HPE7-A07 Aruba Certified Campus Access Mobility Expert Written Exam Questions and Answers

During the testing of RadSec authentication over VXLAN, if the RadSec connection fails during the digital certificate exchange, it typically indicates an issue with the establishment of the TLS tunnel, which is required for RadSec ' s secure communication. The failure of TLS tunnel establishment can occur due to RADIUS TCP packets being dropped, preventing the secure exchange of digital certificates necessary for RadSec authentication. The other options, such as IPv6 address reachability, tracking mode settings, and proxy server misconfiguration, are not directly related to the failure of the TLS tunnel establishment during the certificate exchange process

Graceful Restart (GR) allows a router to continue forwarding packets while it restarts its OSPF process. The GR helper role on AOS-CX switches supports routers during this process. OSPF routers listen for Grace-LSAs to identify neighbors undergoing a graceful restart, maintaining adjacencies with those routers to allow uninterrupted forwarding.

In this scenario:

All hosts are in VLAN 100

Group-Based Policy (GBP) is applied

H1 belongs to the Marketing role

Policy table for Marketing:

Source

Destination

Action

Marketing

HR

Deny

Marketing

Sales

Permit

Marketing

Finance

Deny

Role Mapping:

Sales: H2, H4

Finance: H3, H5

HR: H6

???? Key Aruba GBP Behavior for ARP

Aruba AOS-CX GBP enforces policy at L3 and L2 , and ARP is not treated as unconditional broadcast when GBP roles restrict communication.

Aruba documentation states:

“ARP requests are only forwarded to ports associated with permitted roles.

ARP behavior follows the GBP access-policy rules.”

Since Marketing is only permitted to communicate with Sales , ARP from H1 must only be forwarded toward:

✅ H2 (Sales)

✅ H4 (Sales)

Interfaces:

H2 → port 1/1/1

H4 → port 1/1/3

Therefore, the ARP request is NOT flooded to Finance (H3/H5) or HR (H6), where communication is denied .

❌ Why Other Options Are Incorrect

Option

Why Wrong

B

Would ignore GBP enforcement; too wide of a flood

C

Not dropped — allowed paths exist to Sales

D

ARP is not broadcasted when GBP denies connectivity

When onboarding devices into a centralized management system, each device can have its individual admin password set during the onboarding process. If this password doesn ' t match what is expected at the group level in the central management platform, login issues such as the one described can occur.

In OSPF, the " EXSTART/DR " state indicates that the routers are trying to establish an adjacency but are unable to progress. This can happen if the OSPF network type is incorrectly configured for the type of connection between the routers. Given that R1 and R2 are connected via a point-to-point link (as suggested by the /31 subnet), setting the network type to point-to-point on both routers will remove the need for DR/BDR election, which is unnecessary on a point-to-point link, and allow OSPF to progress past the " EXSTART " state and form a full adjacency.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation (Verified Extract from HPE Aruba Networking Switching Documentation)

When implementing AAA (Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting) on Aruba CX switches, there are mechanisms to ensure that end-user devices maintain basic network connectivity even if authentication fails due to server unreachability or configuration errors .

Two key mechanisms address this concern:

1. Critical Role

The critical role defines the local role that is automatically applied to a port or user session when:

The authentication server is unreachable , or

The authentication process cannot be completed due to network errors.

This ensures that endpoints (clients) can still obtain limited or temporary access to the network (for example, DHCP and DNS access) even when RADIUS is unavailable.

ArubaOS-CX Extract:

“When AAA authentication fails due to the RADIUS server being unreachable, the switch assigns the critical-role to the client, allowing limited access to the network until connectivity to the server is restored.”

2. Fallback Role

The fallback-role defines a default role that the switch applies to any device that fails authentication or does not match any configured authentication method (e.g., device profiling, MAC-auth, or 802.1X).

In lab or early deployment scenarios, this role provides baseline network access for devices that fail authentication but should not be entirely blocked.

ArubaOS-CX Extract:

“The fallback role allows clients that do not match any authentication or profiling method to obtain a defined level of access instead of being denied network connectivity.”

Option Analysis:

A. Configure onboarding-method concurrent → Used to enable multiple onboarding methods (802.1X, MAC-auth, device profiling) concurrently; does not prevent network denial.

B. Configure the critical role → Correct. Ensures connectivity when AAA servers are unreachable.

C. Configure auth-mode multi-device → Controls how multiple clients share a port; unrelated to AAA fallback behavior.

D. Configure the fallback role → Correct. Provides network access to unauthenticated or failed-auth clients.

E. Configure port-access radius-override → Allows RADIUS to override local roles or VLANs; does not address reachability or failure handling.

Final Verified Answers: B, D

Reference Sources (HPE Aruba Official Materials):

Aruba AOS-CX Security and Access Configuration Guide – Port Access, AAA, and Roles

Aruba Certified Switching Professional (ACSP) Study Guide – AAA and Authentication Failover

ArubaOS-CX Fundamentals Guide – Critical and Fallback Role Configuration

The issue indicated by the output is an invalid pre-shared key (PSK). The logs show multiple failures during the WPA2 key exchange process, which points to a mismatch between the PSK configured on the client device and the PSK expected by the AOS 10 mobility gateway.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract of HPE Aruba Networking Switching:

In Aruba gateway/AP tunnel state reporting, the following tunnel state semantics apply:

• SM_STATE_CONNECTING — indicates the AP has received tunnel configuration/keys and is attempting to bring up the tunnel; the tunnel is not yet available for client traffic.

• SM_STATE_SURVIVING — indicates the AP is in a survival/fallback condition (for example, it did not receive a fresh tunnel key and is attempting resolution via IKE); this state reflects a problem condition that can prevent successful client connectivity.

By contrast:

• SM_STATE_CONNECTED — indicates the IPsec tunnel to the endpoint is established and available.

• SM_STATE_REKEYING — indicates a rekey operation is in progress; the session is being updated, not necessarily failed.

• SM_STATE_SURVIVED — indicates the AP completed survival procedures and the IPsec tunnel is available.

Because end-users cannot connect, the problematic states are those where the tunnel is not up in normal service: SM_STATE_CONNECTING and SM_STATE_SURVIVING.

When configuring Virtual Switching Extension (VSX) in a campus topology for link aggregation across two aggregation switches, it is important to synchronize Multi-Chassis Link Aggregation Group (MC-LAG) interfaces. The command " vsx-sync mclag-interfaces " ensures that the state and configuration of MC-LAG interfaces are synchronized between the two VSX-linked switches, providing consistent link aggregation and preventing any loops or mismatched configurations that might occur if the interfaces were not in sync.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract of HPE Aruba Networking Switching:

When an AOS-10 gateway is onboarded into Aruba Central using the Full-Setup method , a local admin password is defined during the setup wizard on the gateway itself. Later, when the gateway joins an existing Aruba Central group , the group-level configuration (which includes the admin password defined for that group) is automatically pushed down to all devices in that group for configuration consistency.

However, if the password defined during full-setup is different from the admin password defined in the Aruba Central group , the synchronization process can cause a mismatch between the local device password and the one expected by Central. This mismatch prevents remote console login from working properly because Aruba Central attempts to authenticate to the gateway using the group-level admin credentials , not the local credentials from full-setup.

Exact Extract from HPE Aruba Networking Switching and Aruba Central Configuration Documents:

“During onboarding, the admin password configured at the group level in Aruba Central is applied to all devices in the group. If a device is added using full-setup with a different password, it may fail Central-initiated authentication functions such as remote console.”

“When gateways are provisioned using the full-setup workflow, the local administrator password must match the group-level administrator credentials in Aruba Central to allow remote console and CLI access through Central.”

Therefore, the issue arises because the full-setup password for the gateway does not match the group admin password defined in Aruba Central, resulting in the ‘incorrect password’ error when attempting to access the gateway remotely through Central.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:

A. The full-setup admin password is valid for remote access; there is no separate configuration option that “allows” or “disallows” remote console use.

“Remote console access uses the same admin account configured for device login; there is no additional enablement required.”

B. Aruba Central admin passwords do not expire by default. Group-level admin credentials are persistent configuration items, not time-based credentials.

“Local and group administrator passwords are static until manually changed.”

C. There is no “global Aruba Central admin password” used to authenticate to devices; authentication is performed using per-group or per-device credentials configured in Central.

“Each Aruba Central group maintains its own admin credentials that are propagated to member devices; there is no single global password for all groups.”

References of HPE Aruba Networking Switching Documents or Study Guide:

ArubaOS 10.5.0 Gateway Deployment and Configuration Guide – “Onboarding using Full Setup” and “Group-Level Configuration Synchronization.”

Aruba Central Device Management Guide – “Group Admin Credentials and Remote Console Access.”

Aruba AOS 10 Campus Gateway Installation and Setup Guide – “Matching Group Admin Passwords for Central-Managed Devices.”

The CX 8320 has significantly smaller control-plane scale for route tables—especially IPv6—compared to newer CX platforms. When dual-stacking WLAN clients (adding IPv6 alongside IPv4), the number of routes/neighbor entries increases markedly. HPE Aruba platform guidance shows:

CX 8320/CX 8325 class: ~131K IPv4 and ~32K IPv6 routes.

It is a common practice to separate successful and failed test results into different files for ease of troubleshooting. If the " datagrams.pcap " file shows no issues, it ' s likely because it only contains successful test data, and the failed tests that could explain the poor user experience would be in a different file, such as " datagrams-failed.pcap. "

For Downloadable User Roles (DUR) to function correctly with ClearPass, the Network Access Devices (NADs) need to be correctly defined in ClearPass under the " Devices " tab. This ensures that ClearPass can identify and communicate with the NADs to deliver the appropriate user roles. If the NADs are not correctly defined, ClearPass will not be able to provide the DURs to the access points for enforcement. This is a common configuration step that is required to integrate ClearPass with network devices for advanced role-based access control.

Why C and D are correct (bridged traffic):

“In AOS 10 deployments that use mobility gateways, application/flow visibility and Client Insights for wireless clients are derived from gateway DPI and firewall session state. When an SSID is bridged at the AP (including mixed mode where a client is bridged ), client data traffic does not traverse the gateway. Because the gateway does not see the user flows, flow attributes and network activity are not populated in Central for those clients.”

This applies to:

• C – SSID is bridged (all clients bypass the gateway).

• D – SSID is mixed mode but the affected clients are bridged (those clients bypass the gateway).

Why A, B, and E are not the best answers:

“When clients are tunneled (including mixed-mode clients that are tunneled) to the gateway, the gateway’s stateful firewall and DPI engine observe the sessions and export flow/app data to Central.”

Thus A is not a reason for missing data.

“Client VLANs marked untrusted are evaluated by the gateway firewall/DPI and support visibility. Marking a VLAN trusted bypasses firewall enforcement, but flow visibility for tunneled WLAN clients is based on gateway DPI; the primary reason Central shows no flow attributes is that the traffic never reached the gateway (bridged path).”

Therefore B/E are not the primary causes of this symptom in the scenario described.

References of HPE Aruba Networking Switching documents or Study Guide:

Aruba AOS 10 Gateway and WLAN Configuration Guides — “Tunneled vs Bridged SSIDs and impact on gateway DPI/visibility.”

Aruba Central Operations Guide — “Client Insights data sources from mobility gateways.”

Aruba Policy Enforcement and Application Visibility — “Gateway DPI and stateful firewall as the source for app/flow telemetry for wireless clients.”

Based on the criteria provided for wireless guest users, the correct user role configuration must allow internet access, only allow access to public DNS servers, deny access to all internal networks except for any DHCP server, and place the Wi-Fi guests on VLAN 555. The ACLs must permit services necessary for basic internet access (such as DNS and DHCP) and block access to internal networks.

Option A satisfies these criteria with the following configurations:

user-role " WiFi-guest " : This defines the role for Wi-Fi guests.

access-list session dhcp-acl : This applies the access list that likely permits DHCP, which is necessary for guests to obtain an IP address.

access-list session dns-acl : This applies the DNS access list, which likely restricts guests to using public DNS servers.

access-list session internal-networks : This applies the internal networks access list, which denies access to internal networks.

vlan 555 : This sets the VLAN for Wi-Fi guests to 555.

Options B, C, and D are incorrect because they include access-list session allowall which would permit all traffic, contradicting the requirement to deny access to all internal networks.

The correct address for the ClearPass Guest should match the FQDN of the HTTPS certificate installed on the device, which is often the FQDN of the vendor ' s product. This ensures secure and proper redirection to the captive portal during the authentication process. The FQDN should be entered in the Address field for ClearPass Guest configuration.

The CLI output shown is from the Aruba CX 6300 running AOS-CX , displaying the routing table in an EVPN-VXLAN fabric environment.

Key details from the output:

Prefix Nexthop Interface Origin/Type Distance/Metric

10.203.1.0/24 - vlan203 C [0/0]

10.203.1.1/32 - vlan203 L [0/0]

10.203.1.100/32 172.21.11.2 - B/EV [200/0]

172.21.11.4/32 172.21.11.2 - B/EV [200/0]

172.21.11.5/32 - loopback3 L [0/0]

From this, we can interpret the following:

Routes marked as B/EV originate from BGP EVPN , meaning they are advertised and learned over the VXLAN fabric.

The next hop 172.21.11.2 indicates that these routes are learned from another fabric device with loopback address 172.21.11.2 .

The route 10.203.1.100/32 is a host route (specific endpoint) reachable via that remote switch.

According to the Aruba CX EVPN-VXLAN Fabric Deployment Guide :

“In a VXLAN fabric, host routes (/32) are dynamically advertised using EVPN Type 2 routes.

These routes include MAC/IP bindings of endpoints connected to remote VTEPs (loopbacks).

The next-hop address in the routing table corresponds to the VTEP IP (loopback address) of the remote switch where the client resides.”

Thus, the presence of a /32 route (10.203.1.100/32) with next hop 172.21.11.2 indicates that this wired client resides behind another CX 6300 fabric node whose VTEP address is 172.21.11.2 .

Option Analysis:

A. Correct – The /32 route confirms that 10.203.1.100 is reachable via remote CX at 172.21.11.2 (remote VTEP).

B. Incorrect – The RD information isn’t shown here; this statement cannot be validated and contradicts visible EVPN entries.

C. Incorrect – The route is properly advertised and reachable via EVPN; no indication of advertisement failure.

D. Incorrect – Overlay loopbacks (172.21.11.x) are advertised as /32 host routes, not /24 subnets.

Final Verified Answer: A

Reference Sources (HPE Aruba Official Materials):

Aruba AOS-CX EVPN-VXLAN Fabric Deployment and Configuration Guide

Aruba CX 6300 Routing and BGP Configuration Guide

Aruba Certified Switching Professional (ACSP) Study Guide – EVPN-VXLAN Route Interpretation

Dynamic Multicast Optimization (DMO) is a feature that enhances the delivery of multicast traffic by optimizing the data rate. The before and after optimization images show a significant increase in the data rate, which is a typical result of DMO being configured, as it allows multicast traffic to be transmitted at higher data rates by converting multicast streams into unicast streams for the clients that need them.

AOS-CX BGP community advertisement control:

“For each BGP neighbor and address-family you can control the advertisement of community attributes using the send-community command. The options are standard , extended , and both . When both is configured, the neighbor is sent both the standard and extended community attributes with the NLRI updates.”

“BGP accepts community attributes received from a neighbor by default; the send-community setting governs outbound advertisement. The configuration does not require resetting the peering session.”

These extracts establish that adding send-community both under the IPv4 unicast address-family for neighbor 10.2.0.3 makes R1 include community attributes with its UPDATEs and that the choice both covers standard and extended communities. Because BGP already accepts communities on receive, this effectively enables the exchange of communities in both directions when the peer is similarly capable. This matches B (exchange with NLRI in and out) and D (standard and extended communities are included).

Why A is incorrect:

“The term type-1/type-2 is used in EVPN route types and is not the nomenclature for BGP communities. The send-community command does not reference EVPN route types; it controls standard/extended community attributes.”

Thus, A references the wrong concept.

Why C is incorrect:

“Changing send-community for a neighbor is applied dynamically in the address-family context and does not require tearing down the BGP session.”

Therefore, enabling send-community both will not “bounce” the peering.

References of HPE Aruba Networking Switching documents or Study Guide:

AOS-CX BGP Configuration Guide — “Neighbor policy controls per address-family: send-community {standard | extended | both}; communities accepted on receive by default; change does not reset the session.”

AOS-CX Route Policy and Attributes Reference — “Community attributes (standard and extended) and how they are attached to NLRI in UPDATE messages.”

In an Aruba deployment, if an AP ' s interfaces show different LACP states, it often indicates a configuration mismatch. If one interface is up and the other is blocked as shown in the output, it ' s likely due to both interfaces on the AP being set to LACP active mode, which is a correct setting for establishing an LACP channel with Aruba switches like the CX 6300 series.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation (Verified Extract from HPE Aruba Networking Switching Documentation)

In Aruba AOS-CX switching environments, Quality of Service (QoS) allows the switch to prioritize certain types of traffic such as voice , video , or real-time applications.

When a connected endpoint (such as a VoIP phone or wireless handset) marks packets with DSCP = 46 (Expedited Forwarding for voice), the switch must trust these markings to maintain end-to-end traffic prioritization.

Key Concept: Trust Boundary

By default, Aruba switches do not trust incoming DSCP or 802.1p markings from end devices for security reasons.

To allow the switch to accept and act on these values, the QoS trust DSCP feature must be explicitly enabled on the relevant interface or globally.

Official Aruba AOS-CX Extract:

“The qos trust dscp command enables the switch port to honor the Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) markings received from connected devices. When trusted, packets maintain their QoS priority as they traverse the switch fabric.”

When wireless handsets connect to a bridged SSID , their traffic is bridged locally at the access switch — meaning the switch sees the traffic directly from the AP. If the handset marks the packet with DSCP 46 , enabling QoS trust DSCP ensures that the switch preserves that marking and applies the appropriate voice priority queue treatment.

This configuration ensures end-to-end QoS consistency between the wireless AP , mobility gateway , and wired switch .

Option Analysis:

A. Incorrect – “Voice Wi-Fi Multimedia Share” is not a valid Aruba configuration feature; WMM shares QoS mapping but not DSCP trust.

B. Incorrect – UCC (Unified Communications and Collaboration) enhances call visibility and diagnostics, not DSCP trust or QoS marking.

C. ✅ Correct – Enables the switch to trust and honor DSCP markings (such as DSCP 46) received from endpoints or bridged SSIDs.

D. Incorrect – WMM (Wi-Fi Multimedia) is required for prioritization over wireless links, but since this is a bridged SSID , the DSCP markings must be honored at the switch , not just the AP.

✅ Final Verified Answer: C

???? Reference Sources (HPE Aruba Official Materials):

Aruba AOS-CX Quality of Service (QoS) Configuration Guide

ArubaOS 10 WLAN and Mobility Configuration Guide – QoS and WMM for Voice SSIDs

Aruba Certified Switching Professional (ACSP) Study Guide – QoS Trust and Traffic Classification

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation (Verified Extract from HPE Aruba Networking Switching Documentation)

VOQ (Virtual Output Queuing) is a hardware-based queuing mechanism used in the ArubaOS-CX architecture to prevent head-of-line blocking and minimize packet drops in high-throughput environments.

How VOQ Works:

Each ingress port maintains a separate queue for every egress port in the system.

When a packet arrives, it is placed in the ingress buffer corresponding to its destination egress port.

This structure ensures that traffic destined for one congested egress port does not block packets heading to other ports.

This architecture is critical in high-speed modular switches and aggregation cores (such as the Aruba 8400 and 10000 Series), allowing the fabric interconnect to forward traffic efficiently without dropping packets due to port congestion.

ArubaOS-CX Technical Extract:

“Virtual Output Queuing (VOQ) provides per-egress-port queuing at ingress buffers, preventing head-of-line blocking and ensuring high throughput across the switch fabric. Each ingress queue corresponds to a specific egress port, allowing packets to be transmitted as soon as the egress port becomes available.”

Option Analysis:

A. Incorrect – Refers to priority marking (QoS), not VOQ operation.

B. Correct – VOQ provides ingress buffers with queues for each egress port, reducing dropped packets and head-of-line blocking.

C. Incorrect – VOQ is not related to LACP or VSX link aggregation.

D. Incorrect – VOQ does not dynamically allocate egress buffer space; it segregates ingress queues per egress destination.

Final Verified Answer: B

Reference Sources (HPE Aruba Official Materials):

Aruba AOS-CX Technical Architecture Overview – Virtual Output Queuing (VOQ)

Aruba 8400/10000 Series Switches Hardware and Performance Guide

Aruba Certified Switching Expert (ACSE) Study Guide – Switch Fabric and Queuing Mechanisms

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract of HPE Aruba Networking Switching:

On Aruba switches (AOS-CX/AOS-S), multiple IPv4 networks can be configured on the same VLAN interface (SVI) by assigning a primary address and one or more secondary addresses. The VLAN remains one Layer-2 broadcast domain ; adding more IP subnets does not create subinterfaces and does not split the broadcast domain.

Exact extract:

“A VLAN interface may be configured with a primary IP address and additional secondary IP addresses to host multiple subnets on the same Layer-2 broadcast domain.”

“A VLAN is a single broadcast domain. Broadcast and unknown unicast frames are flooded to all ports belonging to the VLAN.”

“Hosts in different IP subnets on the same VLAN still require Layer-3 routing to communicate; sharing the VLAN only means they share the same L2 broadcast domain.”

Therefore, when a second subnet is added to the same VLAN, broadcasts (ARP, DHCP, etc.) from devices in either subnet will be flooded to all member ports of that VLAN, making option C correct.

Options A (subinterfaces) are not used here; B is incorrect because inter-subnet traffic still needs routing; D is not categorically true—IGMP operates per VLAN with multicast routing configuration and is not inherently disabled by multiple subnets.

References of HPE Aruba Networking Switching documents or Study Guide:

Aruba AOS-CX Interface and VLAN Configuration Guide — “Primary and secondary IP addressing on VLAN interfaces; VLANs as broadcast domains.”

Aruba AOS-CX Layer 2 Fundamentals — “Flooding behavior for broadcast/unknown frames within a VLAN.”

Aruba Campus Wired Design Fundamentals — “Multiple IP subnets on one VLAN and routing implications.”

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The fallback role is used as a default role in the absence of a specified role or when an authentication server is not available. Given the scenario, where the test device with MAC address 81:cd:93:13:ab:31 needs to be assigned to " iot-prod " and other devices to " iot-default " , and considering there is no external authentication server configured for the test, the appropriate action would be to set a global fallback role that applies to all devices connecting to the network. This ensures that any device that does not match the specific device profile will inherit the " iot-default " role. Since the configuration for a specific MAC address (81:cd:93:xx:xx:xx) to associate with the " iot-prod " role is already in place, setting the fallback role globally accommodates the requirement for other devices.

Best Effort and Scavenger = DF (0)

Bulk and Transactional Data = AF21 (18)

Multimedia Streaming = AF31 (26)

Real-Time Interactive = EF (46)

UL MU-MIMO, or Uplink Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output, is a technology that allows multiple clients to transmit data to the access point simultaneously, increasing overall throughput and efficiency, especially for upload-heavy scenarios like video file uploads. This technology enables spatially separated clients to access the channel at the same time, which can improve performance for clients when uploading large files.

The capture shows messages related to WPA key management, indicating WPA2-PSK is being used. Also, the capture includes a DHCP request from the client but no corresponding DHCP ACK, suggesting the client is not receiving an IP address, which could explain the connectivity failure.

The command shown in the exhibit is:

Access-1# show ubt state

This command displays the User-Based Tunneling (UBT) status on an Aruba CX switch. UBT allows wired access devices (like CX 6300/6400) to extend tunneled connectivity to Aruba gateways, using GRE tunnels for user traffic.

The output contains the following sections:

1. Local Conductor Server (LCS) State

Primary : 172.16.200.252 ready_for_bootstrap operational_primary

Secondary : 172.16.200.253 ready_for_bootstrap operational_secondary

This confirms that two gateways (IP 172.16.200.252 and 172.16.200.253) form an LCS pair in an Aruba gateway cluster .

Exact extract:

“The Local Conductor Servers (LCS) represent the pair of Aruba Gateways that control and terminate UBT tunnels. One operates as the primary (active) and the other as the secondary (standby). These gateways must be configured as a cluster pair .”

2. Switch Anchor Controller (SAC) State

Active : 172.16.200.252 20:4c:03:81:e7:ca registered

Standby : 172.16.200.253 20:4c:03:b2:12:0a registered

Both gateways are registered as active and standby switch anchor controllers. This is a clear indication that the switch (Access-1) has successfully established tunnels to both gateways within the cluster.

Exact extract:

“The Switch Anchor Controller (SAC) section lists both cluster members to which the switch forms GRE tunnels. The switch maintains active and standby tunnels for redundancy.”

3. User Anchor Controller (UAC) State

Each connected user is mapped to a User Anchor Controller (UAC) — one of the two gateways — depending on cluster load balancing:

User Anchor Controller (UAC): 172.16.200.252

User Anchor Controller (UAC): 172.16.200.253

Each user session is anchored on a specific gateway within the cluster. The presence of two different UAC IPs confirms that users are being distributed across both gateways — a behavior that occurs only in a clustered gateway configuration.

Exact extract:

“In a clustered gateway deployment, each user session is dynamically anchored to one of the gateways. The UAC field shows which gateway currently handles each user session.”

Conclusion:

From the output:

Two gateways are shown as primary and secondary LCS .

Both are registered as SACs (tunnel endpoints).

Users are distributed across both gateways as UACs .

This confirms that Access-1 (the CX switch) has established GRE tunnels to a pair of gateways within a cluster .

Hence, the correct answer is A. A pair of gateways within a cluster .

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:

B. A pair of switches running VXLAN: UBT tunnels are GRE-based and terminate on Aruba Gateways , not VXLAN-enabled switches.

“User-Based Tunneling uses GRE tunnels to Aruba Gateways; VXLAN is not used for UBT.”

C. A single gateway within a cluster: The output explicitly shows two controllers (active and standby) registered — not a single one.

D. A pair of standalone gateways: The LCS state shows primary/secondary operational roles , which exist only in a cluster , not standalone gateways.

References of HPE Aruba Networking Switching Documents or Study Guide:

ArubaOS-CX Access Security and UBT Configuration Guide – “Understanding User-Based Tunneling (UBT), LCS, SAC, and UAC roles.”

Aruba Gateway Clustering and Redundancy Guide – “Cluster operation and role distribution for UBT.”

Aruba Campus Wired and Wireless Integration Guide – “How CX switches form UBT tunnels to clustered Aruba gateways.”

Aruba Zero Trust Access Design Guide – “High availability with UBT across gateway clusters.”

If users report interruptions to their phone service after the deployment of User-Based Tunneling (UBT), it can be due to the VLAN designated for UBT clients not being configured on the switch uplink. As a result, traffic from VoIP phones, which may be trying to use the same VLAN, could be dropped, leading to service interruptions. Ensuring that the VLAN is properly configured on the switch uplink is crucial for the seamless operation of UBT clients and VoIP services.

To maximize wired bandwidth utilization, especially when multiple APs are terminating on mobility gateways, it ' s best practice to aggregate physical ports into a port channel. This provides redundancy and increased bandwidth by combining the throughput of multiple ports.

To address connectivity issues when students are working outdoors, increasing the transmission (TX) power range for the 5GHz radios can help improve signal strength and coverage. The setting shown indicates a conservative approach to power settings, which might not provide sufficient coverage for outdoor areas. By increasing the power range, you can extend the wireless signal reach, which aligns with best practices for outdoor wireless coverage.

In the provided frame capture, we can clearly observe the following sequence of events:

802.11 Association and 4-Way Handshake:

The client (MAC 20:0d:b0:41:5d:b6) associates with the AP (b8:3a:5a:84:24:30).

The EAPOL 4-way handshake successfully completes (Key Messages 1–4), indicating that the client has successfully joined the secured SSID.

This rules out authentication issues or WPA3 key management errors.

DHCP Exchange:

The client sends a DHCP Request , and the server responds with a DHCP ACK , confirming that the client has successfully obtained an IP address.

Example in the capture:

DHCP Request – Transaction ID 0xd3da62ef

DHCP ACK – Transaction ID 0xd3da62ef

This confirms that DHCP negotiation completed successfully.

ARP Requests and Replies:

After DHCP completion, an ARP broadcast is seen:

Who has 192.168.10.17? Tell 192.168.10.158

This is a normal ARP request from another device trying to reach 192.168.10.17.

However, we also see ARP replies for:

192.168.10.1 is at 00:1c:7f:7b:d2:4d

This indicates the default gateway responding with its MAC address.

Analysis of the Connectivity Issue: Even though the gateway is sending ARP replies, the repeated ARP responses for 192.168.10.1 in the capture suggest that the client is not caching or acknowledging the ARP entry for the default gateway. This behavior is consistent with a client that does not have a valid or populated ARP entry for its default gateway, leading to traffic failures beyond the local subnet.

This could be due to:

Incorrect ARP response handling on the client.

Firewall or driver issues preventing the ARP reply from being processed.

Power-save or roaming conditions where the ARP table did not update properly.

Exact Extract from HPE Aruba Networking Switching and WLAN Troubleshooting Documentation:

“If a client successfully completes the 4-way handshake and DHCP exchange but fails to pass traffic beyond the local subnet, check for ARP resolution issues.

Missing or invalid ARP entries for the default gateway can prevent Layer 3 connectivity even though the wireless association is successful.”

“Wireshark traces showing repeated ARP replies from the gateway indicate that the gateway is responding, but the client may not be updating its ARP cache, leading to connectivity failures.”

Hence, the conclusion is that the client’s ARP entry for the default gateway is missing or invalid , explaining why connectivity fails despite successful association and DHCP negotiation.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:

B. The SSID is using WPA3-Enterprise key management: The handshake shown (EAPOL 4 messages) uses the standard WPA2/AES (EAPOL-Key) exchange. There are no SAE or WPA3 transition frames present.

“WPA3 uses SAE or 802.1X with PMF indicators; the frame capture shows standard WPA2 key exchange.”

C. The client has not obtained an IP address on this network previously: The DHCP Request and ACK exchange confirm that the client has obtained an IP address (192.168.10.158). This option is invalid.

“A completed DHCP ACK indicates the client successfully received an IP address.”

D. The AP is using 20MHz wide 5GHz channels: The frame capture shows VHT/HE announcements, which indicate High Efficiency (HE) capabilities and channel sounding , not 20MHz restrictions. Channel width has no relation to the connectivity failure described.

“VHT/HE frames are part of 802.11ac/ax operation and do not indicate channel width problems.”

References of HPE Aruba Networking Switching Documents or Study Guide:

Aruba WLAN Troubleshooting and Analysis Guide – “ARP, DHCP, and Gateway Reachability Troubleshooting.”

ArubaOS 10 Wireless Fundamentals and Diagnostics Guide – “802.11 Association, 4-Way Handshake, and ARP Behavior.”

Aruba Client Connectivity Troubleshooting Guide (AOS-10 and AOS-8) – “Identifying ARP Cache Issues Post-DHCP Assignment.”

Aruba Network Access and Layer 2 Troubleshooting Guide – “Role of ARP in Wireless Client Connectivity.”

Adding an additional IP subnet to the same VLAN means that devices configured with either subnet can communicate at Layer 2 without the need for routing. This is because they are on the same VLAN and thus in the same broadcast domain. However, to communicate between subnets, an L3 device or inter-VLAN routing would be required.

In the provided configuration for interface 1/1/7, there are roles specified for different scenarios concerning authentication. When a voice client attempts to connect and the RADIUS server is unreachable, the role that is assigned is the one specified as the " critical-voice-role " . In this case, the " CRITICAL_VOICE " role is configured to be assigned under such circumstances, ensuring that voice clients receive appropriate network access permissions even when the RADIUS server is not available to authenticate them.