500-173 Practice Questions
Prepare for 500-173 with more than an answer.
- Exam fee
- $300 USD
- Level
- Specialist
- Valid for
- 3 years
Domains covered on the exam 6
- FlexPod Design25%
- Compute20%
- Storage18%
- Networking18%
- Security9%
- Tools10%
- 1
A FlexPod is being designed to host a large number of development and test environments. The primary business outcome desired is maximizing hardware utilization and providing rapid, on-demand provisioning of isolated testbeds. The solution must support both NAS and SAN protocols. Which two FlexPod design principles or components are most critical to achieving this outcome? (Select TWO)
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Correct answer: A, B
UCS Service Profiles allow for the rapid provisioning of stateless compute hardware, making it easy to create and tear down server environments. NetApp FlexClone technology allows for instantaneous, space-efficient, writable copies of data volumes. The combination of these two technologies is perfect for dev/test environments, as it allows for the rapid creation of entire application stacks (compute, network, storage) from a golden template, providing speed and isolation.
- 2
True or False: A NetApp AFF (All-Flash FAS) system can only serve storage via block-based protocols like FC and iSCSI, and cannot provide file-based NAS services like NFS or SMB.
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Correct answer: B
This statement is false. NetApp AFF systems run the ONTAP operating system, which is a unified storage OS. This means it can simultaneously provide both block-level (SAN) and file-level (NAS) services from the same storage system. The 'AFF' designation refers to the all-flash media inside, not a limitation on the protocols it can serve.
- 3
A FlexPod design for a new data center incorporates Cisco ACI for network automation and policy-based management. What is the role of the Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) in this design?
graph TD subgraph ACI Fabric APIC[APIC Cluster] -- Manages --> Spine1[Spine Switch] APIC -- Manages --> Spine2[Spine Switch] Spine1 -- Connects --> Leaf1[Leaf Switch] Spine1 -- Connects --> Leaf2[Leaf Switch] Spine2 -- Connects --> Leaf1 Spine2 -- Connects --> Leaf2 end Leaf1 -- Provides Policy --> FP[FlexPod] Leaf2 -- Provides Policy --> FPShow answer details
Correct answer: B
In a Cisco ACI architecture, the APIC is the single point of policy definition and management for the entire network fabric. It is the control plane and management plane brain. The APIC pushes policies down to the ACI leaf and spine switches, which then enforce those policies in the data plane. The APIC itself does not forward production traffic.
- 4
An administrator is troubleshooting a performance issue on a FlexPod. They suspect a problem with a specific UCS blade server. They need to collect a comprehensive bundle of logs, configuration files, and diagnostic data from the UCS Manager for that server. What tool or methodology should they use?
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Correct answer: C
The standard procedure for collecting comprehensive diagnostic information for Cisco TAC is to generate a Technical Support bundle from UCS Manager. This process gathers detailed logs, configuration data, and status information from the Fabric Interconnects, IOMs, and the specific server components (blades, VICs, etc.). This bundle is the primary source of information for troubleshooting complex UCS issues.
- 5
A university is deploying a FlexPod solution for a new research project involving large datasets and AI/ML workloads. The researchers require servers with multiple high-performance GPUs. The design must also allow for different types of servers (compute-intensive, GPU-intensive) to be managed within the same UCS domain. Which combination of Cisco UCS components would best satisfy these requirements?
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Correct answer: B
Cisco UCS C-Series rack servers are the ideal platform for specialized hardware like GPUs. The C480 M5, for instance, is designed to accommodate multiple GPUs. A key strength of the UCS architecture is its ability to manage both B-Series blades and C-Series rack servers from the same pair of Fabric Interconnects. This allows the university to build a heterogeneous compute environment with standard B-Series or C-Series servers for general workloads and specialized C-Series servers for the AI/ML tasks, all under a single management domain.
- 6
A financial services company is designing a FlexPod solution for a high-frequency trading application that requires extremely low latency and predictable performance. The business continuity plan mandates a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of zero and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of less than 5 minutes for the application's core database. Which combination of NetApp technology and FlexPod design principle best meets these stringent requirements?
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Correct answer: B
NetApp MetroCluster in a synchronous configuration provides continuous data availability by mirroring data between two sites in real-time. This achieves a zero RPO, as any write is committed to both sites before being acknowledged. In the event of a site failure, failover is nearly instantaneous, meeting the sub-5-minute RTO. Asynchronous SnapMirror cannot achieve a zero RPO. SnapVault is for backup, not DR. A local HA pair protects against controller failure but not a site disaster.
- 7
When a critical, multi-component issue arises within a FlexPod environment involving Cisco UCS, Nexus switching, and NetApp storage, which support model is specifically designed to provide a single point of contact and collaborative troubleshooting between vendors without finger-pointing?
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Correct answer: C
FlexPod Cooperative Support is the established framework where Cisco and NetApp support teams collaborate to resolve issues in a validated FlexPod solution. This model leverages the TSANet alliance to ensure that engineers from both companies can work together on a single support case, eliminating the need for the customer to manage separate vendor tickets and preventing blame-shifting.
- 8
A designer is sizing a new FlexPod Datacenter for a mixed-workload environment including VDI, SQL databases, and web servers. To adhere to FlexPod best practices, which two documents are most critical for ensuring the proposed components and firmware versions are validated to work together? (Select TWO)
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Correct answer: A, B
The NetApp IMT and Cisco UCS HCL are the definitive resources for verifying compatibility. The IMT validates ONTAP versions, host OS, HBAs, drivers, and switch firmware. The Cisco UCS HCL confirms compatibility between UCS firmware, I/O adapters, and operating systems. Together, they form the foundation of a validated FlexPod design. A CVD provides a recipe but these tools provide the specific component/version validation. A network topology diagram shows connectivity but not compatibility.
- 9
True or False: In a FlexPod design utilizing Cisco UCS B-Series servers, the Virtual Interface Cards (VICs) allow for the creation of vNICs and vHBAs, but the total number of virtual interfaces is fixed per VIC model and cannot be dynamically adjusted based on workload needs.
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Correct answer: B
This statement is false. A key feature of Cisco VICs is the ability to dynamically create and configure a large number of virtual interfaces (vNICs and vHBAs). While there is a maximum limit per VIC model (e.g., 256 or 512), the number is not fixed. An administrator can create as many or as few as needed up to that limit, tailoring the I/O configuration of a server to the specific requirements of its workload through the UCS service profile.
- 10
A hospital is deploying a FlexPod to host its new Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), which generates large files that must be retained for many years. The primary requirement is cost-effective capacity and reliable data protection, with performance being a secondary concern. Which NetApp storage component is most suitable for this use case?
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Correct answer: B
The NetApp FAS (Fabric-Attached Storage) series is a hybrid storage system that can combine flash (for caching/performance) and high-capacity spinning disks. This makes it ideal for workloads like PACS where large capacity at a lower cost-per-gigabyte is the primary driver. AFF (All-Flash FAS) is optimized for high performance, which is not the main requirement here and would be more expensive. E-Series is typically for block-only, high-performance workloads like video surveillance, and SolidFire is for scale-out block storage with guaranteed QoS.
