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Cisco CCNA 200-301 - Domains 4 5 6 IP Services Security Automation

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Question 1

What is the difference between a traditional controller-based network and a Cisco SD-WAN (Viptela) architecture?

Answer choices

  • A. SD-WAN requires more hardware

  • B. Traditional WAN uses per-device CLI management; SD-WAN centralizes control via vManage (management), vSmart (policy/control), and vBond (orchestration) with secure overlay tunnels (Correct)

  • C. SD-WAN only supports MPLS

  • D. Traditional networks use software; SD-WAN uses hardware

Explanation

Cisco SD-WAN (Viptela): vManage = centralized GUI/API management plane, vSmart = centralized control/policy plane (OMP protocol), vBond = orchestrator for initial bring-up. WAN edge routers (vEdge/ISR/ASR) form secure IPsec/DTLS overlay tunnels across any transport (MPLS, broadband, LTE).

Question 2

A Cisco IOS configuration has:

```

ip dhcp pool CORP

network 10.10.10.0 255.255.255.0

default-router 10.10.10.1

dns-server 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4

lease 1 0 0

```

How long is the DHCP lease in this configuration?

Answer choices

  • A. Infinite

  • B. 1 day (1 day, 0 hours, 0 minutes) (Correct)

  • C. 1 hour

  • D. 1 minute

Explanation

The `lease` command format is `lease [days] [hours] [minutes]`. `lease 1 0 0` = 1 day, 0 hours, 0 minutes = 24-hour lease. Default Cisco DHCP lease is 1 day. `lease infinite` creates a permanent lease.

Question 3

An enterprise network uses Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) with 802.1X. A supplicant connects with valid domain credentials. ISE returns a "dACL" to the switch. What is a dACL?

Answer choices

  • A. Dynamic VLAN assignment

  • B. Downloadable ACL — an ACL pushed from ISE to the switch port after successful authentication to enforce per-user access policies (Correct)

  • C. Distributed ACL across all switches

  • D. A DHCP lease

Explanation

After 802.1X authentication, ISE (the RADIUS server) can send a RADIUS Access-Accept with a dACL (Downloadable ACL) that is applied dynamically to that specific switch port. This allows per-user or per-device access policies without pre-configuring static ACLs on every switch.

Question 4

A network team is evaluating a move to controller-based networking. Which statement BEST describes the benefit of centralized control in SDN?

Answer choices

  • A. SDN requires more network hardware than traditional networking

  • B. SDN separates the control plane from the data plane, enabling centralized policy management, faster network-wide changes, abstraction from hardware, and programmability via APIs (Correct)

  • C. SDN eliminates the need for routers and switches

  • D. SDN only works in cloud environments

Explanation

SDN (Software-Defined Networking) key benefits: 1) Centralized control plane (network-wide view enables optimal routing, consistent policy), 2) Programmability (REST APIs for automation), 3) Hardware abstraction (vendor-agnostic), 4) Faster operational changes (single change propagates everywhere). The data plane (forwarding) remains distributed in hardware.

Question 5

An enterprise implements Cisco SD-Access using Cisco DNA Center. What is the PRIMARY role of DNA Center in this architecture?

Answer choices

  • A. A physical switch that forms the fabric underlay

  • B. A centralized management and policy orchestration platform for network configuration, automation, and analytics (Correct)

  • C. A RADIUS authentication server

  • D. A WAN optimization appliance

Explanation

Cisco DNA Center is the centralized management platform for SD-Access (and broader Cisco intent-based networking). It provides: network design, policy definition, provisioning automation, assurance (AI/ML analytics), and device management across the entire fabric — replacing manual CLI configuration.