350-601 Compute Practice Question
A UCS domain has two Fabric Interconnects (FI-A and FI-B) in a redundant configuration. A blade server is configured with two vNICs: one for FI-A and one for FI-B. What happens if FI-A fails?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often assume a single vNIC failure causes total connectivity loss (Option B) or that UCS automatically re-pins vNICs to the surviving fabric (Option C), when in fact the failover is handled by the server's NIC teaming software, not by the fabric interconnects themselves.
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
✓
Traffic is automatically failed over to the vNIC connected to FI-B
When FI-A fails, the blade server's vNIC connected to FI-A becomes unavailable. However, because the vNICs are configured in a redundant pair (active/standby or active/active with failover), the operating system or the Cisco UCS Manager's NIC teaming policy automatically fails over traffic to the vNIC connected to FI-B. This is achieved through the use of MAC address pinning and the failover mechanism inherent in the Cisco UCS fabric interconnect architecture, ensuring continuous network connectivity without manual intervention.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Traffic is automatically failed over to the vNIC connected to FI-B
Why this is correct
The NIC teaming or failover mechanism (e.g., active-backup) will use the second vNIC.
- ✗
The blade loses all network connectivity
Why it's wrong here
FI-B is still operational and the vNIC to FI-B will become active.
- ✗
Both vNICs are reconnected to FI-B automatically
Why it's wrong here
vNICs are pinned to specific FIs; they cannot be moved without configuration.
- ✗
The blade continues to use the vNIC on FI-A but without redundancy
Why it's wrong here
FI-A is down, so that vNIC is unavailable.
Quick reference
Access Control Model Comparison
| Model | Acronym | Who Controls Access? | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discretionary Access Control | DAC | Resource owner | Small teams, file shares |
| Mandatory Access Control | MAC | System / security labels | Classified govt / military |
| Role-Based Access Control | RBAC | Administrator (via roles) | Enterprise environments |
| Attribute-Based Access Control | ABAC | Policy engine (user + resource attributes) | Fine-grained, dynamic policies |
| Rule-Based Access Control | RuBAC | System rules / ACLs | Firewall rules, network ACLs |
Go deeper
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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