350-601 Network Practice Question
A financial services company is migrating its core banking application to a new data center built on Cisco Nexus 9000 switches with VXLAN EVPN. The application requires active-active multihoming for its servers, which are dual-homed to two leaf switches. The network team has configured vPC on the leaf switches for the server connections. After the migration, the application team reports that some packets are being dropped during failover events when one of the vPC member links goes down. The network team confirms that vPC is properly configured and the peer-keepalive is functioning. What is the most likely cause of packet drops during failure?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the misconception that peer-keepalive or peer-gateway features are the primary cause of failover packet drops, when in reality, consistency parameter mismatches are the most common culprit in vPC failure scenarios.
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
✓
The vPC consistency parameters are not identical between the peer switches.
In a vPC setup, if the consistency parameters (such as STP, VLAN, or interface configurations) are not identical between the two vPC peer switches, the vPC will not forward traffic correctly during a link failure. This mismatch can cause packet drops during failover events, even though the peer-keepalive is functioning. The Cisco Nexus 9000 series requires strict consistency checks to ensure loop-free and seamless failover in VXLAN EVPN environments.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The vPC peer-gateway feature is not enabled.
Why it's wrong here
Peer-gateway is for routing, not failover drops.
- ✗
The vPC orphan port configuration is missing.
Why it's wrong here
Orphan ports are for single-homed devices.
- ✗
The vPC role is not configured with preempt.
Why it's wrong here
Preempt affects role after recovery, not drops.
- ✓
The vPC consistency parameters are not identical between the peer switches.
Why this is correct
Mismatched parameters cause forwarding inconsistencies.
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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.