UCS Action to Make NetApp Storage Disks Visible

300-610 By islever Editorial Last updated

Plan for iSCSI deployment in a data center (Multipathing and addressing schemes) Evaluate options for network device virtualization in a data center (Cisco VIC adapters)

Short answer

A Configure IQN pools for iSCSI boot on UCS Manager to present storage disks to the hosts.

Question

Refer to the exhibit. A Cisco engineer is configuring a FlexPod data center for SAP with Cisco ACI, Cisco UCS Manager 4.0, and NetApp AFF A-Series. All systems and fabric links feature redundancy and provide end-to-end high availability. After the engineer sets the needed VLANs on the NetApp controller ports and adds them to the data broadcast domain, the engineer must make the storage disks visible for the UCS hosts. Which action must be taken on the UCS to accomplish this task? - Exhibit: UCS Action to Make NetApp Storage Disks Visible
  1. Configure IQN pools for iSCSI boot. Correct Answer
  2. Provide a storage virtual machine.
  3. Create aggregates in ONTAP.
  4. Enable HTTPS access on the servers.

Key Takeaways

This question tests identifying the correct UCS-side configuration step for iSCSI storage visibility, catching those who misapply NetApp-side storage provisioning steps.

To make NetApp storage disks visible to UCS hosts in a FlexPod iSCSI configuration, the engineer must configure IQN pools on the UCS side. This page establishes why a UCS-specific configuration is mandatory for host identification and storage access.

Common mistake: Choosing 'Create aggregates in ONTAP' (C) or 'Provide a storage virtual machine' (B) because those are necessary storage provisioning steps, but they violate the explicit constraint of being an action taken on the UCS.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

Configuring IQN pools (Option A) is a required action within Cisco UCS Manager to provide iSCSI Qualified Names to the host service profiles. Without an assigned IQN, the UCS hosts cannot identify themselves to the NetApp storage target over the IP network, rendering the storage disks invisible to the hosts.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

Providing a storage virtual machine (Option B) and creating aggregates in ONTAP (Option C) are both configuration steps performed on the NetApp storage array, not on the UCS. Enabling HTTPS access on the servers (Option D) is an administrative protocol setting and does not facilitate block storage visibility via iSCSI.

Community Comment Notes

Several community members mistakenly selected options that represent NetApp configuration steps rather than UCS actions. As missionflamingo noted, "Creating IQN pools is the only option that is a UCS configuration," which directly satisfies the question's strict constraint.

Official Reference

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/UCS_CVDs/flexpod_datacenter_sap_netapp.html

This link opens the official vendor documentation in a new tab.

Exam Strategy

Pay close attention to the exact scope asked in the question, such as "on the UCS". Eliminate any options that describe actions performed on a different system or management plane, regardless of whether they are valid steps in the overall workflow.

Community Votes

C
33%
B
33%
A
33%

33% of anonymous learners picked answer C. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 4 contributions

Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.

From public community threads 4

  1. Fcpoultry 👍 1 Answered C
    "Manually configure an aggregate on the ONTAP filer before you can use the filer management of Cisco UCS Director." https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/ucs-director/netapp-management-guide/6-0/b_NetApp_Management_Guide_60/b_NetApp_Management_Guide_60_chapter_011.html
  2. Fcpoultry 👍 1 Answered B
    Sorry, B is correct. https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/UCS_CVDs/flexpod_datacenter_vmware_netappaffa.html#_Toc24112921
  3. missionflamingo 👍 1 Answered A
    Creating IQN pools is the only option that is a UCS configuration.
  4. lurker8000 👍 1
    I will go with A on this one.

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