350-601 Storage Network Practice Test 9 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A storage engineer is troubleshooting a Cisco MDS 9000 switch. The engineer notices that the switch is dropping frames on an ISL due to lack of buffer credits. The engineer wants to increase the buffer credits on the ISL to improve throughput over a long-distance link. Which action should be taken?

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

Accepted Answer

Configure the ISL as an E_port with extended buffer-to-buffer credits using the fcrxbbcredit command.. The fcrxbbcredit command is used to configure receive buffer-to-buffer credits on an interface. On long-distance ISLs, increasing buffer credits allows more frames to be in flight, which is essential to maintain throughput as distance increases. The other options do not address buffer credit allocation and would not resolve the dropping frames caused by credit exhaustion.

Answer

Configure QoS to prioritize storage traffic on the ISL.

Answer

Change the ISL port mode from E_port to F_port.

Answer

Enable trunking on the ISL to aggregate multiple physical links.

Question 2

A storage administrator is configuring a new Cisco MDS 9000 switch that will connect to an existing SAN. The design requires that only one device can perform fabric login (FLOGI) on the switch, and that device will act as a gateway. The administrator wants to ensure that the switch does not participate in fabric services such as zone server or name server. Which Fibre Channel port type should be configured on the switch?

Accepted Answer

NP port. In NPV mode, the switch uses NP ports to connect to the core fabric. The NP port performs a single FLOGI to the core on behalf of the NPV switch, and the switch does not run fabric services like zone server or name server. This design simplifies edge fabrics and allows multiple nodes to connect through a single gateway. Configuring an NP port meets the requirement of a single FLOGI and no fabric service participation.

Answer

F port

Answer

E port

Answer

N port

Question 3

An administrator is configuring zoning on a Cisco MDS 9000 switch. They want to create a zone that allows a specific host HBA to access only one port on a storage array, while preventing access to other ports on the same array. Which zoning method should be used to achieve this granularity?

Accepted Answer

Port WWN (pWWN) zoning with unique pWWNs per array port. To allow a host to access only one specific port on a storage array, the administrator should use pWWN zoning, because each array port has a unique pWWN. This ensures that only the desired port is included in the zone, providing the necessary granularity and stability.

Answer

Device alias zoning

Answer

WWN zoning

Answer

FC ID zoning

Question 4

A storage engineer is configuring a Cisco MDS 9000 Series switch to connect to a tape library. The tape library requires that the switch port operate in a mode where it can initiate a fabric login on behalf of the tape drive, allowing the tape drive to appear as if it is directly connected to the core fabric. Which feature should be enabled on the switch port?

Accepted Answer

NPIV (N_Port ID Virtualization). NPIV allows a physical N_Port to register multiple virtual N_Port IDs with the fabric, enabling a switch port to initiate a fabric login on behalf of an attached device. This makes the device appear as a separate entity on the fabric, which is exactly what the tape library requires. NPV is a switch-level feature that aggregates logins, not a port-level feature. F_PORT channel and SD_PORT do not provide this capability.

Answer

NPV (N_Port Virtualization)

Answer

SD_PORT (SAN Device Virtualization)

Answer

F_PORT channel

Question 5

An engineer manages a Cisco MDS 9000 switch connected to a tape library. Backups are failing because the tape drives report frequent buffer credit exhaustion on the ISL between the MDS switch and the core director. The links are 8 Gbps and the distance is under 500 meters. The engineer wants to increase the number of buffer credits available on the ISL without changing the physical hardware. Which feature should be configured?

Accepted Answer

Enable extended credits by configuring the 'switchport fcrxbbcredit extended' command on the ISL ports.. Buffer credit exhaustion on an ISL is addressed by increasing the number of buffer-to-buffer credits available on the port. On supported platforms and distances, the 'switchport fcrxbbcredit extended' command enables extended credits, allowing more frames in flight without adding hardware. This is the appropriate fix when tape backup traffic is starved for credits on an 8 Gbps link.

Answer

Configure port channels on the ISL to aggregate multiple physical links into one logical link.

Answer

Enable trunking on the ISL by configuring the 'switchport trunk allowed vsan' command.

Answer

Configure QoS priority for the tape traffic by applying a policy map to the ISL interfaces.

Question 6

A network engineer is configuring a new Cisco MDS 9148S switch. The switch will be used in a fabric where the principal switch is already established. The engineer wants to ensure that the new switch does not become the principal switch and does not participate in principal switch selection. Which configuration should be applied?

Accepted Answer

Configure the switch priority to 255.. The principal switch is selected based on the lowest priority value, with 1 being the highest priority and 255 the lowest. Setting the switch priority to 255 makes the switch least likely to become principal, which meets the requirement. This is the standard method to control principal switch selection in a Cisco MDS fabric.

Answer

Enable NPV mode on the switch.

Answer

Configure the switch priority to 1.

Answer

Disable the principal switch selection using the 'no principal-switch' command.

Question 7

A storage administrator is deploying a new Fibre Channel SAN with Cisco MDS 9000 Series switches. The requirement is to ensure that when a host HBA logs into the fabric, it receives a fabric-assigned FC ID and the fabric enforces hard zoning based on WWN. Which type of zoning should be implemented to meet these requirements?

Accepted Answer

WWN-based zoning with hard zoning enforced. The correct answer is WWN-based zoning with hard zoning enforced. WWN-based zoning uses the unique worldwide name of the HBA, which remains constant regardless of port or FC ID changes. Hard zoning enforces access control in the switch hardware, ensuring that only members of the same zone can communicate. This meets both the requirement for fabric-assigned FC ID and hardware-enforced security.

Answer

FC ID-based zoning with soft zoning

Answer

WWN-based zoning with soft zoning

Answer

Port-based zoning with soft zoning

Question 8

A data center administrator is configuring zoning on a Cisco MDS switch. The administrator wants to create a zone that allows a host HBA (pWWN 20:00:00:25:B5:00:00:01) to access a storage array port (pWWN 50:00:00:25:B5:00:00:02). The administrator also wants to ensure that the zone is enforced by the fabric. Which type of zone should be created?

Accepted Answer

A soft zone using the 'zone name HOST_ARRAY vsan 10' command with both pWWNs as members.. The standard type of zone used to allow specific pWWNs to communicate is a soft zone. Soft zones are enforced by the fabric name server and are created using the 'zone name' command with pWWNs as members. Hard zones are for hardware enforcement and typically use FCIDs, while broadcast zones allow all communication. Smart zoning is an advanced feature not needed for this basic requirement.

Answer

A smart zone using the 'zone smart-zoning enable vsan 10' command and then adding both pWWNs.

Answer

A hard zone using the 'zone name HOST_ARRAY vsan 10' command with both pWWNs as members.

Answer

A broadcast zone using the 'zone name HOST_ARRAY vsan 10' command with both pWWNs as members.

Question 9

A data center engineer is troubleshooting a Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) link between a Cisco Nexus 5000 Series switch and a Cisco MDS 9000 Series switch. The FCoE link is flapping, and the engineer suspects a configuration mismatch. Which two parameters must match on both ends of the FCoE link for it to become operational? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

MTU size. For an FCoE link to become operational between a Nexus 5000 and an MDS 9000, the FCoE VLAN ID and MTU size must match on both ends. The VLAN ID ensures that FCoE frames are carried in the correct VLAN, and the MTU must be large enough to accommodate the encapsulated Fibre Channel frames. Other parameters like domain ID, WWN, and FC-MAP do not need to match for the link to come up.

Answer

FCoE MAC address prefix (FC-MAP)

Answer

Domain ID

Answer

Port WWN

Question 10

A network engineer is configuring a Cisco MDS 9000 switch to connect to a tape library and a disk array in the same VSAN. The engineer wants to ensure that the tape library is used only for backup traffic and does not interfere with disk traffic. Which two features can be used to segregate the traffic? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Zoning by pWWN to create separate zones for tape and disk.. Zoning by pWWN separates devices into logical groups, preventing tape and disk from accessing each other. QoS with priority levels ensures disk traffic gets precedence over backup traffic. Together, they segregate and manage traffic within the same VSAN.

Answer

VSAN trunking to separate tape and disk into different VSANs.

Answer

Port security to block tape traffic during disk operations.

Answer

Flow-based zoning to classify traffic by application.

Question 11

A storage administrator is configuring a new Cisco MDS 9000 switch in a Fibre Channel fabric. The fabric uses F-port trunking to reduce ISL count. After enabling trunking on the ISL, the administrator notices that only one VSAN's traffic is passing over the link. The ISL is configured as an E-port. What is the most likely reason that trunking is not working?

Accepted Answer

The VSAN is not allowed on the trunking E-port.. Trunking on Fibre Channel ISLs allows multiple VSANs to share a single physical link. For a VSAN to use the trunk, it must be explicitly allowed on the trunking E-port. By default, only VSAN 1 is allowed. If other VSANs are not added to the allowed list, their traffic will not traverse the ISL, resulting in only one VSAN passing. This is the most likely cause.

Answer

The ISL is not configured with the trunking mode enabled on both ends.

Answer

The VSAN interface is shut down on one of the switches.

Answer

The ISL is not configured as a trunking E-port on both switches.

Question 12

A storage administrator is troubleshooting a performance issue on a Cisco MDS 9000 Series switch. They suspect that a specific ISL is experiencing buffer credit starvation. Which command should they use to check the buffer-to-buffer credit utilization on the ISL?

Accepted Answer

show interface fc1/1. To check buffer-to-buffer credit utilization on an ISL, the correct command is 'show interface fc1/1'. This command outputs detailed interface statistics, including the number of transmit and receive buffers, the current credit utilization, and any credit-related errors. Other commands like 'show interface fc1/1 counters' provide frame counters but not a direct view of credit utilization, while 'show interface fc1/1 brief' and 'show interface fc1/1 transceiver' do not display credit information.

Answer

show interface fc1/1 transceiver

Answer

show interface fc1/1 brief

Answer

show interface fc1/1 counters

Question 13

A network engineer is configuring a Cisco MDS 9000 switch to connect to a disk array. The disk array requires that the switch port operate in target mode, presenting itself as a target to the array. Which command should the engineer use to configure the port for this purpose?

Accepted Answer

switchport mode TF. The correct command is 'switchport mode TF', which sets the port to target fabric mode. In this mode, the switch presents itself as a target to the connected device, allowing the disk array to log in as an initiator. This is used when the array must connect to a target port rather than a standard F port. The other options are either invalid or configure different port types that do not provide target emulation.

Answer

switchport mode F

Answer

switchport mode SD

Answer

switchport mode NP

Question 14

A data center engineer is implementing VSANs on a Cisco MDS 9000 Series switch to isolate traffic between two departments. The engineer must ensure that VSAN 10 and VSAN 20 are completely isolated, and that each VSAN has its own fabric services. Which two statements about VSAN configuration are true? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Inter-VSAN routing (IVR) must be configured to allow communication between VSAN 10 and VSAN 20.. The correct statements are that IVR must be configured to allow communication between VSANs, and that each VSAN maintains its own separate zoning database and name server. VSANs provide logical isolation, and IVR enables controlled inter-VSAN communication. Each VSAN has independent fabric services, ensuring isolation.

Answer

FSPF routing is automatically enabled between VSANs to allow load balancing.

Answer

VSAN 10 and VSAN 20 must use different domain IDs.

Answer

Trunk ports must be configured to carry traffic for multiple VSANs.

Question 15

A storage engineer is configuring a Cisco MDS 9000 Series switch to connect to a tape library that requires a specific QoS priority for backup traffic. The engineer wants to ensure that the tape traffic is assigned to a higher priority than regular disk traffic. Which QoS feature should be configured on the MDS switch to classify and prioritize the tape traffic?

Accepted Answer

Data plane QoS policy with a class map matching source and destination. To classify and prioritize tape traffic, the engineer should configure a data plane QoS policy with a class map that matches the source and destination of the tape traffic, and a policy map that assigns a higher priority. This allows granular control over QoS for specific traffic flows. Zone-based QoS is less granular, and control plane QoS and port tracking do not address data plane prioritization.

Answer

Port tracking with QoS attributes

Answer

Zone-based QoS

Answer

Control plane QoS with CoPP