HPE7-A04 Data Center Architect Practice Questions
Prepare for HPE7-A04 with more than an answer.
- Exam fee
- $200 USD
- Level
- Architect
- Valid for
- 3 years
Domains covered on the exam 4
- Discover Requirements20%
- Analyze the Requirements27%
- Architect the Solution32%
- Prepare and Present the Solution21%
- 1
An architect is reviewing a proposed data center design that has been returned by the client with feedback. The client's security team has added a new requirement: all design changes must be tracked, and there must be a simple way to roll back to a previous valid configuration. How should the architect modify the solution to address this feedback?
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Correct answer: B
This requirement is a perfect use case for Aruba NetEdit. NetEdit automatically tracks all configuration changes made through its interface, providing a detailed history. It allows network operators to compare different versions of the configuration and provides a simple 'rollback' feature to revert to a previous known-good state. Incorporating this tool into the solution directly addresses the client's feedback on change management and rollback procedures.
- 2
A consultant is assessing the initial environment of a client's existing data center. The client complains of poor application performance but has no monitoring tools to identify the source. The consultant needs to collect baseline data on traffic flows and identify potential bottlenecks. Which two methods are most effective for this information collection? (Select TWO)
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Correct answer: C, D
Port mirroring provides a direct, real-time copy of traffic from critical interfaces, which can be analyzed by a packet capture tool to identify specific application flows, errors, and latency issues. It's a fundamental technique for deep-dive traffic analysis.
Flow technologies like sFlow or NetFlow provide statistical samples of traffic traversing the network. A flow collector can aggregate this data to build a comprehensive picture of traffic patterns (top talkers, protocols, conversations), which is extremely useful for identifying bottlenecks and understanding application behavior at a macro level.
- 3
When designing the security for an HPE Aruba data center network, an architect needs to secure administrative access to the CX switches. The corporate security policy mandates centralized authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) for all network devices. Which protocol is the recommended best practice for this purpose?
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Correct answer: C
TACACS+ (Terminal Access Controller Access-Control System Plus) is the industry best practice for device administration AAA. Unlike RADIUS, which combines authentication and authorization, TACACS+ separates them. This allows for granular control over which commands a specific administrator is authorized to execute on a switch, fulfilling the full AAA requirement. It also encrypts the entire packet payload, providing better security than RADIUS.
- 4
An architect needs to design a BGP EVPN control plane for a large data center fabric with 100 leaf switches. To improve scalability and reduce the number of BGP peerings, a pair of spine switches will be configured as route reflectors. Which BGP address family must be activated between the leaf switches (clients) and the spine switches (route reflectors)?
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Correct answer: C
For BGP to carry EVPN Network Layer Reachability Information (NLRI), the 'l2vpn evpn' address family must be explicitly activated on the BGP sessions between the VTEPs (leaf switches) and the route reflectors. This activation tells BGP to negotiate the capability to exchange EVPN routes (like Type-2, Type-3, and Type-5), which form the control plane for the VXLAN overlay. Without this, only standard IPv4/IPv6 routes would be exchanged.
- 5
A network architect is designing an EVPN-VXLAN data center fabric. The design uses symmetric IRB for inter-VNI routing. How does symmetric IRB handle traffic flow between two hosts in different VNIs?
graph TD subgraph VTEP_A Host1(Host 1 - VNI 10) end subgraph VTEP_B Host2(Host 2 - VNI 20) end VTEP_A -- VXLAN Tunnel --> VTEP_B Host1 --> VTEP_A VTEP_B --> Host2Show answer details
Correct answer: C
Symmetric IRB involves routing on both the ingress and egress VTEPs. The ingress VTEP (VTEP_A) routes the packet from its source L2 VNI (VNI 10) to a dedicated L3 VNI associated with the VRF. The packet is then encapsulated in VXLAN and sent to the egress VTEP (VTEP_B). The egress VTEP decapsulates the packet, sees it is destined for its L3 VNI, and performs a second routing lookup to forward the packet into the correct destination L2 VNI (VNI 20). This symmetric routing on both ends is the defining characteristic.
- 6
A financial services firm is deploying a new data center fabric using HPE Aruba CX switches with a spine-leaf architecture. A key requirement is to provide Layer 2 adjacency for a legacy application cluster that spans multiple racks, while ensuring optimal east-west traffic flow and preventing broadcast storms. The architects have chosen an EVPN-VXLAN overlay. Which design choice best meets these specific requirements?
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Correct answer: B
Mapping a unique VNI to each VLAN provides the necessary Layer 2 extension across the fabric for the legacy cluster. Symmetric IRB (Integrated Routing and Bridging) ensures that traffic is routed optimally on both the ingress and egress VTEPs (leaf switches), which is critical for efficient east-west traffic patterns. This design contains the broadcast domain for each VLAN within its respective VNI, preventing broadcast storms from impacting the entire fabric.
- 7
During the analysis phase for a data center modernization project, a network architect discovers that the client's primary business application generates massive amounts of server-to-server traffic within the same security zone. The existing three-tier architecture is suffering from high latency and congestion at the aggregation layer. How should the architect map this requirement to a technical solution in a new spine-leaf design?
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Correct answer: C
The scenario describes a high volume of 'east-west' traffic (server-to-server). A key benefit of a spine-leaf architecture is its ability to handle this traffic pattern efficiently. The correct technical mapping is to design a fabric where the total bandwidth of the leaf switch uplinks to the spines is equal to (non-blocking) or slightly less than (low-oversubscription) the total bandwidth of the server-facing downlinks. This ensures that the high volume of inter-server communication does not create a bottleneck.
- 8
A solutions architect is presenting a proposed HPE Aruba data center design to a client's executive board. The board members are not technical but are primarily concerned with business continuity and return on investment (ROI). Which two aspects of the design should the architect emphasize to address the board's concerns? (Select TWO)
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Correct answer: B, D
VSX (Virtual Switching Extension) directly addresses business continuity by creating a redundant, active-active gateway for servers and enabling in-service software upgrades, which minimizes downtime. This is a key business benefit.
Automation capabilities, often managed through tools like Aruba Central or NetEdit, directly impact ROI by lowering OpEx. Reduced manual configuration time and fewer errors lead to significant cost savings over the life of the network.
- 9
A consultant is in the initial discovery phase for a new data center network build-out for a healthcare provider. The provider has strict regulatory requirements under HIPAA for protecting patient data. Which question is most critical for the consultant to ask to understand the security and compliance objectives?
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Correct answer: C
This question directly addresses the core tenets of HIPAA compliance: data segmentation and access control. Understanding the current state of how Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) is isolated and who can access it is fundamental to designing a new network that meets or exceeds those regulatory requirements. It opens the discussion about micro-segmentation, VRFs, and role-based access control.
- 10
An architect is designing an EVPN-VXLAN fabric with a multi-AS BGP underlay. The design specifies that each pair of VSX leaf switches will be in its own unique BGP AS, and the spine switches will share a common BGP AS. What is the primary advantage of this multi-AS design approach?
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Correct answer: D
Using a unique AS for each leaf pair in an eBGP underlay is a common best practice. Since all leaf pairs peer with the same spine AS, they can all use identical BGP configurations (neighbor IPs will differ, but policies, timers, etc., can be templated). The standard loop prevention mechanism of eBGP (AS_PATH) inherently prevents routes learned from one leaf from being advertised back down to another leaf via the spines, which simplifies the design and removes the need for complex route-maps or peer groups that would be required in other topologies.
