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Question 730
An automation job is rerun with the same intended state and should make no unnecessary config changes on already compliant devices. Which idempotent task behavior is required?
- Append duplicate ACL entries on each run regardless of existing state
- Rotate the VLAN IDs on every execution so the switch always reports changed
- Use idempotent automation tasks
- Force a full device reload on every job run whether or not the configuration differs
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:An idempotent operation converges on desired state without unintended repeated changes.
Incorrect Answers
A:Repeated changes to an already compliant device violate idempotence.
B:Changing identity across runs conflicts with convergence on one intended final state.
D:An unnecessary reload is disruptive and fails the no-change-on-compliant-device requirement.
Question 731
An administrator is logged in to a controller's built-in graphical policy interface; the change must be made interactively without developing or running any external API client. To deploy one intended access policy across managed switches, which administration surface should be used?
- Use the controller policy or intent interface
- Build an external application that calls the controller northbound REST API instead of using the available GUI
- Enable packet forwarding on each local ASIC without creating a controller policy
- Require each distributed switch to compute its own independent policy instead of applying the central intent
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:A controller can distribute intended policies and configuration to managed devices through control/management interfaces. Packets between user endpoints still travel through the devices’ forwarding data plane rather than through every controller decision.
Incorrect Answers
B:A northbound REST API can also change controller intent, but it requires an external client and is specifically excluded by the stated interactive-GUI requirement; it is not intrinsically incapable of programming policy.
C:Data-plane ASIC forwarding executes installed rules; it does not create, authorize or distribute one central policy.
D:Independent per-device policy changes defeat the requirement for one centrally administered, consistently distributed policy.
Question 732
An OSPF-enabled Cisco router already has a route selected and its forwarding tables installed. The router must send 20,000 ordinary transit packets per second by local hardware lookup without requiring the network controller to examine each packet. Which plane does that packet-forwarding work?
- Use the management-plane REST API to relay every transit packet through a remote dashboard
- Use only the distributed OSPF control plane to physically transmit every user packet
- Use the central controller policy interface as the mandatory packet-by-packet forwarding processor
- Use the device data plane
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:Forwarding hardware performs packet lookups and queuing locally according to programmed entries. The controller may program or adjust those entries, but it is not normally the per-packet transit hop for every user flow.
Incorrect Answers
A:Management interfaces exchange device state and configuration requests; they do not replace hardware forwarding for every user IP packet.
B:The OSPF control plane computes routes and exchanges LSAs; it does not act as the hardware packet-by-packet transit engine.
C:A controller can program route and policy intent, but ordinary transit packets use the local forwarding entries installed on the network device.
Question 733
A central controller computes connectivity policy, but user packets should still be switched or routed at line rate by the managed devices. Which separation of controller logic and local data-plane forwarding describes this design?
- Separate controller control logic from device forwarding
- Move every user data packet into a slow controller software process for forwarding
- Treat the management plane inventory database as the packet-forwarding engine
- Remove all forwarding state from devices and rely on a controller reachability ping
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Controller-based networking can centralize control decisions while distributed devices forward packets.
Incorrect Answers
B:The question explicitly requires device hardware/ASICs to forward data at line rate after control policy selection.
C:Management telemetry/inventory is separate from per-packet data-plane forwarding.
D:Forwarding devices still require installed local tables to carry production packets.
Question 734
Several conventional routers independently exchange OSPF LSAs and each computes its own route table with no central fabric controller. Which distributed networking model is this?
- Use traditional distributed control-plane networking
- Use centralized SD-Access controller policy to replace individual OSPF route calculations
- Use a controller northbound API as the OSPF Hello transport
- Use only the network management plane as if it computes OSPF shortest paths for all routers
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Traditional networks commonly run routing and control functions on individual devices.
Incorrect Answers
B:The specified routers independently form OSPF adjacencies and each computes a local RIB without an intent controller.
C:An API client is not the protocol by which conventional OSPF neighbors exchange Hello/LSA state.
D:Distributed OSPF route calculation occurs in each routing device control plane, not solely in NOC telemetry tools.
Question 735
A campus controller offers a device-independent network intent model. An operator requests a consistent access policy for multiple supported switches, rather than writing different commands on each switch. What is the controller-based operational advantage being used?
- The controller policy abstraction translates one intent into supported device-specific configurations
- Every user packet must traverse the controller VM, so switching hardware becomes unnecessary
- Each managed switch must independently invent a different access policy before controller approval
- The controller only provides electrical PoE power and cannot program forwarding policies
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:A network intent abstraction defines the intended outcome once and can translate it into per-platform operations across the managed infrastructure.
Incorrect Answers
B:Controller-based management does not ordinarily replace each switch’s forwarding ASIC with a controller as the user traffic transit path.
C:Independent contradictory local policies defeat the goal of centrally expressing a single verified configuration intent.
D:PoE is a link-power feature; the management controller programs supported network policy rather than serving as a power source.
Question 736
A traditional switch network uses individual device CLIs and per-box configuration files rather than one network-wide intent controller. Which administration style is being used?
- Use a centrally defined fabric intent policy with automatic rollout to all switches
- Use a single northbound REST API to govern every switch configuration
- Use traditional per-device network configuration
- Assume an application service dynamically configures every device without per-switch CLI
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:Traditional administration often involves direct configuration of individual network nodes.
Incorrect Answers
A:That is controller-driven network-wide provisioning, contrary to the stated CLI-per-device model.
B:Northbound controller policy is the model being contrasted with independently configured per-box files.
D:This does not describe the traditional independent configuration style specified.
Question 737
A controller-managed network must distribute one policy intent across dozens of devices through supported programming interfaces rather than editing each CLI separately. Which controller-based automation capability is appropriate?
- Edit a single switch by console and rely on adjacent switches to copy its running configuration
- Expose only a read-only inventory dashboard and omit device configuration deployment
- Manually paste the same configuration into each switch without controlled automation
- Use controller-based policy automation
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:A central controller can coordinate the intended access policy across devices.
Incorrect Answers
A:Traditional per-device changes do not distribute centralized policy intent over a managed device fleet.
B:Inventory helps NOC visibility but cannot install the intended network policy on dozens of devices.
C:Human repetition does not fulfill controller-based supported programming and policy-consistent rollout.
Question 738
A controller-based campus has already programmed forwarding policies into its managed switches. The controller management link becomes unreachable for one minute; physical links and switch forwarding tables remain healthy. Which statement best separates control and data planes?
- All user packets must traverse the controller, so forwarding stops immediately on every switch
- Existing device-local forwarding can continue under retained entries, though controller-driven changes and some features may be affected
- The controller stops generating new policies, and all physical Ethernet ports become administratively shut
- Every switch independently elects an OSPF designated router solely because the controller is offline
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:Control-plane reachability and device data-plane forwarding are distinct: the device may retain and use already programmed state, although behavior depends on feature and fail-open/fail-closed design.
Incorrect Answers
A:In a controller-based architecture, distributed switching hardware can forward packets according to installed entries without hairpinning every packet through the controller.
C:Loss of a controller channel does not automatically issue administrative shutdown on all switchports; such an outcome would require explicit platform or policy design.
D:OSPF DR election applies to OSPF broadcast network adjacencies, not automatically to every controller-managed switch when management contact is lost.
Question 739
An NOC wants a consolidated inventory and health dashboard covering all managed fabric devices, not separate CLI sessions on every device. Which centralized controller management view supplies it?
- Use the centralized controller management view
- Use SSH on each individual box as the sole inventory dashboard
- Use only an unmanaged syslog text file with no device inventory
- Use each device’s local web UI with no cross-device aggregation
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:Controllers can collect and expose aggregated topology and operational state.
Incorrect Answers
B:Repeated separate sessions are explicitly what the NOC wants to avoid.
C:Event logs can assist troubleshooting but do not provide consolidated topology, health and inventory views.
D:An individual device interface lacks the requested central fabric-wide health and inventory perspective.
Question 740
A controller-based campus automation workflow stages a security policy for 30 switches. Before changing live forwarding, engineers must compare the desired controller intent with existing device state and review the proposed change. Which control most directly reduces unintended drift?
- Deploy the desired policy without examining the current state or the changed scope
- Validate the controller’s proposed policy differences and approved deployment scope before the push
- Send the policy as a broadcast Ethernet frame to every host instead of device management
- Disable device configuration backups so differences cannot be detected after deployment
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:Comparing intended with actual state and approving the scope provides a guard against unintended policy propagation and configuration drift.
Incorrect Answers
A:Blind deployment ignores conflicts and scope errors, increasing the chance of an inconsistent or overly broad policy change.
C:A user-plane Ethernet broadcast does not reliably configure controller-managed switch policies or validate privilege boundaries.
D:Removing saved configurations undermines rollback and postchange comparison rather than providing a change-control safeguard.
Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) (200-301) Practice Tests
