Practice Free HPE7-A07 Aruba Certified Campus Access Mobility Expert Written Exam Exam Questions Answers With Explanation

The Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) used by wireless stations is directly affected by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the frequency band. Higher SNR can lead to higher MCS values, which means better data rates. The frequency band can affect MCS due to different channel characteristics, such as the presence of interference and propagation properties, which are factors in determining data rates.

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

In AOS-10 wireless deployments, HPE Aruba Networking supports the configuration of Primary and Secondary Gateway Clusters in the SSID profile to ensure high availability, redundancy, and load distribution. This configuration follows Aruba’s gateway clustering best practices, where access points (APs) attempt to establish tunnels with their Primary Gateway Cluster first. If the AP cannot reach the primary cluster (due to reachability, latency, or network topology), it automatically connects to the Secondary Gateway Cluster.

When both gateway clusters are active and reachable but some APs cannot reach the primary cluster—for example, due to Layer 3 routing, firewall restrictions, or network segmentation—those APs will associate with the secondary cluster instead. This results in an approximately equal split of APs across both clusters, even though the primary cluster is operational.

Exact Extract from HPE Aruba Networking Switching and AOS-10 Gateway Documentation:

“Access Points attempt to form tunnels with the Primary Gateway Cluster first. If the primary cluster is unreachable or fails to respond within the defined timeout, the AP establishes a tunnel with the Secondary Gateway Cluster.”

“When the primary and secondary gateway clusters are both up but APs are distributed across separate routed networks or VLANs, APs may select the gateway cluster that is most reachable at that time, resulting in an even or partial split of AP distribution.”

“This is expected behavior when APs in different subnets cannot reach the same primary cluster due to network topology. The secondary cluster provides redundancy and connectivity continuity.”

Therefore, the equal split of 260 APs is explained by the fact that while the primary cluster is active, a subset of APs cannot reach it due to routing or segmentation and thus join the secondary cluster—this behavior aligns with Aruba’s gateway redundancy mechanism.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:

A. The statement reverses the cause: APs that cannot reach the primary connect to the secondary—not the other way around. The secondary cluster’s reachability does not affect AP selection when the primary is available and reachable.

“APs first attempt the primary cluster; only failure to reach it triggers fallback to secondary.”

B. Secondary cluster is homogeneous:Cluster homogeneity refers to identical hardware/software versions between gateways; it does not influence AP distribution or equal load split.

“Homogeneity is a software version consideration, not an AP load-balancing factor.”

C. Secondary cluster is heterogeneous:Heterogeneity (mixed hardware types) is unsupported or discouraged; it does not cause AP distribution behavior.

“Heterogeneous gateway clusters are not a cause of AP distribution variation; cluster type does not dictate AP split.”

References of HPE Aruba Networking Switching Documents or Study Guide:

ArubaOS 10 Gateway and AP Deployment Guide – “Primary and Secondary Gateway Cluster Configuration and AP Association Logic.”

Aruba High Availability and Clustering Best Practices Guide – “Gateway Cluster Failover, Redundancy, and AP Selection.”

Aruba Central Cloud Management and Monitoring Guide – “SSID Profile Configuration: Primary and Secondary Gateway Clusters.”

Aruba Campus Wireless Design Guide (AOS 10.x) – “Cluster Reachability, Redundancy, and Role Propagation Across Gateways.”

To support a business-critical faculty real-time application that requires seamless roaming within wings without cross-wing roaming, it's essential to ensure high availability and sufficient capacity. Adding an additional 7210 mobility gateway to each cluster would provide the required redundancy and capacity. Running L2 for all SSIDs and permitting user VLANs on gateway uplinks would facilitate the necessary traffic flow without L3 segmentation issues, thus supporting seamless roaming within each wing.

The exhibit shows a series of 802.1X authentication steps with multiple "Deauthentication" frames, which indicate that the client is not successfully completing the authentication process. Since the frames show repeated attempts at authentication followed by deauthentication, this suggests that the client is failing the 802.1X authentication process, which is required for network access in a WPA2/WPA3-Enterprise security environment.

The command output shows WMM transmit counters per access category on the AP:

Tx WMM [BK] 56

Tx WMM [BE] 35

Tx WMM [VI] 200093

Tx WMM [VO] 0

Drops: BE Dropped 566, VO Dropped 3

In Aruba WLAN QoS, traffic is queued using WMM access categories mapped from 802.1p/DSCP/UP values:

AC_VO (Voice) is for latency-sensitive voice; it should carry EF/DSCP 46 and UP 6.

AC_VI (Video) is for video; it should not carry voice traffic.

The statistics show zero traffic in AC_VO and a very large amount in AC_VI during the test calls. This indicates that voice frames are being mapped to the Video access category instead of Voice, which reduces priority and increases contention—consistent with poor call quality during busy periods.

HPE Aruba documentation states:

“Voice traffic (EF/46, UP 6) must be mapped to WMM Voice (AC_VO) to receive the highest priority.”

“Incorrect DSCP/UP-to-WMM mapping results in voice frames using lower-priority queues (e.g., AC_VI) and degraded call quality.”

Therefore, the corrective action is to reconfigure DSCP/UP-to-WMM mapping so that DSCP 46 (EF) maps to UP 6 ? AC_VO on the SSID/user-role, ensuring voice traffic uses the proper Voice queue.

Why others are incorrect:

B. enable WMM for the SSID – WMM is already active (WMM counters are present).

C. disable AirSlice – Not indicated; issue is misclassification, not airtime reservation.

D. update ACLs – ACLs don’t fix QoS category mapping for voice marking.

References (HPE Aruba official guides):

Aruba WLAN QoS/Traffic Management: DSCP/UP to WMM access category mappings and recommended settings for VoWiFi (EF 46 ? AC_VO).

Aruba Mobility and AOS 10 QoS configuration: user-role/SSID QoS mapping behavior and WMM queue operation.

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

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.

In the design shown:

The BGP peering between agg-sw1 and agg-sw2 is being established using loopback interfaces as the BGP neighbor addresses (10.0.0.2 and 10.0.0.4)

When BGP peering uses loopbacks, you must configure the BGP session to originate updates from the same loopback interface that the neighbor’s address resolves to

Otherwise, the TCP session fails because:

The source IP does not match the configured neighbor remote-IP which is based on the loopback address

Aruba AOS-CX requirement:

“When configuring eBGP or iBGP neighbors using loopback interfaces, apply update-source under the IPv4 unicast address family so BGP uses the correct source interface for peering.”

In Aruba AOS-CX, OSPF neighbors that reach EXSTART/EXCHANGE but fail to advance typically indicate a database description (DD) negotiation issue, most commonly caused by an MTU mismatch on the link. The OSPF header carries the interface MTU; if the values do not match, the peer rejects DD packets and the adjacency remains stuck at EXSTART (often shown as EXSTART/DR or EXSTART/BDR).

Aruba’s OSPF guidance states:

“If neighbors remain in EXSTART/EXCHANGE, verify that the Layer-3 MTU matches on both ends of the adjacency. An MTU mismatch causes DD packets to be rejected and prevents the adjacency from reaching FULL.”

Recommended corrective action is to align or remove custom L3 MTU settings on the participating interfaces (or use the mtu-ignore feature where appropriate).

In this scenario, removing the custom Layer-3 MTU configuration so both sides use the same default MTU allows DD packet negotiation to succeed and the adjacency to progress to FULL.

The correct Bandwidth Control settings for 1024 Kbps down and 2048 Kbps up for the SSID are shown in Option D. In Option D, the downstream is set at 1024 Kbps and the upstream at 2048 Kbps, both configured per user, which matches the requested configuration. This setup ensures that each user has a guaranteed bandwidth allocation of the specified rates when connected to the SSID, providing a controlled and predictable user experience.

The show ata endpoint output lists the AP’s AP Tunnel Agent (ATA) state transitions with a given gateway.

Key state/result fields:

CONNECTING ? PROBE_TIMEOUT ? INIT: the AP tries to bring up the IPSec tunnel, health probes to the gateway time out, then the state resets to INIT and retries.

TUN_RECV_TIMEOUT: the AP stops receiving tunnel keepalives/packets from the gateway within the expected interval.

SURVIVING indicates the AP is maintaining service with an already-up tunnel while control connectivity is impaired; it is not the state shown at the end here.

In the log, AP-01 repeatedly cycles through CONNECTING ? PROBE_TIMEOUT ? INIT, with intermittent TUN_RECV_TIMEOUT. This pattern is the documented symptom of the gateway being unreachable or down (no response to probes/keepalives), rather than a Central/orchestrator outage or PMTU problem.

Therefore, the correct conclusion is that the gateway at 192.168.1.92 is offline or not reachable.

A is incorrect: the final/recurring state is not SURVIVING.

C is incorrect: a Central/orchestrator issue would show SURVIVING (existing tunnel continues) rather than repeated probe timeouts to the gateway.

D is incorrect: PMTU issues do not generate recurring PROBE_TIMEOUT/TUN_RECV_TIMEOUT cycles; they appear as ESP/IKE negotiation problems, not persistent probe loss.

The provided event logs from Aruba Central show multiple entries of:

Client PMK/OKC Key Add/Update

Client PMK/OKC Key Delete

Operation ADD/UPDATE for key cache entry for client ...

Operation DEL for key cache entry for client ...

These log entries refer to Pairwise Master Key (PMK) and Opportunistic Key Caching (OKC) updates in the Aruba gateway or access point for wireless clients.

When a client roams between APs or the system refreshes key entries for active clients, Aruba’s infrastructure updates or deletes PMK cache entries dynamically. This process ensures secure key continuity across APs and controllers for tunneled SSIDs.

Exact Extracts from Aruba WLAN and AOS-10 Documentation:

“PMK/OKC cache updates and deletions are part of normal operation. When clients connect, disconnect, or roam, the system adds or removes their PMK cache entries. These log messages are informational and indicate expected WPA2-Enterprise behavior.”

“In a tunneled SSID, PMK and OKC entries are managed at the gateway level. When a client roams or rekeys, the gateway logs PMK/OKC Key Add/Update and Key Delete messages. These are not error conditions.”

“Frequent ADD/DEL entries for a client MAC address reflect normal WPA2 key lifecycle events—such as reauthentication, idle timeout, or client-driven disassociation.”

Thus, these messages indicate normal background key management (PMK caching and rekeying) and not any fault or attack scenario.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:

A. Denial-of-Service attack:False. These events correspond to key management, not excessive connection requests. Aruba security logs for DoS attacks show messages like “Association flood” or “Authentication flood,” not PMK/OKC operations.

B. Roaming issue:While OKC relates to roaming optimizations, these log messages do not indicate a failure or issue — they show successful key caching updates.

“OKC Key Add/Update events confirm successful key caching, not roaming failure.”

C. Client WLAN driver issue:No error messages (timeouts, EAP failures, or deauths) are logged. The presence of PMK updates and deletes alone does not imply a driver issue.

“Client driver problems typically manifest as association failures or 4-way handshake errors, not PMK cache logs.”

Conclusion:

The repeated “PMK/OKC Key Add/Update” and “Key Delete” events represent routine client key caching and refresh behavior in Aruba’s tunneled WLAN design.

No misconfiguration, client issue, or attack is implied.

Therefore, the correct answer is:

? D. This is normal, expected behavior. No further actions are needed.

References of HPE Aruba Networking Switching Documents or Study Guide:

ArubaOS 10 Wireless and Gateway Configuration Guide – “PMK caching and OKC operation.”

Aruba WLAN Troubleshooting and Operations Guide – “Understanding PMK/OKC key lifecycle and expected log events.”

Aruba Campus WLAN Best Practices Guide – “Tunneled SSID key management (PMK, OKC, and 802.11r Fast Roaming).”

Aruba Central Monitoring and Event Logs Reference – “Client PMK/OKC Key Add/Delete informational messages.”

MU-MIMO (Multi-User, Multiple Input, Multiple Output) provides the most efficient use of airtime for VoIP traffic among the options listed. MU-MIMO allows multiple users to receive multiple data streams simultaneously, improving the overall efficiency of the network, especially in dense environments where VoIP applications need consistent and reliable connectivity.

The CLI output displays EVPN routes and their corresponding next hops. The "Route Distinguisher" entries followed by IP addresses in the 172.21.11.x range indicate these are loopback addresses used by the underlay network. The underlay network provides the basic routing and forwarding plane for the overlay network that EVPN is part of. These loopback addresses are crucial for the proper functioning of the EVPN control plane.

In HPE Aruba Networking (AOS-CX and ArubaOS-S), Group-Based Policy (GBP) provides policy-based segmentation between roles by defining source and destination roles within the GBP configuration. These policies are defined using GBP classes, policies, and roles that determine how traffic between different user groups is handled.

From the configuration snippet shown in the exhibit, the following GBP policies and roles are defined:

class gbp-ip GBP-EMPLOYEE

class gbp-ip GBP-CONTRACTOR

port-access gbp GBP-EMPLOYEE

port-access gbp GBP-CONTRACTOR

When the command

Edge-1(config-pa-role)# associate gbp GBP-EMPLOYEE

is executed, the error message appears:

“The destination role in one or more classes of the policy does not match the role to which the policy is being associated to. % Command failed.”

This message clearly indicates that the role being associated (EMPLOYEE) does not match the destination role name defined in the GBP policy (GBP-EMPLOYEE).

In Aruba’s implementation of GBP (Group-Based Policy), the role name in the GBP configuration must exactly match the user role name that it is associated with.

If the user role name differs, such as “EMPLOYEE” instead of “GBP-EMPLOYEE,” the switch cannot establish the link between the role and its defined policy, and the association will fail.

HPE Aruba Official Explanation (Extracted from ArubaOS-S and AOS-CX Configuration Guide):

“The GBP role name must match the user role name exactly when associating a GBP policy with a port-access role.

If the configured GBP role name does not correspond to the user role name, the association will fail, and the system will generate a mismatch error.”

Therefore, in this scenario, the role EMPLOYEE should be renamed or recreated as GBP-EMPLOYEE so that the GBP policy association succeeds.

Option Analysis:

A. Configure a user role called GBP-EMPLOYEE instead of EMPLOYEE — Correct.The role name must match the GBP role name exactly. This resolves the mismatch error.

B. Associate the port-access role to the GBP role using the role ID — Incorrect.GBP does not use role IDs; it uses role names for matching and association.

C. Update the port-access GBP policies to reference the EMPLOYEE role — Incorrect.GBP policy definitions cannot be dynamically modified in this manner. The correct fix is to align role naming.

D. Update the entries in the class maps to reference the EMPLOYEE role — Incorrect.The class map references traffic classification, not the association of user roles.

Final Verified Answer: A

Reference Sources (HPE Aruba Official Materials):

ArubaOS-S 16.x Security Configuration Guide – Group-Based Policy (GBP) Roles and Policies

ArubaOS-CX 10.x Advanced Traffic Management and Policy Enforcement Guide

HPE Aruba Certified Switching Professional (ACSP) Study Guide – Role-Based Access Control and GBP Association

The Change of Authorization (CoA) messages are used in network access control scenarios and are typically received by the network access server, in this case, an Aruba AOS 10 Gateway. The correct command to verify the receipt of a CoA message is related to the control path traffic because CoA is a control plane function.

Option B, packet-capture controlpath udp 3799, is the correct answer because it specifies capturing control plane traffic on UDP port 3799, which is the standard port for CoA messages.

Options A, C, and D are incorrect because:

Option A captures data plane traffic, not control plane traffic.

Option C's packet-capture interprocess udp 3799 does not refer to a standard command for capturing CoA messages.

Option D, tcpdump host-port 3799, does not specify the correct syntax for capturing traffic on Aruba devices.

In AOS-10, client session/state synchronization for seamless roaming relies on a secure DTLS control channel between the devices that hold client state.

In AP-only (bridged) sites, APs synchronize session/PMK state AP-to-AP over DTLS within the site.

In tunneled SSID sites, the gateway cluster synchronizes client state among its members; APs still maintain DTLS control sessions for coordination.

If security boundaries (e.g., firewall rules separating lab and public areas) block DTLS between those APs/segments, session state cannot sync, and the system reports state-sync errors, exactly as observed.

This is independent of Central connectivity and not caused by 11r/11k being disabled; the error specifically indicates control-plane (DTLS) reachability problems between the APs in those areas.

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

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.

Scenario

Correct Role

This role is applied when a re-authentication attempt times out to ClearPass.

Critical role

This role is applied when ClearPass replies with the deny access enforcement profile.

Reject role

This role is applied when ClearPass replies with the allow access enforcement profile.

Auth-role

This role is applied when there is no match for a device profile.

Fallback role

In Aruba CX switching, when integrating ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM) for 802.1X, MAC Authentication, or Downloadable Role-based Access, the system assigns specific roles based on AAA enforcement outcomes or network events (timeouts, mismatches, or unknown devices).

These special roles ensure network survivability and consistent zero-trust policy enforcement even if ClearPass or RADIUS communication fails.

1. Critical Role ? Applied when re-authentication attempt times out to ClearPass

“When the switch cannot reach the RADIUS server during re-authentication (for example, a timeout), the switch assigns the critical-role to the authenticated client, ensuring continued network connectivity with a restricted policy.”

“This role is used to maintain limited access when the RADIUS server is unreachable or times out.”

This ensures that devices remain minimally operational while preventing full network access — crucial for survivable network designs.

2. Reject Role ? Applied when ClearPass replies with the deny access enforcement profile

“If the RADIUS response includes an Access-Reject, the switch applies the configured reject-role. This typically results in isolation or complete denial of access.”

“The reject-role allows enforcement of a restrictive VLAN or ACL after authentication failure.”

Therefore, when ClearPass denies access, the reject role provides an explicit enforcement action.

3. Auth-Role ? Applied when ClearPass replies with the allow access enforcement profile

“When the authentication succeeds and the RADIUS server returns an Access-Accept with an Aruba-User-Role attribute, the switch applies the auth-role.”

“This is the default operational role for authenticated clients.”

This role represents the authorized state, where the user receives full or role-based access according to ClearPass policies.

4. Fallback Role ? Applied when there is no match for a device profile

“If the client fails device profiling or no match is found in the endpoint database, the switch applies the fallback-role configured for unknown devices.”

“The fallback-role provides a baseline policy for unrecognized or unclassified endpoints.”

This ensures unknown or new devices can be placed in a limited-access posture pending classification.

References of HPE Aruba Networking Switching Documents or Study Guide:

ArubaOS-CX Access Security Guide (AOS-CX 10.12 and later) – “Role mapping and special roles (auth-role, reject-role, fallback-role, critical-role).”

Aruba ClearPass Policy Manager Deployment Guide – “Integration with Aruba Switch Roles and Enforcement Profile Mapping.”

Aruba Zero Trust Wired Access Design Guide – “Survivability roles for authentication failure or unreachable ClearPass.”

Aruba CX 6300 Configuration Guide – “AAA, Downloadable Roles, and Fallback/Critical Role Configuration.”

With primary and secondary gateway clusters defined on an SSID, APs follow a connection preference list: they attempt to form tunnels to primary gateways first; if all nodes are unreachable, they individually fail over to the secondary cluster.

Preemption governs return behavior (moving APs back to primary when it becomes available), but the decision to fail over when the primary is down is made per AP based on its ability to reach any node in the preferred cluster.

A cluster leader does not command APs to move when the entire primary cluster is down; the APs detect loss of keepalives and independently establish tunnels to the next cluster in their SSID profile.

References (HPE Aruba official materials): AOS-10 Gateway clustering and AP tunnel behavior—AP connection order (primary?secondary), failover decision per AP, and preemption controlling failback.

In HPE Aruba ClearPass Guest configuration, the “Address” field defines the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the captive portal server that users are redirected to when accessing the guest network.

When a wildcard certificate is used, such as *.aruba-training.com, the derived FQDN for the captive portal redirection automatically becomes:

captiveportal-login.aruba-training.com

This naming convention is required so that the Common Name (CN) or Subject Alternative Name (SAN) in the SSL certificate matches the domain presented to the client browser during HTTPS redirection.

If the “Address” field is incorrectly configured with just aruba-training.com, the certificate and the redirection URL will not match, causing the browser to block or fail the authentication process. This results in users being unable to browse after pressing Connect on the portal page.

HPE Aruba documentation states:

“When using a wildcard certificate (for example CN = *.domain.com) on ClearPass Guest, the web login redirection address must be configured as captiveportal-login.domain.com to ensure the HTTPS certificate name matches the redirection hostname.”

“If the address field does not match the derived hostname of the certificate, browser trust validation fails and users cannot proceed beyond the captive portal page.”

Additionally, the ArubaOS and ClearPass Guest deployment guide clarifies that wildcard certificates are fully supported for guest portals, provided that the Address field follows the proper naming pattern.

Incorrect Configurations:

Setting “Address” to aruba-training.com causes SSL mismatch errors.

Leaving the “Address” blank defaults to a local IP or hostname mismatch.

Correct Configuration:

“Address” should be set to captiveportal-login.aruba-training.com when the wildcard certificate is *.aruba-training.com.

Option Explanations:

A. Incorrect – this does not follow the certificate’s derived FQDN format.

B. Correct – matches the expected derived FQDN for wildcard certificates.

C. Incorrect – HTTPS certificates are required for secure guest portals.

D. Incorrect – Wildcard certificates are supported by ClearPass Guest and ArubaOS.

Final Verified Answer: B

Reference Sources (HPE Aruba Networking Official Materials):

Aruba ClearPass Guest Configuration and Deployment Guide

ArubaOS 8.x User Guide – Captive Portal and Authentication Configuration

HPE Aruba ClearPass Certificates 101 Technical Note

ArubaOS-Switch and ClearPass Integration Guide

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 From Exact Extract of HPE Aruba Networking Switching:

When using Downloadable User Roles (DUR) with HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass, the Aruba device (AP, gateway, or switch) must authenticate to ClearPass to retrieve and install the user role that ClearPass sends dynamically. This process differs from normal RADIUS authentication, where only the user credentials are verified.

In Aruba Central, when you configure an authentication server (ClearPass) and enable Downloadable Roles, the system requires CPPM Username and CPPM Password fields. These credentials are specifically used by the Aruba device to establish a secure HTTPS (TLS) session to the ClearPass server for DUR retrieval.

If the CPPM Username or CPPM Password values are missing, incorrect, or not synchronized with the corresponding credentials defined on ClearPass, the device will fail to authenticate to ClearPass for DUR retrieval. This results in RADIUS authentication succeeding (because LUR is still functioning), but the DUR cannot be downloaded.

Exact Extract from HPE Aruba Networking Switching and ClearPass Configuration Guides:

“When Downloadable User Roles are enabled, the Aruba device must authenticate with ClearPass using configured credentials. The device uses the CPPM Username and Password for HTTPS-based role retrieval. If the credentials are not defined or are invalid, role download will fail even if RADIUS authentication succeeds.”

“The CPPM Username and Password define the credentials the device uses to connect to ClearPass for downloadable role retrieval. These credentials must match the admin or API credentials configured on the ClearPass Policy Manager server.”

This explains why Local User Roles (LUR) work (standard RADIUS), but Downloadable User Roles (DUR) do not — the HTTPS/TLS authentication for DUR fails because the required credentials were not configured correctly.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:

A. Add a new Enforcement Policy of type "WEBAUTH" on ClearPass:WebAuth enforcement policies are unrelated to DUR. Downloadable User Roles are delivered using an Aruba Downloadable Role enforcement profile, not WebAuth.

“Downloadable roles are defined and enforced through the Aruba Downloadable Role profile type. WebAuth policies are used for captive portal authentication only.”

C. Uncheck the "Dynamic Authorization" checkbox:Dynamic Authorization (RFC 3576 or CoA) allows session reauthentication or role changes. Disabling this feature would not fix DUR, as DUR relies on CPPM credentials for HTTPS authentication.

“Dynamic Authorization (CoA) enables session updates but does not control role download authentication.”

D. Modify the shared secret on the switch using the 'radius-server host' command:This option applies to switch RADIUS configuration, not Aruba Central APs or gateways. The DUR process uses HTTPS with ClearPass credentials, not the RADIUS shared secret.

“The RADIUS shared secret is used for authentication requests, not for downloadable role retrieval. Downloadable roles require valid CPPM credentials.”

References of HPE Aruba Networking Switching Documents or Study Guide:

Aruba Central Management and Configuration Guide — Downloadable Roles Section(Explains CPPM Username/Password requirement and DUR HTTPS authentication process.)

Aruba ClearPass Policy Manager Configuration Guide — Aruba Downloadable Role Enforcement Profiles(Details the role download process and ClearPass credential validation.)

ArubaOS-Switch and AOS-CX Security Configuration Guide — Role-Based Access Control and ClearPass Integration(Describes the mechanism for DUR retrieval and the use of HTTPS between the Aruba device and ClearPass.)

The sequence to return to the previous firmware version after an unsuccessful update would typically be:

hit any key to stop autoboot (This would prevent the system from automatically booting into the current, problematic firmware.)

def_part 1 (This command sets the default boot partition, which is likely where the previous working firmware is located.)

bootf (This command would boot from the specified flash partition, which after the second step, would be the previous firmware.)

osinfo (After the system is booted, this command could be used to confirm the firmware version now running on the gateway.)

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

Beginning with ArubaOS 10 and the Wi-Fi 6/6E AP 6xx series (such as the AP-655), the default Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP) process has changed from AirWave or Instant-based provisioning to Aruba Central Cloud-based provisioning.

Factory-default APs running AOS 10 automatically:

Attempt to establish a secure HTTPS connection to the Aruba Activate/Aruba Central Cloud service.

Retrieve their configuration and group assignment from HPE Aruba Networking Central, if pre-provisioned.

Ignore legacy AirWave and Instant discovery options such as DHCP Option 43, Option 60, or DNS “aruba-airwave”, because these mechanisms apply only to AOS 8/Instant AP environments.

Official ArubaOS 10 Extract:

“Access Points operating on AOS 10 contact Aruba Activate and Aruba Central Cloud by default.

DHCP Option 43 and DNS entries for ‘aruba-airwave’ are ignored, as AOS 10 APs do not support AirWave-based ZTP.”

Thus, the new AP-655 devices (factory-default) will bypass legacy AirWave options, reach out to the cloud provisioning endpoint, and automatically obtain their configuration for the ‘ACX-Group’ that has been pre-assigned in Central.

Option Analysis:

A. Incorrect – AOS 10 APs ignore DHCP Option 43 for AirWave.

B. Incorrect – The DNS entry ‘aruba-airwave’ is ignored in AOS 10.

C. ? Correct – The APs contact the Aruba Cloud and retrieve the pre-provisioned “ACX-Group” configuration.

D. Incorrect – AOS 10 APs are never redirected to AirWave.

? Final Verified Answer: C

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

Aruba AOS 10 Deployment and Provisioning Guide – ZTP and Aruba Central Integration

Aruba Wi-Fi 6/6E AP 6xx Series Installation and Provisioning Guide

Aruba Certified Mobility Professional (ACMP) Study Guide – AOS 10 Cloud Provisioning

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.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation (Verified Extract from HPE Aruba Networking AOS-10 Gateway and Cluster Design Documentation)

When primary and secondary gateway clusters are defined in an SSID profile in AOS-10, the Access Points (APs) dynamically distribute their tunnel termination sessions based on the availability of both clusters.

If both clusters are operational and cluster preemption is not enabled, the APs maintain their current session distribution, resulting in an approximately equal split of AP tunnels across both clusters.

Aruba Documentation Extract:

“When both primary and secondary gateway clusters are reachable and cluster preemption is disabled, APs remain distributed across both clusters to maintain balance and prevent disruption.”

“Cluster preemption, if enabled, causes APs associated with the secondary cluster to move back to the primary cluster once it becomes available, consolidating tunnel load.”

Thus:

The equal split (72 APs per cluster) indicates both clusters are active,

and cluster preemption is disabled (so APs remain distributed instead of failing back to the primary cluster).

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:

A. Cluster homogeneity/heterogeneity does not influence AP distribution behavior.

B. If preemption were enabled, APs on the secondary cluster would fail back to the primary, not stay split.

D. The number of nodes does not determine AP load balancing or distribution.

? Final Verified Answer: C. The primary and secondary gateway clusters are up, but the cluster preemption is not enabled.

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

Aruba AOS-10 Gateway Clustering and Redundancy Guide – AP Distribution and Preemption

Aruba Central Network Design Guide – SSID Profile Gateway Assignment Behavior

Aruba Certified Mobility Expert (ACMX) Study Guide – Gateway Clustering and Failover Logic

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.

In HPE Aruba Networking (AOS-CX and AOS-Switch) OSPF implementation, the routing behavior for external routes (Type 5 LSAs) distinguishes between two types of external advertisements:

E1 (Type-1 external) — The total path cost is calculated as the sum of the internal cost to reach the ASBR (Autonomous System Boundary Router) plus the external cost as advertised in the LSA.

E2 (Type-2 external) — The external cost is considered independent of the internal OSPF path cost to reach the ASBR. Thus, the metric used is only the external cost from the LSA.

When both an E1 and an E2 route exist to the same external destination, OSPF gives preference to the E1 route, regardless of metric values, because the E1 route represents a more accurate total cost to the destination (including internal OSPF cost).

Extract (as per HPE Aruba OSPF Technical Overview and AOS-CX Routing Guide):

“When both Type-1 (E1) and Type-2 (E2) external LSAs for the same destination are present, the router always prefers the Type-1 route. Type-1 routes include both internal and external costs in the total metric, while Type-2 routes use only the external cost. The E1 path is therefore considered more precise and is selected as the preferred route.”

This is consistent across Aruba’s OSPF implementation and follows standard OSPF behavior as defined by the protocol (RFC 2328).

Therefore, when both E1 and E2 routes are available and have the same overall cost, the router will always prefer the E1 path.

When troubleshooting a WLAN with 802.1X tunneled SSID issues, AP tunnel states indicate the status of the connection between the AP and the gateway/controller. The states 'SM_STATE_REKEYING' and 'SM_STATE_CONNECTING' could indicate transitional states where the connection has not been fully established, hence users might face issues connecting to the SSID. 'SM_STATE_REKEYING' implies that the AP is in the process of re-establishing encryption keys, while 'SM_STATE_CONNECTING' indicates that the AP is trying to establish a connection with the controller or gateway. These states could lead to temporary connectivity issues until the state transitions to 'SM_STATE_CONNECTED'.

The exhibit shows that the SSID supports 802.11ax clients, which is indicated by the presence of HT (High Throughput) information, VHT (Very High Throughput) capabilities, and HE (High-Efficiency) operation, which are all features associated with 802.11ax, also known as Wi-Fi 6.