350-601 Network Practice Question
A data center designer is evaluating oversubscription ratios in a spine-leaf topology with 40 leaf switches and 4 spine switches. Each leaf has 4x100G uplinks to spines, and each spine has 40x100G downlinks. The leaf switches have 48x25G server ports. What is the oversubscription ratio from the server ports to the spine uplinks?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the misconception that the spine switch port count or total fabric bandwidth should be used in the ratio calculation, leading candidates to incorrectly include spine downlinks or total aggregate bandwidth instead of focusing on the leaf-level server-to-uplink ratio.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
3:1
The oversubscription ratio is calculated by comparing total server bandwidth to total uplink bandwidth. Each leaf has 48x25G server ports = 1200G, and 4x100G uplinks = 400G, giving a leaf-level ratio of 3:1 (1200:400). Since all leaves are identical and the spine count doesn't affect the leaf-level ratio, the overall ratio remains 3:1.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
2:1
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect calculation; it is 3:1.
- ✗
4:1
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect; would be if uplinks were 300G.
- ✓
3:1
Why this is correct
1200G server / 400G uplink = 3:1.
- ✗
5:1
Why it's wrong here
Too high.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 350-601 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Cisco certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 350-601 exam.