The storage team at an organization is planning to migrate from an older Fibre Channel storage environment to a new environment using IP-based storage. Which two switch features or characteristics…

Question

Options

• AFabric extending devices
• BSpanning Tree Protocol (STP)
• C2:1 or greater bandwidth oversubscription for 10 GbE switches
• DNon-blocking switch
• EDeep or ultra buffered switches

• A
  8% (3)
• B
  3% (1)
• C
  13% (5)
• D
  78% (31)

Explanation

For IP storage networks (such as iSCSI), performance and reliability hinge on two key hardware characteristics. A non-blocking switch (D) ensures every port can transmit at full line rate simultaneously with no internal congestion - storage I/O cannot afford to be throttled by the switch fabric itself. Deep/ultra-buffered switches (E) absorb traffic bursts without dropping packets, which is critical because TCP-based storage protocols like iSCSI respond to drops with retransmissions that severely degrade throughput and latency.

Why the distractors fail:

• A (Fabric extending devices) belong to the Fibre Channel world (e.g., FCIP extenders) - they're relevant to the old environment, not the new IP-based one.
• B (STP) is harmful for storage networks: it blocks redundant paths and introduces convergence delays, which are unacceptable for latency-sensitive storage traffic.
• C (2:1 or greater oversubscription) is the opposite of what you want - high oversubscription means the fabric cannot handle full traffic, causing the congestion that deep buffers and non-blocking designs are meant to eliminate.

Memory tip: Think "No Blocks, Deep Pockets" - IP storage needs a Non-blocking switch (no bottlenecks) and Deep buffers (pockets to hold bursts), while anything that blocks paths (STP) or starves bandwidth (oversubscription) is the enemy.

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