350-601 Storage Network Practice Question
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?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the misconception that FC trunking alone provides redundancy, but trunking only increases bandwidth and link aggregation, not failover independence; dual-homing to separate core switches is required for true high availability.
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
✓
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 analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable VSAN interop on the NPV switch to support multiple storage arrays
Why it's wrong here
VSAN interop is for multi-vendor fabrics, not NPV best practice.
- ✗
Connect each NPV switch to a single core switch for simplicity
Why it's wrong here
Single-homing creates a single point of failure.
- ✗
Use FC trunking between NPV and core switches to increase bandwidth
Why it's wrong here
Trunking is for ISL, not specifically for NPV.
- ✓
Dual-home each NPV switch to two separate core switches for redundancy
Why this is correct
Dual-homing ensures high availability.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 984 original 350-601 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.