300-710 SNCF Deployment Practice Test 7 — 15 Questions

Question 1

An administrator is planning the deployment of a Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense device and needs to choose between routed mode and transparent mode. Which factor strongly favors choosing transparent mode?

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

Accepted Answer

The firewall needs to be inserted into an existing IP subnet without altering current gateway or routing designs.. Transparent mode (also called Layer 2 mode) on Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense allows the device to be inserted into an existing network segment without requiring IP addressing changes on the firewall interfaces or modifications to the surrounding routing topology. Because the FTD bridges traffic between its interfaces, hosts on the same subnet keep their existing default gateway, and no routing protocol adjacencies need to be re-established. This makes transparent mode ideal for drop-in deployments where changing the IP schema or gateway design is not feasible.

Answer

The network requires advanced NAT, PAT, and dynamic routing protocols like OSPF and BGP.

Answer

The deployment requires termination of site-to-site IPsec VPN tunnels.

Answer

The firewall must act as the default gateway for multiple VLAN segments.

Question 2

An enterprise is deploying a Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense cluster. During the setup of the Cluster Control Link (CCL), the administrator must ensure specific networking criteria are met. What is a primary design requirement for the CCL interface?

Accepted Answer

It must be a dedicated, high-bandwidth, low-latency Layer 2 link between cluster nodes.. The Cluster Control Link requires low latency, high bandwidth, and a dedicated non-routable Layer 2 connection (or directly connected point-to-point links) between cluster members.

Answer

It must share the same physical interface as the external data interfaces using 802.1Q subinterfaces.

Answer

It must be routed across a public Layer 3 MPLS cloud with dynamic BGP peering.

Answer

It must be configured with NAT overload enabled to translate inter-node control packets.

Question 3

An administrator is configuring a static route tracking mechanism on a Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense device using an ICMP Echo IP SLA object. What happens to the tracked static route if the SLA probe fails to receive a response?

Accepted Answer

The static route is removed from the routing table, allowing alternative routes to become active.. When an IP SLA probe fails, the tracked object changes its state to DOWN, causing the dependent static route to be removed from the routing table, allowing backup routes to take over.

Answer

The static route metric is automatically incremented by 100 while remaining active.

Answer

The firewall automatically reboots into maintenance mode to clear the routing cache.

Answer

All firewall interfaces are automatically placed in an administrative shutdown state.

Question 4

Which deployment scenario represents the correct use case for deploying a Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense in passive NGIPS mode?

Accepted Answer

Out-of-band monitoring of core switch traffic using a SPAN port to detect threats without impacting production latency.. Passive NGIPS mode is used when monitoring traffic out-of-band via a tap or SPAN port without putting the device in the direct path of data flow.

Answer

Acting as the default Layer 3 gateway and DHCP server for guest Wi-Fi users.

Answer

Terminating remote access AnyConnect VPN tunnels for mobile employees.

Answer

Inline inspection of all core data center traffic where blocking malicious packets is mandatory.

Question 5

An administrator is configuring high availability for Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense using Cisco FMC. Which TWO configuration steps are required during the initial setup of an Active/Standby HA pair? (Choose two)

Accepted Answer

Configure a dedicated failover interface and IP address scheme for stateful heartbeat communication.. Option A is correct because an Active/Standby Threat Defense HA pair requires a dedicated failover link (a physical interface or subinterface) with its own IP addressing scheme, over which the units exchange heartbeat and stateful failover messages. Option D is correct because, during HA configuration in FMC, the administrator must designate which chassis is the Primary unit and which is the Secondary unit, which determines failover precedence and role assignment. Option B is incorrect because HA management interfaces must use static IP addresses on the same subnet, not DHCP, so each unit retains a stable, unique management address for FMC communication. Option C is incorrect because both HA peers must run the same firewall mode (both routed or both transparent); mismatched modes are not supported. Option E is incorrect because stateful failover synchronization should remain enabled so that connections and state tables are replicated to the standby unit for seamless failover.

Answer

Configure the management interfaces to use DHCP so the standby unit can adopt the primary IP address.

Answer

Ensure both units are configured in different firewall modes (one routed, one transparent).

Answer

Disable stateful synchronization to improve failover switching speed.

Question 6

An engineer is deploying Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense in a complex multi-zone routed environment. Which THREE design considerations apply when implementing routed mode interfaces? (Choose three)

Accepted Answer

Each routed interface must belong to a distinct IP subnet and act as a Layer 3 gateway for connected segments.. Option B is correct because in routed mode each interface is a Layer 3 hop that must be assigned an IP address on a unique subnet, and it serves as the default gateway for hosts on that connected segment. Option D is correct because a routed-mode firewall terminates the Layer 2 domain on each interface, so it rewrites the source and destination MAC addresses of forwarded frames to its own egress interface MAC while preserving the IP packet. Option E is correct because routed interfaces support dynamic routing protocols such as OSPF, EIGRP, RIP, and BGP, allowing the Threat Defense to participate in the routed topology and advertise or learn routes. Option A is wrong because NAT is fully supported and commonly configured on routed interfaces for address translation and PAT. Option C is wrong because a BVI is used in transparent mode to group interfaces into a bridge, not in routed mode where each interface is its own Layer 3 subnet.

Answer

NAT configuration is strictly prohibited on routed mode interfaces.

Answer

All physical interfaces must be combined into a single Bridge Virtual Interface (BVI).

Question 7

An engineer is configuring NGIPS inline sets on a Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense deployment. Which THREE configuration options or behaviors are associated with inline sets? (Choose three)

Accepted Answer

Snort Bypass can be configured to pass traffic uninspected if the inspection engine is overloaded.. Option A is correct because inline sets support Snort Bypass, which allows traffic to be passed uninspected when the inspection engine is overloaded or fails, preserving availability. Option C is correct because inline normalization is a configurable feature that rewrites packets to remove ambiguities, proactively mitigating evasion techniques such as overlapping fragments or TTL manipulation. Option D is correct because an inline set pairs two interfaces, and traffic entering one interface is inspected by the NGIPS engine and forwarded out the paired interface, dropping malicious traffic as needed. Option B is incorrect because inline sets are Layer 2 transparent inspection constructs and do not run dynamic routing protocols like OSPF. Option E is incorrect because inline set interfaces are typically configured without Layer 3 IP addresses, operating in transparent mode rather than requiring unique IPs.

Answer

Inline sets automatically function as dynamic OSPF routers for neighboring switches.

Answer

Inline sets require every participating interface to have a unique Layer 3 IP address.

Question 8

An administrator is planning the deployment of a Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense device and needs to choose between routed mode and transparent mode. Which factor strongly favors choosing transparent mode?

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

Accepted Answer

Deploy multiple virtual network interfaces (NICs) to separate management, internal, and external traffic paths.. Option A is correct because Cisco Secure Firewall Virtual in AWS/Azure should be deployed with multiple virtual NICs so that management, inside (internal), and outside (external) traffic are separated onto distinct interfaces, which is required for proper traffic inspection and to avoid asymmetric routing or management-plane contention. Option E is correct because cloud instances have finite bandwidth and the firewall's licensed throughput must match the instance's capabilities; selecting an instance size and the corresponding throughput license tier (e.g., FTDv5/10/16/24/32/64 tiers) ensures the firewall can actually handle the expected traffic load without dropping or throttling. Option B is wrong because Smart Licensing (or Smart Licensing Using Policy) is the required licensing mechanism and disabling it would break entitlement and support; cloud egress fees are not a valid reason to disable it. Option C is wrong because public cloud instances do not expose physical serial console cables to the hypervisor; initial configuration is done via the cloud console, SSH, or bootstrap/user-data. Option D is wrong because single-NIC deployments with VLAN subinterfaces are not the recommended HA/performance design in public clouds, where multiple ENIs/NICs are used to separate traffic paths and support scaling.

Answer

Disable Smart Licensing to avoid cloud internet egress fees.

Answer

Use physical serial console cables attached to the hypervisor for initial configuration.

Answer

Rely solely on single-NIC deployments with VLAN subinterfaces trunking all cloud traffic.

Question 9

An administrator is deploying static route tracking combined with IP SLA on a Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense device managed by Cisco FMC. Which TWO components must be configured to implement this feature successfully? (Choose two)

Accepted Answer

A Track object that monitors the state of the IP SLA operation.. Option B is correct because static route tracking on Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense requires a Track object that references the IP SLA operation and whose up/down state is bound to the static route, so the route is withdrawn or reinstalled based on probe results. Option D is correct because the underlying IP SLA monitor object must be defined first, specifying the target IP address and probe type (for example ICMP Echo) that the Track object monitors. Together, the IP SLA monitor generates the reachability data and the Track object translates that data into a route-tracking state used by the static route. Option A is incorrect because IP SLA telemetry does not require a dedicated secondary management interface; probes are sourced from the data interface associated with the route. Option C is incorrect because static route tracking with IP SLA is a local mechanism and does not depend on BGP peering or advertising SLA status to upstream routers. Option E is incorrect because no Access Control Rule permitting ICMP to a loopback interface is needed; IP SLA ICMP Echo probes are generated by the device itself and are not subject to FMC Access Control policy in that manner.

Answer

A secondary management interface configured for out-of-band SLA telemetry.

Answer

A BGP routing peer group that automatically advertises SLA status to upstream routers.

Answer

An Access Control Rule explicitly permitting ICMP traffic destined for the firewall's loopback interface.

Question 10

An engineer is troubleshooting a high availability failover issue in a Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense pair. Which THREE conditions will trigger an automatic failover event in an Active/Standby deployment? (Choose three)

Accepted Answer

Failure of designated monitored interfaces exceeding the failure threshold count.. Failover triggers include unit power loss, critical interface failure thresholds being met, kernel/hardware crashes, or failure of health check heartbeats over the failover link.

Answer

An FMC software policy deployment to the standby unit.

Answer

A minor latency spike of 5 milliseconds on an internal routed data interface.

Question 11

An administrator is troubleshooting an active/standby Cisco Secure Firewall High Availability pair. Stateful failover is enabled, but active long-lived TCP connections are dropping when a failover occurs. Upon checking the stateful inspection settings, what is the most likely cause of this behavior?

Accepted Answer

Dynamic NAT translation entries are not being synchronized across the failover link because stateful NAT translation sync is disabled.. When stateful failover is enabled but dynamic NAT translation entries are not synchronized, existing long-lived TCP flows lose their translation state on the standby unit. When failover occurs, the standby cannot match return traffic to the original translation, so the connections are dropped. Enabling stateful NAT sync ensures translation entries are replicated across the failover link.

Answer

The units are running different minor patch versions of Cisco FTD, causing the state payload to be silently dropped by the receiver.

Answer

The stateful failover link (FMC control link) is using a management-only interface instead of a dedicated high-speed data interface.

Answer

The active unit is configured with stateful failover, but the standby unit is configured for stateless failover via CLI.

Question 12

You need to configure link redundancy on a Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense pair using EtherChannel (Port Channel) across multiple physical interfaces. When configuring LACP (IEEE 802.3ad) for the port channel interface via the Firepower Management Center (FMC), which requirement must be met for successful negotiation?

Accepted Answer

Both the FTD and the connected switch must be configured in LACP active mode or one must be active and the other passive.. LACP (IEEE 802.3ad) requires that at least one side of the link be in active mode for the protocol to negotiate. The valid combinations are active/active or active/passive; passive/passive will never form a bundle because neither side initiates LACP PDUs. On FTD managed by FMC, the port channel must be set to active or passive consistently with the switch side to bring the EtherChannel up.

Answer

The Port Channel must be configured in static mode (ON) regardless of the upstream switch settings to avoid LACP PDUs dropping.

Answer

The EtherChannel must use Source-Destination IP hashing exclusively, as MAC-based hashing is unsupported on FTD.

Answer

LACP fast rate (1-second timer) is mandatory for FTD clustering but optional for standalone firewalls.

Question 13

An administrator is configuring static route tracking on a Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense device managed by FMC. A tracked IP address becomes unreachable, and the primary static route is removed from the routing table. What mechanism does FTD use to verify the reachability of the tracked destination?

Accepted Answer

ICMP Echo or TCP Connect probes managed by IP SLA tracking objects. Static route tracking in FTD uses IP SLA monitoring (ICMP Echo or TCP probes) to continuously test reachability and trigger failover to a backup route.

Answer

ARP request polling sent every 3 seconds to the default gateway MAC address

Answer

Continuous bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD) sessions initiated directly from the routing daemon process

Answer

SNMP trap polling managed by the Firepower Management Center correlation engine

Question 14

You are deploying a Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense cluster in a data center environment. Which deployment requirement must be strictly followed regarding the control link and data interfaces?

Accepted Answer

The control link must be a dedicated, low-latency interface completely separated from data traffic handling.. Clustered FTD units require a dedicated control plane network (control link) with low latency and high bandwidth, separate from data interfaces, to synchronize state and management data.

Answer

All cluster members must reside in different Layer 2 broadcast domains to prevent spanning-tree loops.

Answer

Cluster units can share data interfaces for control synchronization as long as Jumbo frames are enabled on the switch.

Answer

Clustering is supported only in transparent firewall mode; routed mode disables clustering capabilities.

Question 15

When configuring an NGIPS appliance in passive mode, how does the system handle traffic flow to ensure monitoring without impacting the production network?

Accepted Answer

It receives a copy of traffic via a SPAN or TAP port and performs out-of-band analysis.. Passive mode utilizes a TAP or SPAN port to ingest a copy of the traffic. It does not sit in the traffic path, meaning it cannot block traffic directly.

Answer

It uses an inline set with a bypass feature enabled.

Answer

It drops malicious packets by sending TCP resets to the source.

Answer

It requires an EtherChannel configuration to load balance traffic.