350-601 Storage Network Practice Test 16 — 15 Questions

Question 1

An engineer configures an ISL between two MDS switches using E_ports. To utilize all available bandwidth, the engineer wants to bundle four physical links into a single logical link. Which technology should be used?

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

Accepted Answer

Fibre Channel PortChannel. Fibre Channel PortChannel (also called SAN port channel) bundles multiple physical ISLs between E_ports into one logical link, providing increased aggregate bandwidth, load balancing, and link redundancy. It is the standard Cisco MDS mechanism for combining parallel ISLs while preserving in-order frame delivery over Fibre Channel.

Answer

NPV mode

Answer

FCoE trunking

Answer

EISL trunking

Question 2

A data center engineer is implementing FCoE and must ensure lossless behavior for Fibre Channel traffic over Ethernet. Which Data Center Bridging (DCB) mechanism prevents frame loss by pausing traffic on a per-priority basis?

Accepted Answer

Priority Flow Control (PFC). Priority Flow Control (PFC) is a Data Center Bridging (DCB) mechanism that prevents frame loss by pausing traffic on a per-priority basis. It allows different priorities of traffic to be paused independently, ensuring that loss-sensitive traffic like Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) is not dropped due to congestion from other traffic types.

Answer

Data Center Bridging Exchange (DCBX)

Answer

FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP)

Answer

Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS)

Question 3

An iSCSI storage array is configured to support multipath I/O (MPIO) for high availability. The administrator needs to configure the initiator to use multiple network paths. What must be ensured for MPIO to work correctly?

Accepted Answer

The initiator must have multiple network interfaces and the storage must support multiple connections to the same LUN.. For iSCSI MPIO to function, the initiator must have multiple network interfaces (or multiple IP addresses on separate subnets) and the storage array must be capable of accepting multiple simultaneous connections to the same LUN from that initiator. This allows the initiator to establish independent sessions over each path, and the MPIO driver load-balances I/O across them while providing failover if one path goes down.

Answer

CHAP authentication must be disabled for MPIO.

Answer

All paths must use the same IP address on the initiator.

Answer

The storage array must present each LUN with a different LUN ID on each path.

Question 4

Which RAID level provides striping with parity and can tolerate a single disk failure while offering higher storage efficiency than RAID 1?

Accepted Answer

RAID 5. RAID 5 uses block-level striping with distributed parity, tolerating a single disk failure while using the capacity of only one disk for parity. This gives higher storage efficiency than RAID 1, which mirrors data and effectively loses 50% of capacity. RAID 5 is the classic answer for 'striping with parity, single-disk fault tolerance, better efficiency than mirroring.'

Answer

RAID 0

Answer

RAID 6

Answer

RAID 1

Question 5

A storage administrator is configuring synchronous replication between two storage arrays over a Fibre Channel link. Which characteristic best describes synchronous replication?

Accepted Answer

The write is acknowledged to the host only after data is written to both primary and secondary.. Synchronous replication requires that the host write be acknowledged only after the data has been committed to both the primary and secondary arrays. This guarantees zero data loss (RPO=0) at the cost of added write latency proportional to the round-trip time between arrays. The Fibre Channel link provides the low-latency transport needed to keep that latency acceptable.

Answer

Data is written to the primary and then asynchronously to the secondary, reducing latency.

Answer

The secondary storage is used only for backup and is not actively updated.

Answer

Data is written to the primary and later replicated based on a schedule.

Question 6

An engineer is configuring FCoE on a Cisco MDS switch and needs to ensure that the switch can communicate with FCoE-enabled servers. Which FCoE port type should be used on the switch to connect to a server's CNA?

Accepted Answer

VF_port. A VF_port (Virtual Fabric port) on an FCoE switch connects to a VN_port on a server's CNA. The VF_port is analogous to an F_port in traditional Fibre Channel, providing fabric services to the attached N_port. Therefore, to connect to a server's CNA, the switch port must be configured as a VF_port.

Answer

VE_port

Answer

NP_port

Answer

VN_port

Question 7

An administrator needs to configure zoning on a Cisco MDS switch. After creating zones and adding members, what must be done to activate the zoning configuration?

Accepted Answer

Assign zones to a zone set and then activate the zone set.. After creating zones and adding members, the zones must be assigned to a zone set, and then that zone set must be activated for the configuration to take effect. In Cisco MDS, zoning changes are not enforced until the zone set is activated, which distributes the configuration to all switches in the VSAN.

Answer

Reboot the switch for changes to take effect.

Answer

Activate the zone set using the 'zone activate' command.

Answer

Save the configuration to startup-config.

Question 8

Which two advantages does thin provisioning provide in a storage array? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Allows over-provisioning of storage capacity.. Option A is correct because thin provisioning lets the array present logical capacity that exceeds the physical capacity actually installed, i.e., over-provisioning, since space is not reserved up front. Option B is correct because thin provisioning allocates physical blocks on demand as data is written, so unused logical space consumes no physical capacity and overall storage utilization improves. Options C, D, and E are incorrect: thin provisioning does not change disk tiering or write performance, does not replace snapshots, and does not remove the need for RAID redundancy.

Answer

Increases write performance by using faster disks.

Answer

Reduces the need for snapshots.

Answer

Eliminates the need for RAID protection.

Question 9

Which three components are required for a fully functional FCoE deployment in a data center? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

DCB-enabled Ethernet switches. Option B is correct because FCoE requires Data Center Bridging (DCB) on the Ethernet fabric; DCB provides the lossless, priority-based flow control (PFC per 802.1Qbb) and Enhanced Transmission Selection needed to carry Fibre Channel frames over Ethernet without TCP/IP. Option D is correct because servers must use Converged Network Adapters (CNAs), which combine a Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter (HBA) and a 10 GbE NIC, performing FCoE encapsulation/decapsulation and presenting both FC and Ethernet interfaces to the OS. Option E is correct because the FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP) is required to discover FCFs (FCoE Forwarders), perform fabric login (FLOGI), and maintain virtual links between ENodes and the FC fabric. Option A is incorrect because iSCSI is a separate IP-based storage protocol and is not used in FCoE, which encapsulates native Fibre Channel frames. Option C is incorrect because FCoE does not require dedicated Fibre Channel switches with E_ports; the FC fabric functions are provided by FCFs, typically integrated into DCB-capable Ethernet switches (or via NPV/NPIV designs), not by E_port-based FC switch interconnects.

Answer

iSCSI initiator software

Answer

Fibre Channel switches with E_ports

Question 10

An administrator is configuring CHAP authentication for iSCSI. Which two statements about CHAP are correct? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

CHAP authentication is optional and can be disabled.. Option A is correct because CHAP is an optional authentication mechanism in iSCSI; it is not mandatory, and an administrator can choose to disable it or leave it unconfigured, in which case sessions proceed without authentication. Option D is correct because CHAP operates on a challenge-response model using a pre-shared secret (the CHAP password) that must be configured identically on both the initiator and the target for authentication to succeed. Option B is incorrect because CHAP only authenticates identities; it does not encrypt iSCSI payload data, which would require IPsec or similar. Option C is incorrect because CHAP can be applied to normal (full-feature) iSCSI sessions, not just discovery sessions. Option E is incorrect because CHAP relies on a shared secret, not digital certificates, which are used by certificate-based authentication methods.

Answer

CHAP provides encryption of iSCSI data.

Answer

CHAP authentication is only used for discovery sessions.

Answer

CHAP uses a digital certificate for authentication.

Question 11

A storage administrator is configuring a new Fibre Channel fabric using Cisco MDS switches. The edge switches must connect to the core without participating in the full routing domain to conserve domain IDs. Which Fibre Channel feature should be configured on the edge switches?

Accepted Answer

NPV mode. NPV (N_Port Virtualization) mode allows an edge switch to connect to the core without consuming a domain ID, because the edge switch does not participate in the fabric's routing domain — it acts as a host to the core. This conserves domain IDs and simplifies edge switch configuration, which is exactly the requirement stated.

Answer

PortChannels

Answer

VSANs

Answer

EISL trunking

Question 12

An engineer is configuring zoning on a Cisco MDS switch. The requirement is to ensure that only the storage array ports with specific WWPNs can access the host initiators. Which zoning approach should be used to enforce this policy regardless of physical port changes?

Accepted Answer

Hard zoning by WWPN. Hard zoning by WWPN enforces access control at the hardware/ASIC level in the MDS switch, so only the specific WWPNs listed in the zone can communicate — this is enforced regardless of which physical port the device is plugged into. Because WWPNs are burned into the HBA and storage array ports, the policy follows the device even if it is moved to a different port.

Answer

Soft zoning by WWPN

Answer

Soft zoning by port ID

Answer

Hard zoning by domain/port

Question 13

In a Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) deployment, which Data Center Bridging (DCB) feature is responsible for preventing frame loss due to congestion and ensuring the lossless behavior required for FCoE traffic?

Accepted Answer

Priority Flow Control (PFC). Priority Flow Control (PFC) is the DCB feature that provides lossless behavior for FCoE by pausing specific traffic classes when congestion occurs. It ensures that FCoE frames are not dropped due to buffer exhaustion, which is critical because Fibre Channel expects a lossless medium. PFC operates on a per-priority basis, allowing storage traffic to be paused independently of other traffic.

Answer

Data Center Bridging Exchange (DCBX)

Answer

Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS)

Answer

Jumbo frames

Question 14

Which FC addressing component is used to uniquely identify a host bus adapter (HBA) port in a Fibre Channel fabric, and is often used for zoning?

Accepted Answer

World Wide Port Name (WWPN). The World Wide Port Name (WWPN) is a 64-bit identifier assigned to each Fibre Channel port (HBA port) and is globally unique, making it the standard identifier used in zoning and fabric login. Zoning configurations on Cisco MDS and Brocade switches reference WWPNs to permit or deny communication between specific ports. Because it identifies the port rather than the node, it is the correct answer for uniquely identifying an HBA port.

Answer

World Wide Node Name (WWNN)

Answer

Fibre Channel ID (FCID)

Answer

Domain ID

Question 15

A storage engineer is planning a disaster recovery solution that requires zero data loss in the event of a site failure. The storage arrays support both synchronous and asynchronous replication. Which replication type should be chosen to meet the requirement?

Accepted Answer

Synchronous replication. Synchronous replication writes data to both the primary and secondary arrays before acknowledging the write to the host, guaranteeing an RPO of zero. If the primary site fails, the secondary already holds every committed write, so no data is lost. This is the only replication type among the options that can meet a strict zero-data-loss requirement.

Answer

Asynchronous replication

Answer

Snapshot-based replication

Answer

Thin provisioning