350-601 Storage Network Practice Test 2 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Which of the following is a benefit of using Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) in a data center?

Accepted Answer

It reduces cabling complexity by using a unified fabric.. FCoE encapsulates Fibre Channel frames over Ethernet networks, allowing storage and data traffic to share the same physical infrastructure. This consolidation reduces cabling complexity and the number of required switches, adapters, and power/cooling overhead, which is the core benefit of a unified fabric.

Answer

It increases the maximum distance of Fibre Channel links.

Answer

It provides native Fibre Channel security.

Answer

It eliminates the need for zoning.

Question 2

An administrator needs to configure a Fibre Channel SAN to support two separate departments that must not see each other's storage. Each department has its own set of initiators and targets. Which technology should be used?

Accepted Answer

VSANs (Virtual SANs). VSANs (Virtual SANs) provide isolation within a single Fibre Channel fabric by partitioning the physical SAN into multiple logical SANs. Each department's initiators and targets are placed in separate VSANs, ensuring they cannot see each other's storage traffic or devices, which meets the requirement for complete separation without additional physical hardware.

Answer

Port channels

Answer

NPV

Answer

IVR (Inter-VSAN Routing)

Question 3

In a Cisco MDS switch, what is the effect of the command 'fcdomain restart vsan 100'?

Accepted Answer

It causes a fabric reconfiguration, which may disrupt traffic.. The 'fcdomain restart vsan 100' command triggers a fabric reconfiguration (RCF) on VSAN 100. This process resets the principal switch selection and domain ID distribution, causing all switches in the VSAN to renegotiate their roles and domain IDs, which disrupts existing Fibre Channel traffic during the reconfiguration.

Answer

It enables NPV mode on VSAN 100.

Answer

It clears the zone configuration for VSAN 100.

Answer

It reboots the switch.

Question 4

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 5

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 6

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 7

A Cisco MDS switch is configured for NPV mode. An upstream NPIV-enabled switch is connected. The administrator notices that the NPV switch is not logging in to the NPIV switch. The NPV switch shows the following: 'show npv status' indicates NPV is enabled but no traffic. Which three conditions could cause this issue?

Accepted Answer

The uplink interface on the NPV switch is not configured as an NP port.. In NPV mode, the uplink interface on the NPV switch must be explicitly configured as an NP port (np). If the interface is left as a default F port or another port type, it cannot establish a connection to the upstream NPIV-enabled switch. The 'show npv status' output showing NPV enabled but no traffic indicates that the NPV switch is operational but the uplink is not properly configured to initiate the FLOGIN process.

Answer

FSPF is not enabled on the NPV switch.

Answer

The NPV switch does not have the proper license for NPV mode.

Question 8

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 9

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 10

Refer to the exhibit. An engineer sees this error on a Cisco MDS switch. What is the best action to resolve the issue?

Accepted Answer

Assign a different domain ID to one of the switches.. The error indicates a domain ID conflict between two switches in the same VSAN. In Fibre Channel fabrics, each switch must have a unique domain ID to build a correct forwarding table. Assigning a different domain ID to one of the switches resolves the conflict without disrupting the fabric.

Answer

Reload both switches to reset domain IDs.

Answer

Shut and no shut the ISL between the switches.

Answer

Change the VSAN on one of the switches.

Question 11

Refer to the exhibit. After applying this configuration, the engineer activates the zoneset with 'zoneset activate name ZONESET1 vsan 10'. The host with pwwn 10:00:00:00:c9:aa:bb:01 can communicate with the target with pwwn 10:00:00:00:c9:aa:bb:02. However, the host reports that it cannot see a third target with pwwn 10:00:00:00:c9:aa:bb:03. What is the most likely reason?

Accepted Answer

The third target is not a member of ZONE1.. The host can communicate with the target in ZONE1 (pwwn 10:00:00:00:c9:aa:bb:02) but not with the third target (pwwn 10:00:00:00:c9:aa:bb:03). This indicates that the zoneset activation was successful and the host is in the correct VSAN. The most likely reason is that the third target is not a member of ZONE1; in Fibre Channel zoning, only members of the same zone can communicate, and a device not in the zone will be invisible to other zone members.

Answer

The third target is in a different VSAN.

Answer

The zone name is case-sensitive and does not match.

Answer

The zoneset was not activated successfully.

Question 12

A Cisco MDS switch is connected to a Fibre Channel storage array and a host. The host cannot see the storage LUNs. The 'show flogi database' command on the MDS shows the host's WWPN, but the 'show fcns database' does not show the storage target. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The storage target is not logged into the fabric.. The 'show flogi database' command displays all devices that have completed the Fabric Login (FLOGI) process, which the host has done. However, the 'show fcns database' command lists only devices that have registered with the Fabric Name Server (via FDISC or FLOGI with PLOGI). Since the storage target is not in the name server database, it means the target has not logged into the fabric (or has not registered its FC-4 type/SCSI features), preventing the host from discovering its LUNs. This is the most likely cause because the host can see its own WWPN in the FLOGI database but cannot see the target in the FCNS database.

Answer

The zone configuration is incorrect.

Answer

The host and target are in different VSANs.

Answer

The host is not in the name server database.

Question 13

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 14

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 15

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