350-601 Storage Network Practice Test 4 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A storage administrator needs to monitor traffic between two specific storage arrays without causing any disruption. Which approach should be used?

Accepted Answer

Configure a SPAN session on the MDS switch to copy traffic between the storage ports.. A SPAN (Switched Port Analyzer) session on an MDS switch copies traffic from source ports to a destination port without affecting the original traffic flow. This allows the administrator to monitor the traffic between the two storage arrays non-disruptively, as SPAN does not introduce latency or packet loss on the monitored ports.

Answer

Use FC traceroute to identify the path.

Answer

Enable FC ping between arrays.

Answer

Use IVR to route traffic through a monitoring zone.

Answer

Configure port channel between arrays.

Question 2

An engineer is configuring FCoE on a Cisco Nexus 5000 switch. The switch connects to a Fibre Channel storage array. The FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP) snooping must be enabled. What is the effect of enabling FIP snooping?

Accepted Answer

It constructs a database of ENode MAC addresses and FC-MAPs.. FIP snooping on a Cisco Nexus 5000 switch constructs a database of ENode MAC addresses and FC-MAPs by inspecting FIP discovery, advertisement, and login frames. This database is used to enforce FCoE traffic only between authorized ENodes and FCFs, preventing rogue devices from injecting FCoE traffic. It does not terminate FCoE VLANs, act as an FCoE forwarder, or enforce zone-based policies directly.

Answer

It enables the switch to terminate FCoE VLANs.

Answer

It provides FC-BB_6 compliant FCoE traffic forwarding.

Answer

It enables the switch to act as an FCoE forwarder.

Answer

It allows the switch to enforce zone-based policy for FCoE traffic.

Question 3

A Cisco MDS switch is configured in NPV mode. A host connected to this switch fails to log into the SAN. Which command should be used to verify the host's FLOGI status?

Accepted Answer

show flogi database module . In NPV mode, the MDS switch acts as a passthrough and does not maintain its own FLOGI database; instead, it forwards FLOGI requests to the upstream NPIV-capable switch. The 'show flogi database module ' command is used on the NPV switch to verify the host's FLOGI status because it displays the FLOGI entries learned from the upstream switch for the specific module where the host is connected, which is essential for troubleshooting login failures.

Answer

show zone

Answer

show fcns database

Answer

show flogi database

Answer

show port-channel summary

Question 4

A storage administrator wants to ensure that only designated initiators can access a specific target in a Fibre Channel SAN. Which mechanism enforces this policy?

Accepted Answer

Zoning. Zoning is the correct mechanism because it restricts Fibre Channel (FC) communication to only those initiators and targets that are members of the same zone. By defining a zone that includes only the designated initiator WWPNs and the target WWPN, the switch enforces access control at the fabric level, preventing any unauthorized device from discovering or communicating with the target.

Answer

IVR

Answer

Port channel

Answer

VSAN

Answer

Credit recovery

Question 5

An engineer is designing a SAN to connect hosts to two storage arrays for redundancy. The hosts are dual-attached to two MDS switches. Each storage array has two controllers, each with a single FC port. The engineer wants to avoid a single point of failure and ensure that each host can reach both storage controllers. Which design should be used?

Accepted Answer

Connect each host HBA to a different switch, and zone each HBA to both storage controller ports.. It provides full redundancy: each host HBA connects to a different MDS switch, and each HBA is zoned to both storage controller ports. This ensures that if a switch, HBA, or storage controller fails, the host can still reach at least one storage controller via the remaining path. The dual-zoning per HBA allows each host to access both controllers without a single point of failure, meeting the requirement for host-to-controller reachability.

Answer

Connect both HBAs of each host to the same switch, and create zones that include both HBAs and both storage ports.

Answer

Connect each host HBA to a separate switch, and zone each HBA to one storage controller port.

Answer

Use NPV mode to simplify connectivity.

Answer

Connect each host HBA to a different switch, and zone each HBA to a specific storage controller, using zones that cross VSANs.

Question 6

Which TWO of the following are characteristics of NPV (N-Port Virtualization) in a Cisco MDS fabric?

Accepted Answer

It enables multiple hosts to share the same physical uplink.. NPV (N-Port Virtualization) allows multiple hosts to share a single physical uplink from an NPV switch to a core NPIV-enabled switch. This is achieved by multiplexing multiple Fibre Channel N-Port IDs over the same physical link, reducing the number of domain IDs required in the fabric because the NPV switch does not participate in principal switch selection or domain ID distribution. The core switch sees each host as a separate virtual N_Port, but the NPV switch itself does not consume a domain ID.

Answer

It allows the edge switch to appear as a virtual host to the core switch.

Answer

It requires FC-SP authentication.

Answer

It is only supported on 8 Gbps or higher ports.

Question 7

Which TWO of the following are valid methods to recover from buffer credit loss on a Fibre Channel link?

Accepted Answer

Reduce the link speed.. Reducing the link speed is a valid method to recover from buffer credit loss because it decreases the number of frames transmitted per unit time, allowing the receiver's buffer credits to replenish and preventing further overrun. This is a temporary workaround that reduces the effective bandwidth but can stabilize the link when buffer credit starvation occurs due to distance or congestion.

Answer

Enable WRED on the switch.

Answer

Use port channel to aggregate links.

Answer

Credit recovery using RDMA.

Question 8

Which THREE of the following are required to configure FCoE NPV on a Cisco Nexus switch?

Accepted Answer

Enable FIP snooping.. FIP snooping is required on the NPV switch to inspect and validate FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP) frames, preventing unauthorized FCoE devices from joining the fabric. Without FIP snooping, the NPV switch cannot properly forward FCoE traffic between the ENode and the upstream FCF, making it a mandatory configuration step for FCoE NPV.

Answer

Configure a storage VLAN.

Answer

Configure a VSAN for FCoE.

Question 9

Refer to the exhibit. A new host is connected to interface fc1/3. It is not appearing in the flogi database. The switch is in NPV mode. What is the most likely reason?

Accepted Answer

The interface is configured as an NP port.. In NPV mode, a switch operates as a proxy for FLOGI requests, forwarding them upstream to the core switch. For an interface to accept a host FLOGI, it must be configured as an F port. If the interface is configured as an NP port (which is intended for uplink to the core), it will not accept or forward FLOGI frames from the host. Therefore, the host never appears in the flogi database.

Answer

The FCID is already allocated.

Answer

The host's WWPN is already in use by another device.

Answer

The interface is in a different VSAN than the host's FLOGI.

Answer

The host's HBA is not compatible with NPV.

Question 10

Refer to the exhibit. An engineer notices that traffic is not load-balanced across all four links. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The load-balancing algorithm is based on source-dest-id, which may not evenly distribute traffic.. The load-balancing algorithm for Fibre Channel port channels uses source-dest-id (SID and DID) by default. If the traffic flows are between a small number of source-destination pairs, the hash results will map most flows to the same link, preventing even distribution across all four links. This is a common cause of perceived load imbalance even when all links are operational.

Answer

The minimum links set to 2 prevents load balancing.

Answer

LACP is not supported on Fibre Channel.

Answer

The port channel is in admin down state.

Answer

The links are not in the same VSAN.

Question 11

Refer to the exhibit. A host with WWPN 10:00:00:00:c9:29:3b:23 can only see its own WWPN but not the target. What is the likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The target is missing from the zone.. The host can see its own WWPN but not the target, which indicates that the host has successfully logged into the fabric (FLOGI accepted) and is in the correct VSAN. The most likely cause is that the target WWPN is not included in the zone that contains the host. In Fibre Channel zoning, only members within the same zone can communicate; if the target is missing from the zone, the host cannot discover or access it.

Answer

The host is in a different VSAN.

Answer

The zoneset is not the full zoneset.

Answer

The host's FLOGI is rejected.

Answer

The zone is not activated.

Question 12

An engineer notices that a Fibre Channel link between two Cisco MDS 9000 series switches is flapping every few minutes. The interface counters show a high number of CRC errors. What is the most likely cause of this issue?

Accepted Answer

Faulty SFP or optical cable. CRC errors on a Fibre Channel link indicate physical-layer corruption of frames, typically caused by faulty optics, dirty or damaged fiber cables, or marginal signal integrity. Flapping occurs because the link repeatedly fails to maintain proper synchronization due to excessive bit errors, triggering port reset or re-initialization. A faulty SFP or optical cable directly introduces noise or attenuation that corrupts the data stream, leading to CRC errors and link instability.

Answer

NPV mode enabled on the switch

Answer

Incorrect zoning configuration

Answer

VSAN mismatch between switches

Question 13

A data center engineer is designing a Fibre Channel SAN for high availability. The design includes two MDS 9710 directors connected to multiple storage arrays. Which best practice should be followed when configuring NPV mode on the switches connecting the hosts?

Accepted Answer

Dual-home each NPV switch to two separate core switches for redundancy. Dual-homing each NPV switch to two separate core switches ensures that if one core switch fails, the NPV switch can still forward traffic through the other core switch. In NPV mode, the switch acts as a passthrough, and connecting to two separate core directors provides path redundancy without requiring the NPV switch to perform full Fibre Channel routing. This design aligns with high-availability best practices for Fibre Channel SANs.

Answer

Enable VSAN interop on the NPV switch to support multiple storage arrays

Answer

Connect each NPV switch to a single core switch for simplicity

Answer

Use FC trunking between NPV and core switches to increase bandwidth

Question 14

A storage administrator is troubleshooting FCoE performance issues between a Cisco UCS FI and a storage array. The fabric is configured with FIP snooping and DCB. The administrator checks the FCoE interface counters and sees many dropped frames due to 'no buffer space'. What is the most likely root cause?

Accepted Answer

Priority flow control settings are mismatched between the upstream switch and the storage array. The 'no buffer space' drops on FCoE interfaces indicate that the receive buffers are being exhausted, which is a classic symptom of Priority Flow Control (PFC) being misconfigured or mismatched between the upstream switch and the storage array. PFC (IEEE 802.1Qbb) is essential for lossless FCoE transport; if one side sends pause frames that the other does not honor, or if the PFC priorities are not aligned, buffers overflow and frames are dropped. This directly explains the observed counter behavior.

Answer

Jumbo frames are disabled on the switch ports

Answer

The FCoE VLAN is not trunked to the storage array

Answer

FIP snooping is not enabled on the FCoE VLAN

Question 15

A server administrator reports that a newly provisioned application server cannot access its LUN on the storage array. The SAN zoning uses WWPNs. The administrator verifies that the server's HBA WWPN is correctly zoned with the storage port's WWPN. Which additional check should the engineer perform to isolate the issue?

Accepted Answer

Verify that the zone set is activated and that the zones are in the active zone set. Even if the WWPNs are correctly configured in the zone, the zone set must be activated for the zoning to take effect. Without activation, the zone configuration remains in the pending or offline zone set, and the Fibre Channel fabric will not enforce the access controls. The engineer should verify that the zone set is activated and that the zones appear in the active zone set using commands like 'show zoneset active' on the MDS switch.

Answer

Confirm that VSAN interop is enabled on the MDS switch

Answer

Ensure that the switch port is configured in F mode and local switching is enabled

Answer

Check whether FCIP is configured on the storage array