Create separate VSANs and merge them for the tape library.

Answer

Use one VSAN for all departments and one zone for each department.

Question 4

Which THREE factors must be considered when implementing FCIP for SAN extension over a WAN? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Jitter and packet loss characteristics.. FCIP tunnels carry Fibre Channel frames over TCP/IP, so the WAN's jitter and packet loss characteristics (B) directly affect TCP retransmissions and FCIP throughput, making them a critical design factor. The round-trip time (RTT) latency of the WAN link (D) governs TCP window scaling and FCIP write acceleration behavior, since high RTT limits achievable throughput per TCP connection. Available bandwidth and potential congestion (E) determine whether the FCIP tunnel can sustain the required ISL bandwidth and whether QoS/priority treatment is needed to avoid drops. VSAN configuration on the remote MDS switch (A) is a general SAN extension requirement, not a WAN-specific FCIP factor, and buffer-to-buffer credit count on the FCIP tunnel (C) is not the relevant flow-control mechanism because FCIP uses TCP flow control rather than native FC BB_credits across the WAN.

Answer

VSAN configuration on the remote MDS switch.

Answer

Buffer-to-buffer credit count on the FCIP tunnel.

Question 5

Refer to the exhibit. The interface shows CRC errors. What is the most likely cause of these errors?

Accepted Answer

Faulty SFP or fiber cable.. CRC errors indicate that frames are being received with invalid checksums, which is typically caused by physical-layer issues such as a faulty SFP module or damaged fiber cable. These errors occur when the cyclic redundancy check computed by the receiver does not match the CRC appended by the sender, pointing to corruption during transmission. In Fibre Channel storage networks, a faulty SFP or cable is the most common root cause of CRC errors, as they directly affect signal integrity.

Answer

Insufficient buffer credits for the distance.

Answer

The port is configured as F port but should be E port.

Answer

Speed mismatch between the ports.

Question 6

A small business SAN consists of a single Cisco MDS 9148S switch with 16 Gb Fibre Channel ports. The storage array has four active paths to the switch, and four servers each have two HBAs. The administrator wants to ensure that all paths are utilized and that no single point of failure exists. Currently, all devices are in a single VSAN and zoning is permissive (default deny). After powering on all devices, the administrator notices that the storage array only logs in on two of its four ports. The other two ports show 'no light'. The switch has not been configured with any port settings. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The storage array's other two ports are not physically connected or are disabled on the array end.. The symptom 'no light' on two switch ports means the switch is not receiving any optical signal on those ports, which points to a physical-layer issue — the array's ports are either not cabled or disabled on the array side. Zoning, VSAN membership, and speed negotiation all occur after link initialization, so they cannot explain a complete absence of light. Since the switch has no port settings configured, there is no software reason to block link establishment on those specific ports.

Answer

The switch ports need to have their speed manually configured to match the array.

Answer

The unused ports are in a different VSAN.

Answer

The zoning configuration prevents the array from logging in on those ports.

Question 7

A storage network using Cisco MDS 9700 switches has two VSANs (100 and 200). The engineer wants to share a physical ISL between both VSANs while maintaining traffic isolation. Which feature should be used?

Accepted Answer

VSAN trunking. VSAN trunking allows a single physical ISL to carry traffic for multiple VSANs by adding a VSAN tag to each frame, ensuring traffic isolation between VSANs 100 and 200. This is the native Cisco MDS feature designed for sharing inter-switch links across VSANs without merging their control planes or forwarding tables.

Answer

PortChannel with trunk mode on

Answer

Inter-VSAN Routing (IVR)

Answer

FSPF metric manipulation

Question 8

An engineer needs to connect a new server to an existing FC SAN. The server is located 50 km away from the data center. Which technology should be used to extend the FC SAN over this distance?

Accepted Answer

FCIP. FCIP (Fibre Channel over IP) is the correct choice because it encapsulates Fibre Channel frames inside TCP/IP packets, enabling the extension of FC SANs over long distances (beyond the 10 km limit of standard optics) by leveraging existing IP WAN infrastructure. This allows the 50 km connection while preserving native Fibre Channel semantics and fabric services.

Answer

iSCSI

Answer

FCoE

Answer

Direct FC connection with 10km optics

Question 9

Which THREE factors should be considered when sizing buffer credits for a long-haul FC link?

Accepted Answer

Link speed. Link speed (A) is a critical factor because higher speeds require more buffer credits to maintain full throughput over a given distance. The buffer credit requirement scales linearly with link speed, as each credit represents the ability to send one frame before receiving an acknowledgment. For example, a 16 Gbps link needs twice as many buffer credits as an 8 Gbps link for the same distance.

Answer

Number of targets

Answer

Buffer-to-buffer credit pool size

Question 10

Which TWO of the following are valid methods to configure zoning in a Cisco MDS 9000 series switch?

Accepted Answer

Domain/port (DID) zoning. C is correct because Domain/Port (DID) zoning uses the Fibre Channel domain ID and port number to identify members, which is a standard zoning method on Cisco MDS switches. DID zoning is configured using the `zone` command with the `domain-id,port-number` syntax, providing a hardware-based zoning approach that does not rely on WWNs.

Answer

IP address zoning

Answer

MAC address zoning

Answer

Interface (fc-port) zoning

Question 11

A company is consolidating its storage network into a single fabric using a Cisco MDS 9509. They want to use VSANs to isolate different departments. The VSANs will be 10, 20, and 30. They have a single ISL between two MDS switches. The engineers want to carry all three VSANs over the ISL. They configure both ends of the ISL as E ports and enable trunking. After configuration, they notice that only VSAN 10 traffic passes over the ISL. The other VSANs appear isolated. The show vsan membership shows all three VSANs are present on both switches. The show interface trunk on the ISL shows that the trunk is up but only VSAN 10 is allowed. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The allowed VSAN list on the trunk port is limited to only VSAN 10. On Cisco MDS switches, an ISL configured as an E port with trunking enabled will only carry the VSANs that are explicitly permitted in the trunk's allowed VSAN list. The 'show interface trunk' output confirms the trunk is up but only VSAN 10 is allowed, meaning the allowed VSAN list on the trunk port was restricted to VSAN 10. To carry VSANs 20 and 30, the allowed VSAN list must be modified to include them (e.g., using the 'switchport trunk allowed vsan' command).

Answer

The other VSANs are not configured on the trunk interface

Answer

The trunk mode is set to 'on' instead of 'desirable'/'auto'

Answer

The ISL is in an error-disabled state for VSAN 20 and 30

Question 12

A storage administrator needs to isolate Fibre Channel traffic between two departments in a data center using a single MDS switch. The administrator decides to create separate VSANs. Which statement about VSANs is true?

Accepted Answer

VSANs provide isolation similar to VLANs in Ethernet networks.. VSANs provide isolation similar to VLANs in Ethernet: each VSAN is a separate logical fabric with its own fabric services, zoning, and domain IDs. This allows two departments to share a single MDS switch while remaining isolated.

Answer

VSANs share the same fabric services across all VSANs.

Answer

VSANs require separate physical interfaces for each VSAN.

Answer

VSANs cannot be used with FCoE.

Question 13

An engineer is designing an NPV deployment to scale the number of hosts connected to a Fibre Channel fabric. In NPV mode, which port type is used on the NPV switch to connect to the core switch?

Accepted Answer

NP_port. In NPV (N-Port Virtualization) mode, the NPV switch acts as a proxy for its connected hosts, presenting itself to the core fabric as a single N-port. To do this, the uplink port on the NPV switch must operate as an NP_port (N-Port Proxy), which behaves like an N_port toward the core switch while aggregating multiple F_ports on the downstream side. The NP_port is the defining port type of NPV mode and is what allows the edge switch to connect to the core without consuming a domain ID.

Answer

VN_port

Answer

E_port

Answer

F_port

Question 14

A company uses hard zoning based on World Wide Names (WWNs) to control access between servers and storage arrays. An administrator needs to add a new server with WWPN 50:00:00:00:00:00:01:23 to the zone. What is an advantage of hard zoning over soft zoning?

Accepted Answer

Hard zoning is enforced by the switch hardware and provides better security.. Hard zoning is enforced in the switch hardware (the ASIC) by programming the port's forwarding tables based on the WWN-to-port mapping, so frames from a device in one zone are physically prevented from being forwarded to ports outside its zone. This hardware enforcement makes hard zoning more secure than soft zoning, which only relies on the end device respecting the name server's zone information and can be bypassed by a misbehaving or malicious host.

Answer

Hard zoning requires less configuration effort.

Answer

Hard zoning allows devices to communicate across VSANs.

Answer

Hard zoning prevents unauthorized devices from accessing the fabric even if they spoof a WWN.

Question 15

Which Fibre Channel addressing component uniquely identifies a port on a storage array and is used for zoning and target identification?

Accepted Answer

WWPN. A WWPN (World Wide Port Name) is a globally unique 64-bit identifier assigned to each Fibre Channel port. It is used for zoning and target identification.

Answer

FCID

Answer

WWN

Answer

WWNN