Sample Questions and Answers
What is the effect of enabling “portfast” on Cisco Nexus switches?
A) It speeds up port transitions to forwarding state on access ports
B) It disables spanning tree on the port
C) It allows trunking on the port
D) It enables DHCP snooping
Answer: A) It speeds up port transitions to forwarding state on access ports
Explanation: Portfast bypasses listening/learning states for faster connectivity.
What command on UCS Manager shows active faults and their severity?
A) show faults
B) show inventory
C) show system status
D) show service-profile status
Answer: A) show faults
Explanation: Lists all current UCS faults and their severity levels.
What Cisco Nexus feature helps mitigate broadcast storms?
A) Storm control
B) VLAN pruning
C) DHCP snooping
D) VTP pruning
Answer: A) Storm control
Explanation: Storm control limits broadcast, multicast, and unknown unicast traffic.
What is the first step when a UCS blade fails to power on?
A) Check the fabric interconnect port and cable connectivity
B) Reinstall the OS
C) Reset the service profile
D) Replace the blade
Answer: A) Check the fabric interconnect port and cable connectivity
Explanation: Power issues often relate to fabric or cable problems.
Which Cisco UCS feature allows centralized IP address management?
A) IP Address Pool
B) WWN Pool
C) VLAN Pool
D) MAC Pool
Answer: A) IP Address Pool
Explanation: UCS manages IPs via pools for dynamic assignment.
What Cisco Nexus command would you use to verify spanning-tree topology?
A) show spanning-tree topology
B) show vlan brief
C) show mac address-table
D) show interface status
Answer: A) show spanning-tree topology
Explanation: Displays the current spanning-tree layout and root bridge info.
What is the default spanning-tree mode on Cisco Nexus switches?
A) Rapid PVST+
B) PVST
C) MST
D) Rapid PVST
Answer: D) Rapid PVST
Explanation: Cisco Nexus switches run Rapid PVST by default for faster convergence.
Which command on Cisco UCS Manager would you use to check the health of the Fabric Interconnect?
A) show system health
B) show fabric membership
C) show hardware inventory
D) show service profile status
Answer: A) show system health
Explanation: This command provides health status and alerts of UCS components.
What is the purpose of the UCS Boot Policy?
A) Defines the order and devices from which the server boots
B) Controls VLAN assignments
C) Assigns MAC addresses dynamically
D) Manages power consumption
Answer: A) Defines the order and devices from which the server boots
Explanation: Boot policies specify boot device sequences for servers.
Which protocol is used by Cisco UCS to communicate with Fabric Extenders?
A) Ethernet OTV
B) Fibre Channel
C) Ethernet FCoE
D) Ethernet fabric protocol (EFPC)
Answer: C) Ethernet FCoE
Explanation: UCS uses FCoE to extend Ethernet and Fibre Channel over the same infrastructure.
What does the “show interface transceiver details” command on Nexus switches display?
A) Information about SFP modules such as vendor, type, and diagnostics
B) Port VLAN assignments
C) Interface counters
D) CPU utilization
Answer: A) Information about SFP modules such as vendor, type, and diagnostics
Explanation: It provides detailed info about the physical optics.
What is the function of a VLAN Pool in Cisco UCS?
A) To group VLANs for dynamic assignment to server profiles
B) To assign static IP addresses
C) To manage MAC addresses
D) To configure QoS policies
Answer: A) To group VLANs for dynamic assignment to server profiles
Explanation: VLAN pools enable flexible and scalable VLAN assignment.
In Cisco UCS, what does a “domain profile” represent?
A) The IP and VLAN configurations for UCS domains
B) The management settings for UCS Manager
C) The power and cooling policies
D) The hardware inventory database
Answer: A) The IP and VLAN configurations for UCS domains
Explanation: Domain profiles define network and SAN configurations.
What is the purpose of “graceful restart” in Cisco Nexus switches?
A) To allow Layer 3 protocols to restart without dropping adjacency
B) To restart the switch without rebooting
C) To reset port configurations
D) To upgrade firmware without downtime
Answer: A) To allow Layer 3 protocols to restart without dropping adjacency
Explanation: Helps avoid routing flaps during control plane restarts.
Which UCS Manager policy defines WWPN and WWNN assignments?
A) WWN Pool
B) MAC Pool
C) IP Pool
D) VLAN Pool
Answer: A) WWN Pool
Explanation: WWN pools dynamically assign Fibre Channel addresses.
What does “port security” feature on Nexus switches do?
A) Limits the number of MAC addresses learned on a port
B) Assigns IP addresses dynamically
C) Enables VLAN tagging
D) Manages STP priorities
Answer: A) Limits the number of MAC addresses learned on a port
Explanation: Helps prevent MAC flooding and spoofing.
Which Cisco Nexus feature provides a dedicated channel for control traffic?
A) Management Ethernet Interface
B) Out-of-Band Management Interface
C) Fabric Extender
D) Virtual Device Context (VDC)
Answer: B) Out-of-Band Management Interface
Explanation: Used for switch management separate from data plane.
What is a common cause of interface flapping on Cisco Nexus switches?
A) Duplex mismatch
B) VLAN pruning
C) Firmware mismatch
D) STP root guard
Answer: A) Duplex mismatch
Explanation: Duplex mismatch causes frequent up/down state changes.
What UCS feature allows for centralized policy control over blade BIOS settings?
A) Service Profile
B) Boot Policy
C) LAN Policy
D) Maintenance Policy
Answer: A) Service Profile
Explanation: Service profiles contain BIOS and firmware settings.
What command shows the status of the VPC peer link on a Cisco Nexus switch?
A) show vpc peer-link
B) show interface port-channel
C) show spanning-tree summary
D) show mac address-table
Answer: A) show vpc peer-link
Explanation: Displays health and statistics of the vPC peer link.
What is the recommended maximum number of VLANs per VLAN pool in UCS?
A) 64
B) 128
C) 256
D) 512
Answer: C) 256
Explanation: UCS supports up to 256 VLANs per pool for scalability.
Which UCS Manager interface allows you to view active faults and alerts?
A) Faults tab
B) Service Profile tab
C) Inventory tab
D) System tab
Answer: A) Faults tab
Explanation: The Faults tab shows current UCS faults and severity.
What is the effect of enabling Jumbo Frames on UCS server interfaces?
A) Allows transmission of larger Ethernet frames, improving throughput
B) Disables flow control
C) Reduces MTU size
D) Enables VLAN tagging
Answer: A) Allows transmission of larger Ethernet frames, improving throughput
Explanation: Jumbo frames increase MTU beyond 1500 bytes.
Which Cisco Nexus feature protects against MAC address table exhaustion attacks?
A) DHCP snooping
B) Port security
C) IP Source Guard
D) ARP inspection
Answer: B) Port security
Explanation: Limits the number of MAC addresses per port to prevent attacks.
What is the purpose of the “show fabric extender status” command?
A) To check the operational status of connected FEX devices
B) To display VLAN assignments
C) To list port channels
D) To show firmware versions
Answer: A) To check the operational status of connected FEX devices
Explanation: Verifies if FEX devices are online and functioning.
Which UCS Manager policy controls server power consumption limits?
A) Power Policy
B) Maintenance Policy
C) Boot Policy
D) QoS Policy
Answer: A) Power Policy
Explanation: Controls power and thermal limits for UCS servers.
What is the first step in troubleshooting a UCS blade that fails to boot?
A) Verify service profile association and firmware compatibility
B) Replace the blade hardware
C) Reset UCS Manager
D) Check VLAN configurations
Answer: A) Verify service profile association and firmware compatibility
Explanation: A misconfigured or missing service profile often causes boot failures.
How does Cisco UCS achieve high availability for management?
A) Through Fabric Interconnect clustering
B) Using redundant DHCP servers
C) By configuring multiple VLANs
D) Through port security
Answer: A) Through Fabric Interconnect clustering
Explanation: Clustered Fabric Interconnects provide HA for UCS management.
Which Cisco Nexus feature allows multiple virtual switches on the same hardware?
A) Virtual Device Context (VDC)
B) Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF)
C) VLAN Pool
D) vPC
Answer: A) Virtual Device Context (VDC)
Explanation: VDC partitions a switch into multiple logical devices.
What type of traffic is typically carried over Cisco UCS VLAN pools?
A) Both management and data plane traffic
B) Only management traffic
C) Only storage traffic
D) Only SAN traffic
Answer: A) Both management and data plane traffic
Explanation: VLAN pools can carry all types of traffic as assigned.
What UCS component translates service profile configurations into physical server settings?
A) Fabric Interconnect
B) Fabric Extender
C) Management Plane
D) UCS Manager
Answer: A) Fabric Interconnect
Explanation: FI implements the service profile settings onto hardware.
What Cisco Nexus command helps identify high CPU utilization causes?
A) show processes cpu sorted
B) show system health
C) show interface status
D) show mac address-table
Answer: A) show processes cpu sorted
Explanation: Lists processes consuming the most CPU.
What is a common reason for inconsistent firmware versions causing UCS issues?
A) Not performing a coordinated firmware update across all UCS components
B) Using unsupported hardware
C) Incorrect VLAN configuration
D) DHCP server failure
Answer: A) Not performing a coordinated firmware update across all UCS components
Explanation: All UCS components must run compatible firmware versions.
What does “link down” on a UCS fabric interconnect port often indicate?
A) Physical cabling or SFP module issues
B) Incorrect IP address
C) VLAN mismatch
D) DHCP failure
Answer: A) Physical cabling or SFP module issues
Explanation: Link down usually points to physical layer problems.
Which protocol does UCS use to synchronize time between components?
A) NTP
B) DHCP
C) STP
D) SNMP
Answer: A) NTP
Explanation: Network Time Protocol ensures synchronized clocks.
What is the best way to update UCS firmware with minimal downtime?
A) Use UCS Manager’s coordinated firmware upgrade feature
B) Manually reboot each server blade
C) Replace Fabric Interconnects
D) Upgrade only one component at a time
Answer: A) Use UCS Manager’s coordinated firmware upgrade feature
Explanation: This feature manages firmware upgrades with minimal service disruption.
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