✅ What Is the Supporting Cisco Data Center System Devices Exam?
The Supporting Cisco Data Center System Devices Exam is a specialized certification exam designed for IT professionals who manage and support Cisco’s Unified Computing System (UCS) in enterprise-level data centers. This exam evaluates your ability to work with Cisco UCS infrastructure—including blade and rack servers, fabric interconnects, service profiles, and advanced configuration of UCS Manager, UCS Central, and UCS Director.
Professionals who pass this exam demonstrate the skills required to implement, maintain, and troubleshoot Cisco UCS components, which are critical to ensuring high performance, availability, and scalability in modern data center environments.
📘 What You’ll Learn from This Practice Test
The ExamSage.com practice test is carefully developed to prepare you for the real exam by providing scenario-based questions, detailed answer explanations, and real-world insights into Cisco UCS technologies. This test will help you:
Understand how UCS components interact within a data center
Configure service profiles, firmware policies, and connectivity settings
Troubleshoot UCS environments using logs and diagnostic tools
Work with virtualization, fabric extenders, and identity pools
Learn how to automate tasks with UCS Central and UCS Director
Practice decision-making for LAN/SAN setups, firmware upgrades, and failover logic
By completing this practice exam, you’ll strengthen your ability to deploy, support, and manage UCS environments confidently and professionally.
📚 Topics Covered
This practice test includes hundreds of high-quality, exam-aligned multiple-choice questions that span all major exam domains. Key topics include:
🔧 Cisco UCS Components and Architecture
Blade and rack server chassis
Fabric interconnects and fabric extenders
VIC adapters and PCIe integration
🛠️ Configuration and Provisioning
Service profile creation and association
Firmware management and host firmware packages
Boot policies and BIOS settings
LAN and SAN configuration (vNICs, vHBAs, VLANs, VSANs)
🔄 Automation and Multi-Domain Management
Cisco UCS Central for managing multiple UCS domains
UCS Director for automation and orchestration
XML API and DevOps integrations
🔍 Monitoring, Troubleshooting, and Logging
UCS Manager GUI and CLI diagnostics
Fault and event management
Role-based access control (RBAC)
Backup and restore configurations
⚙️ Operational Best Practices
Identity abstraction using MAC/WWPN pools
Server pool qualification and policy management
Hardware discovery and inventory
Redundancy and failover behavior
🎯 Who Should Use This Practice Exam?
This practice exam is perfect for:
Data center engineers preparing for Cisco certification
System administrators managing UCS deployments
IT professionals transitioning into Cisco data center roles
Students studying enterprise IT infrastructure
Anyone aiming to deepen their hands-on knowledge of Cisco UCS
Get Ready to Succeed
Prepare with confidence using this expertly curated Supporting Cisco Data Center System Devices Practice Test. Whether you’re working toward your certification or looking to strengthen your skills in managing enterprise data centers, this practice test gives you the edge you need to succeed.
Sample Questions and Answers
1. What is the primary function of a Cisco Nexus 9000 series switch in a data center environment?
A. VPN Termination
B. Application firewall
C. High-speed Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching
D. Wireless LAN Controller
Answer: C
Explanation:
Cisco Nexus 9000 series switches are designed for high-performance Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching, enabling efficient and scalable data center network architectures.
2. Which command verifies the status of a power supply in a Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect?
A. show environment
B. show power
C. show version
D. show module
Answer: A
Explanation:
The show environment command displays detailed information about hardware components such as fans, power supplies, and temperature sensors.
3. In a Cisco UCS environment, what does a service profile define?
A. Physical server inventory
B. Hypervisor configuration
C. Logical server identity and configuration
D. IP address of UCS Manager
Answer: C
Explanation:
A service profile defines how a server behaves by abstracting identity, network, and storage settings, allowing easy provisioning and management.
4. Which protocol is primarily used by Cisco Fabric Extenders (FEX) to connect to parent switches?
A. STP
B. VXLAN
C. VNTag
D. VTP
Answer: C
Explanation:
VNTag (Virtual Network Tag) is used by Cisco FEX to extend the fabric by tagging frames for upstream switches, enabling centralized management.
5. What command would you use to check the interface status on a Nexus switch?
A. show interface brief
B. interface status
C. show run interfaces
D. show ip route
Answer: A
Explanation:show interface brief provides a concise overview of all interface statuses, IPs, and admin statuses on Nexus switches.
6. What is the default spanning tree protocol on Cisco Nexus switches?
A. STP
B. RSTP
C. MST
D. Rapid PVST+
Answer: D
Explanation:
Rapid PVST+ is enabled by default on Cisco Nexus switches, offering faster convergence and per-VLAN spanning tree instances.
7. What role does the Cisco Integrated Management Controller (CIMC) play in UCS C-Series servers?
A. Firewall settings
B. Hypervisor installation
C. Out-of-band management
D. DHCP server configuration
Answer: C
Explanation:
CIMC provides remote, out-of-band management for UCS C-Series servers, including power control, monitoring, and configuration.
8. Which tool is used to manage multiple Cisco UCS domains?
A. Cisco Prime Infrastructure
B. Cisco UCS Central
C. Cisco DNA Center
D. Cisco Intersight
Answer: B
Explanation:
Cisco UCS Central manages multiple UCS Manager domains, providing a global view and policy control across data centers.
9. In Cisco UCS, what component applies BIOS settings?
A. Service profile
B. Server firmware policy
C. Host firmware package
D. BIOS policy
Answer: D
Explanation:
BIOS policies are applied within service profiles and dictate BIOS configurations like virtualization, CPU, and memory settings.
10. Which protocol is used for Cisco UCS Manager to communicate with blades?
A. SSH
B. SNMP
C. IPMI
D. XML API
Answer: C
Explanation:
IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) is used for managing and monitoring hardware independently of the operating system.
11. What technology allows Cisco Nexus switches to create loop-free Layer 2 topologies without STP?
A. HSRP
B. FabricPath
C. PortChannel
D. VTP
Answer: B
Explanation:
FabricPath enables loop-free Layer 2 topologies using MAC routing instead of STP, improving convergence and scalability.
12. Which feature of Cisco Nexus provides active-active uplinks?
A. VSS
B. PortChannel
C. vPC
D. HSRP
Answer: C
Explanation:
vPC (Virtual Port Channel) allows links to be active on both switches, eliminating STP blocking and improving redundancy.
13. What is the primary purpose of UCS Manager fault policy?
A. Power management
B. Fault monitoring and alerting
C. BIOS tuning
D. Interface provisioning
Answer: B
Explanation:
Fault policies in UCS Manager define how faults are reported and managed, enabling proactive hardware monitoring.
14. Which command resets a Fabric Interconnect to factory settings?
A. erase nvram
B. config default
C. erase startup-config
D. reset to factory
Answer: D
Explanation:reset to factory wipes all configurations and reboots the UCS Fabric Interconnect with factory defaults.
15. What is the function of a UCS LAN connectivity policy?
A. Defines BIOS and firmware updates
B. Assigns MAC addresses to vNICs
C. Maps VLANs to vNICs
D. Sets hostnames for servers
Answer: C
Explanation:
LAN connectivity policies define how vNICs map to VLANs and interfaces, ensuring proper network connectivity for servers.
16. Which UCS component handles zoning and LUN masking?
A. Service profile
B. UCS Manager
C. SAN switch
D. Fabric Interconnect
Answer: C
Explanation:
Zoning and LUN masking are performed by SAN switches, not UCS components, to control storage access.
17. Which interface type connects a UCS blade to the network via Fabric Interconnects?
A. vNIC
B. pNIC
C. Ethernet port
D. iSCSI
Answer: A
Explanation:
vNICs (virtual NICs) provide network connectivity to blades via the Fabric Interconnects in UCS architecture.
18. What does a UCS server pool define?
A. VLANs on Fabric Interconnect
B. Group of eligible servers for workload
C. DNS entries
D. Virtual SANs
Answer: B
Explanation:
A server pool groups servers for dynamic assignment via service profiles, simplifying workload deployment and failover.
19. What UCS feature prevents MAC address duplication?
A. MAC pinning
B. MAC pool
C. Port security
D. Address spoofing prevention
Answer: B
Explanation:
MAC pools generate unique MAC addresses for vNICs in service profiles, preventing duplication and ensuring consistency.
20. Which command checks fabric interconnect uplink status?
A. show cluster state
B. show interface eth uplink
C. show interface brief
D. show fex
Answer: B
Explanation:show interface eth uplink provides detailed status of Ethernet uplinks from Fabric Interconnects to the upstream network.
21. What is the primary advantage of using UCS templates?
A. Reduced power usage
B. Simplified server configuration and consistency
C. Improved IP address allocation
D. Increased port speeds
Answer: B
Explanation:
UCS templates standardize and automate server configurations, improving consistency and deployment speed.
22. What type of IP address is required for out-of-band CIMC access?
A. Loopback IP
B. Management IP
C. Internal Fabric IP
D. DHCP-relayed IP
Answer: B
Explanation:
CIMC requires a dedicated management IP for out-of-band access, usually on a management network.
23. Which command displays fan and temperature data on Nexus switches?
A. show platform
B. show hardware health
C. show environment
D. show sensors
Answer: C
Explanation:show environment on Nexus switches displays fan speed, temperature, and power supply data.
24. UCS Central uses what protocol to sync policies across domains?
A. SNMP
B. HTTPS
C. XML
D. REST API
Answer: D
Explanation:
UCS Central uses REST API to communicate and synchronize policies across multiple UCS domains.
25. What’s the default admin username in Cisco UCS Manager?
A. admin
B. root
C. cisco
D. superuser
Answer: A
Explanation:
The default username is admin with a password set during initial UCS Manager setup.
26. What is the function of a host firmware package in UCS?
A. Assigns IP to vNIC
B. Controls BIOS boot sequence
C. Defines firmware levels for server components
D. Configures port channels
Answer: C
Explanation:
Host firmware packages ensure consistent firmware versions are applied to hardware like BIOS, NICs, and HBA.
27. What is a typical indicator of a failed UCS blade?
A. Port shutdown
B. Critical fault LED
C. High latency
D. Power supply overload
Answer: B
Explanation:
The critical fault LED indicates hardware failure or major configuration issues on a UCS blade.
28. What Cisco tool provides predictive analytics for UCS environments?
A. Prime Data Center
B. UCS Director
C. Cisco Intersight
D. DCNM
Answer: C
Explanation:
Cisco Intersight uses telemetry and analytics to provide proactive management and performance recommendations for UCS.
29. How is a UCS blade server uniquely identified?
A. Serial number only
B. UUID
C. MAC address
D. IPMI interface
Answer: B
Explanation:
Each UCS blade has a UUID, which is a globally unique identifier used for system-level identification.
30. What component in Cisco UCS handles VLAN tagging?
A. vNIC
B. Fabric Interconnect
C. VLAN pool
D. Uplink profile
Answer: A
Explanation:
vNICs perform VLAN tagging as configured by LAN connectivity policies and service profiles.
