A customer must upgrade the Cisco ACI fabric to use a feature from the new code release. However, there is no direct path from the current release to the desired one. Based on the Cisco APIC…

According to Cisco ACI upgrade best practices and the APIC Upgrade/Downgrade Support Matrix, the APICs must always be upgraded first in an ACI fabric upgrade process. If an intermediate release is required, the APICs are the initial components to be upgraded to that interim version, establishing the control plane at the new release level before switches or other components are touched.

While both APICs and switches need to be upgraded, the upgrade path mandates that APICs are upgraded first, followed by switches, not both to an interim release concurrently.

This choice is identical to A; however, standard exam practice dictates only one designated correct answer.

Upgrading APICs directly to the targeted release is explicitly ruled out by the problem statement which states there is no direct path and an intermediate release is required.