350-601 Storage Network Practice Question
A large financial institution operates a dual-fabric Fibre Channel SAN with two separate MDS 9710 directors. Each fabric has multiple storage arrays and hundreds of hosts. The SAN is configured with VSANs to isolate different environments (production, development, backup). Recently, the backup VSAN has been experiencing slow performance during backup windows. Analysis shows that the ISLs between the directors in the backup VSAN are heavily utilized (near 100%) while other ISLs have spare capacity. The backup traffic consists of large sequential reads and writes. The SAN administrator has confirmed that there are no CRC errors or link issues. The backup VSAN uses a single 16 Gbps ISL. Which of the following is the best solution to improve backup performance?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the misconception that QoS or buffer tuning can solve bandwidth saturation issues, but the core problem here is insufficient aggregate bandwidth, which only adding physical links (via port channels) can resolve.
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
✓
Add an additional 16 Gbps ISL and configure a port channel for the backup VSAN.
Adding an additional 16 Gbps ISL and configuring a port channel for the backup VSAN increases the available bandwidth for backup traffic, which consists of large sequential reads and writes that can fully utilize the link. Port channels provide load balancing across member links based on source/destination IDs, effectively distributing the backup traffic and reducing congestion on the single ISL. This directly addresses the near-100% utilization without introducing complexity or relying on other fabrics.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Add an additional 16 Gbps ISL and configure a port channel for the backup VSAN.
Why this is correct
Increases bandwidth and load balancing.
- ✗
Reduce the buffer credit count on the backup VSAN ISLs to reduce latency.
Why it's wrong here
Latency is not the issue.
- ✗
Enable QoS to prioritize backup traffic over other traffic.
Why it's wrong here
QoS does not increase bandwidth.
- ✗
Implement IVR to route backup traffic through the other fabric.
Why it's wrong here
IVR adds complexity and does not add bandwidth to the backup VSAN.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every 350-601 question from scratch — 984 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. 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.