Podcast
Questions and Answers
What is the primary function of a load balancer in a network?
What is the primary function of a load balancer in a network?
Which of the following layers is NOT part of the three-tiered architecture?
Which of the following layers is NOT part of the three-tiered architecture?
What type of traffic must leave the local segment to reach its destination?
What type of traffic must leave the local segment to reach its destination?
What advantage is NOT associated with the spine-and-leaf architecture?
What advantage is NOT associated with the spine-and-leaf architecture?
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How did new technologies like virtualization impact east-west traffic in networks?
How did new technologies like virtualization impact east-west traffic in networks?
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In a spine-and-leaf architecture, which statement accurately describes the connection between switches?
In a spine-and-leaf architecture, which statement accurately describes the connection between switches?
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Which layer in a traditional three-tier architecture is responsible for connecting directly to hosts?
Which layer in a traditional three-tier architecture is responsible for connecting directly to hosts?
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What is a key benefit of collapsing the core and distribution layers in modern network architecture?
What is a key benefit of collapsing the core and distribution layers in modern network architecture?
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What is the primary function of Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) in a network?
What is the primary function of Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) in a network?
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Which statement distinguishes a managed switch from an unmanaged switch?
Which statement distinguishes a managed switch from an unmanaged switch?
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What type of switch can interpret layer 3 data and functions similarly to a router?
What type of switch can interpret layer 3 data and functions similarly to a router?
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What is a potential issue that arises with having multiple paths in a network?
What is a potential issue that arises with having multiple paths in a network?
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How does STP adapt to changes within a network?
How does STP adapt to changes within a network?
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In the context of switch path management, what does 'least cost path' refer to?
In the context of switch path management, what does 'least cost path' refer to?
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Which of the following statements is false regarding unmanaged switches?
Which of the following statements is false regarding unmanaged switches?
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What role does redundancy play in a network with multiple switches?
What role does redundancy play in a network with multiple switches?
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What is the primary characteristic of Software-Defined Networking (SDN)?
What is the primary characteristic of Software-Defined Networking (SDN)?
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Which plane in SDN is responsible for handling decision-making processes?
Which plane in SDN is responsible for handling decision-making processes?
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What does the Infrastructure plane in SDN consist of?
What does the Infrastructure plane in SDN consist of?
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What is disaggregation in the context of SDN?
What is disaggregation in the context of SDN?
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How does the Application plane interact with other components in SDN?
How does the Application plane interact with other components in SDN?
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Which plane could the Management plane be considered a part of?
Which plane could the Management plane be considered a part of?
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What is the function of the Control plane in SDN?
What is the function of the Control plane in SDN?
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Which layer is responsible for sending and receiving messages in SDN?
Which layer is responsible for sending and receiving messages in SDN?
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What is iSCSI primarily used for in networking?
What is iSCSI primarily used for in networking?
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Which type of hypervisor runs directly on the hardware without an operating system?
Which type of hypervisor runs directly on the hardware without an operating system?
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Which of the following is NOT a characteristic that can be customized when creating a VM?
Which of the following is NOT a characteristic that can be customized when creating a VM?
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What does a hypervisor manage in relation to virtual machines?
What does a hypervisor manage in relation to virtual machines?
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Which statement accurately describes a guest in a virtualization context?
Which statement accurately describes a guest in a virtualization context?
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What is the primary difference between Type 1 and Type 2 hypervisors?
What is the primary difference between Type 1 and Type 2 hypervisors?
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Which of the following statements is true regarding iSCSI and FC?
Which of the following statements is true regarding iSCSI and FC?
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When configuring a VM within a hypervisor, which of the following factors is NOT typically adjustable?
When configuring a VM within a hypervisor, which of the following factors is NOT typically adjustable?
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What is the primary role of a vNIC in a virtual machine?
What is the primary role of a vNIC in a virtual machine?
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What does the hypervisor create when a vNIC is selected for a VM?
What does the hypervisor create when a vNIC is selected for a VM?
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In bridged mode, how does a vNIC obtain its IP address?
In bridged mode, how does a vNIC obtain its IP address?
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Which statement best describes NAT mode for a vNIC?
Which statement best describes NAT mode for a vNIC?
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How do multiple virtual switches operate in a host environment?
How do multiple virtual switches operate in a host environment?
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What is a key characteristic of a vNIC operating at the Data Link layer?
What is a key characteristic of a vNIC operating at the Data Link layer?
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What determines the maximum number of vNICs a VM can have?
What determines the maximum number of vNICs a VM can have?
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What happens to a VM's visibility on the network when it operates in bridged mode?
What happens to a VM's visibility on the network when it operates in bridged mode?
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What is a characteristic of host-only mode in virtual networks?
What is a characteristic of host-only mode in virtual networks?
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Which of the following is NOT an advantage of virtualization?
Which of the following is NOT an advantage of virtualization?
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What happens to vNICs in host-only networks?
What happens to vNICs in host-only networks?
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Which statement reflects a disadvantage of virtualization?
Which statement reflects a disadvantage of virtualization?
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In what scenario do vNICs in bridged mode operate?
In what scenario do vNICs in bridged mode operate?
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Which of these is a pros of virtualization?
Which of these is a pros of virtualization?
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What is a potential effect of a single point of failure in a virtualized environment?
What is a potential effect of a single point of failure in a virtualized environment?
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Which is a disadvantage of virtualization relating to costs?
Which is a disadvantage of virtualization relating to costs?
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Study Notes
Managed Switches
- An unmanaged switch offers plug-and-play functionality with basic configuration options.
- It lacks an assigned IP address.
- Managed switches are layer 2 devices.
- Higher-layer switches include layer 3 switches, which function like routers by interpreting layer 3 data.
- Layer 4 switches interpret layer 4 data.
Switch Path Management
- Redundancy in network switching safeguards against hardware failures by allowing data to travel through multiple paths.
- Traffic loops are a potential problem with multiple paths.
- Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) prevents loops by calculating paths that avoid them and blocking unnecessary links.
- STP adaptively modifies the network.
- STP prioritizes the lowest-cost paths for maximum efficiency.
Switch Path Management (Continued)
- Designated ports (DP) and root ports (RP) are components of switch path management, as seen in Figure 7-4.
- BPDUs (Bridge Protocol Data Units) enable communication between switches in STP.
- Security measures like BPDU guard, BPDU filter, and root guard are important for STP-enabled interfaces.
- Newer technologies like RSTP (Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol), TRILL (Transparent Interconnection of Lots and Links), and SPB (Shortest Path Bridging) are used as replacements or enhancements to STP.
- Some switch manufacturers optimize their STP implementations for efficiency.
Switch Port Security
- Unused physical and virtual ports on switches and other network devices should be disabled until needed.
- Commands like
shutdowndisable ports temporarily on Cisco, Huawei, and Arista devices. -
switchport port-securityis a Cisco command to secure switch access ports, functioning as MAC filtering. - MAC filtering protects against MAC flooding.
- A layered security strategy, defense in depth, is crucial for comprehensive network security.
Hierarchical Design
- Load balancers distribute network traffic evenly.
- Cisco and other manufacturers use a three-tiered network architecture for switches.
- The access layer (edge layer) connects to hosts directly.
- The distribution layer (aggregation layer) is highly redundant to connect multilayer switches or routers.
- The core layer contains efficient multilayer switches or routers that support the backbone traffic of the network.
- Traffic within a network segment is called east-west traffic.
- Network traffic that needs to leave or enter the local segment is called north-south traffic.
- Figure 7-5 shows a three-tiered architecture, with optimized switches that perform different functions at each layer.
- Newer technologies, such as virtualization, SDN, and cloud computing, have caused latency in east-west traffic, driving the need for a new method optimizing this kind of traffic.
- Spine-and-leaf architecture collapses the core and distribution layers into one, while using a mesh topology.
- This design enhances redundancy and scalability, reduces latency, and improves security.
- Figure 7-8 depicts a two-layered architecture, improving efficiency in resource access.
Software-Defined Networking (SDN)
- SDN is a centralized network approach that combines virtual and physical devices into a single system.
- SDN uses disaggregation to abstract network device functions into different layers (planes).
- Infrastructure plane handles data transmission.
- The control plane manages decisions.
- The application plane communicates with application using APIs.
- The management plane is considered part of the control plane.
- Figure 7-11 illustrates the SDN planes and their interactions.
Storage Area Network (SAN)
- A storage area network (SAN) is made up of storage devices that communicate directly with other components and network devices.
- Storage devices often contain multiple drives.
- SANs use FC (Fibre Channel), FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) or iSCSI (Internet SCSI) or IB (InfiniBand) to perform data storage and access with maximum efficiency.
- iSCSI uses IP networks, making it compatible with standard ethernet.
- SANs generally connect to LAN, and use Figure 7-13, and Figure 7-15 diagrams.
Knowledge Check Activity 7-1
- iSCSI is the SAN connection technology that runs over ordinary Ethernet NICs without any special equipment.
Virtual Architecture
- Virtualization replicates something logically rather than physically.
- A host computer runs virtual machines (VMs).
- Guest VMs and hypervisors manage resources, like CPU, memory, and storage.
- Two hypervisor types exist:
- Type 1 (bare-metal): installed before any operating system.
- Type 2 (hosted): installed as an application within a host operating system.
- Figure 7-17 illustrates the difference between these two hypervisor types.
- VM software and hardware attributes are assigned at creation.
- Guest OS, Memory, Hard drive, and processor configurations are customizable.
Network Connection Types
- Each VM has its own virtual network interface card (vNIC), connecting it to other devices.
- vNICs operate at the Data Link layer.
- The hypervisor determines the maximum number of vNICs.
- Connections are sometimes called bridges or switches (vSwitch).
- A single host can support multiple virtual switches.
- VMs can connect to both physical or virtual networks determined by configuration.
- Various connection modes exist, like bridged, NAT, and host-only modes.
- Figure 7-21 shows configuration examples for a virtual switch.
- Figure 7-23 shows VM and host using physical network for connection.
- In bridged mode, VMs act as independent network nodes, obtaining IP addresses from the physical network.
- In NAT mode, the host acts as a NAT device, redistributing IP addresses.
- Host-only mode allows VM communication among themselves, but not to other parts of the network.
Pros and Cons of Virtualization
- Advantages: Efficient resource usage, cost reduction, simpler backups/recovery, and isolation.
- Disadvantages: Potential performance issues, added complexity, and higher licensing costs.
Network Functions Virtualization (NFV)
- NFV virtualizes network functionalities by integrating hardware and software to provide flexible and cost-effective network architecture.
- Virtual devices can be quickly migrated between servers.
- Virtualization helps in utilizing resources and easily scaling services as needed.
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Description
Test your knowledge on managed switches, their functionality, and the essential concepts of Switch Path Management. This quiz explores redundancy, Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), and the roles of designated and root ports. Dive into the details of layer functionality and network efficiency!
