Free NVIDIA NCP-AIN Practice Exam with Questions & Answers

To perform Flow Analysis with NetQ, the following prerequisites must be met:​

Cumulus Linux Version: NetQ Flow Analysis requires Cumulus Linux 5.x or later.​

Switch Hardware: The feature is supported on Spectrum-2 and later switch models.​

Lifecycle Management (LCM): LCM must be enabled to utilize Flow Analysis capabilities.​

These requirements ensure compatibility and proper functioning of the Flow Analysis feature within NetQ.​

The NVIDIA Spectrum-X networking platform is an Ethernet-based solution optimized for AI workloads, combining Spectrum-4 switches, BlueField-3 SuperNICs, and advanced software to deliver high performance and low latency. Gathering telemetry data is critical for optimizing Spectrum-X networks, as it provides visibility into network performance, congestion, and potential issues. The question asks for the tool used to collect telemetry data in a Spectrum-X network.

According to NVIDIA’s official documentation, NVIDIA NetQ is the primary tool for gathering telemetry data in Ethernet-based networks, including those running on Spectrum-X platforms with Cumulus Linux or SONiC. NetQ is a network operations toolset that provides real-time monitoring, telemetry collection, and analytics for network health, enabling administrators to optimize performance, troubleshoot issues, and validate configurations. It collects detailed telemetry data such as link status, packet drops, latency, and congestion metrics, which are essential for Spectrum-X optimization.

Exact Extract from NVIDIA Documentation:

“NVIDIA NetQ is a highly scalable network operations tool that provides telemetry-based monitoring and analytics for Ethernet networks, including NVIDIA Spectrum-X platforms. NetQ collects real-time telemetry data from switches and hosts, offering insights into network performance, congestion, and connectivity. It supports Cumulus Linux and SONiC environments, making it ideal for optimizing Spectrum-X networks by providing visibility into key metrics like latency, throughput, and packet loss.”

—NVIDIA NetQ User Guide

This extract confirms that option C, NetQ, is the correct tool for gathering telemetry data in a Spectrum-X network. NetQ’s integration with Spectrum-X switches and its ability to collect and analyze telemetry data make it the go-to solution for network optimization tasks.

Spectrum-X achieves network isolation in multi-tenant environments by implementing Layer 3 Virtual Network Identifiers (L3VNIs) per Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) instance. This approach allows each tenant to have a separate routing table and network segment, ensuring that traffic is isolated and secure between tenants.​

Reference Extracts from NVIDIA Documentation:

"Spectrum-X enhances multi-tenancy with performance isolation to ensure tenants' AI workloads perform optimally and consistently."​

AnInfiniBand (IB) Routerconnects two or moreInfiniBand subnets, making it possible for nodes in different subnets to communicate throughroute-managed communication.

From the officialNVIDIA InfiniBand Routers Documentation:

"An InfiniBand router provides connectivity between two or more InfiniBand subnets, enabling communication between hosts that are not on the same subnet while preserving isolation and scalability."

Ensures fabric scalability by allowing subnet segmentation.

Uses LID routing across subnet managers (SMs).

Essential in large clusters with thousands of nodes.

Incorrect Options:

AandBare incorrect: InfiniBand does not connect directly to Ethernet or SANs without a gateway.

Cis unrelated: NVLink is a GPU interconnect, not tied to InfiniBand routers.

NetQintegrates multiple telemetry sources, includingWJH,DOCA, and notably,Behavioral Telemetry.

From theNetQ Documentation – Behavioral Telemetry Section:

"Behavioral telemetry in NetQ correlates server and application behavior with network events, offering insights into root cause analysis by detecting anomalies in protocol, path, or performance behavior."

This helps identify patterns like:

Misbehaving applications causing retransmits.

Sudden changes in traffic flows.

Latency spikes correlated with app-level issues.

It complements device-level telemetry by introducingintent-based anomaly detection, crucial for proactive operations.

Incorrect Options:

Flow telemetryandpacket captureoffer raw data but not behavioral insights.

Application telemetryis too vague and is not the term NetQ uses for this feature.

NVIDIA AIR (AI-Ready Infrastructure) is a cloud-based simulation platform designed to model and validate data center network deployments, including Spectrum-X Ethernet networks, using realistic topologies and configurations. When creating a custom topology in NVIDIA AIR, users can define network links between devices (e.g., spine and leaf switches) using a DOT file format, which is based on the Graphviz graph visualization software. The question asks for the correct syntax to define a link between port 1 on a spine switch (spine-01) and port 41 on a leaf switch (gpu-leaf-01) in a NVIDIA AIR simulation.

According to NVIDIA’s official NVIDIA AIR documentation, the DOT file format is used to specify network topologies, including nodes (devices) and links (connections between ports). The syntax for defining a link in a DOT file uses a double dash (--) to indicate a connection between two ports, with each port specified in the format "":"". For Spectrum-X networks, which typically use Cumulus Linux or SONiC on NVIDIA Spectrum switches, ports are commonly labeled as swpX (switch port X) rather than ethX (Ethernet interface), especially for switch-to-switch connections in a leaf-spine topology. The correct syntax for the link between port 1 on spine-01 and port 41 on gpu-leaf-01 is:

"spine-01":"swp01" -- "gpu-leaf-01":"swp41"

This syntax uses swp01 and swp41 to denote switch ports, consistent with Cumulus Linux conventions, and the double dash (--) to indicate the link, as required by the DOT file format.

Exact Extract from NVIDIA Documentation:

“You can create custom topologies in Air using a DOT file, which is the file type used with the open-source graph visualization software, Graphviz. DOT files define nodes, attributes, and connections for generating a topology for a network. The following is an example of a link definition in a DOT file:

"leaf01":"swp31" -- "spine01":"swp1"

This specifies a connection between port swp31 on leaf01 and port swp1 on spine01. Port names typically follow the switch port naming convention (e.g., swpX) for Cumulus Linux-based switches.”

—NVIDIA Air Custom Topology Guide

This extract confirms that option A is the correct answer, as it uses the proper DOT file syntax with swp01 and swp41 for port names and the double dash (--) for the link, aligning with NVIDIA AIR’s topology definition process for Spectrum-X simulations.

Analysis of Other Options:

B. "spine-01":"swp1" to "gpu-leaf-01":"swp41": This option uses the correct port naming convention (swp1 and swp41) but incorrectly uses the word to as the connector instead of the double dash (--). The DOT file format requires -- to define links, making this syntax invalid for NVIDIA AIR.

C. "spine-01":"eth1" to "gpu-leaf-01":"eth41": This option uses ethX port names, which are typically used for host interfaces (e.g., servers) rather than switch ports in Cumulus Linux or SONiC environments. Switch ports in Spectrum-X topologies are labeled swpX. Additionally, the use of to instead of -- is incorrect for DOT file syntax, making this option invalid.

D. "spine-01":"eth1" - "gpu-leaf-01":"eth41": This option uses a single dash (-) instead of the required double dash (--) and incorrectly uses ethX port names instead of swpX. The ethX naming is not standard for switch ports in Spectrum-X, and the single dash is not valid DOT file syntax, making this option incorrect.

Why "spine-01":"swp01" -- "gpu-leaf-01":"swp41" is the Correct Answer:

Option A correctly adheres to the DOT file syntax used in NVIDIA AIR for defining network links:

Node and Port Naming: The nodes spine-01 and gpu-leaf-01 are specified with their respective ports swp01 and swp41, following the swpX convention for switch ports in Cumulus Linux-based Spectrum-X switches.

Link Syntax: The double dash (--) is the standard connector in DOT files to indicate a link between two ports, as required by Graphviz and NVIDIA AIR.

Spectrum-X Context: In a Spectrum-X leaf-spine topology, connections between spine and leaf switches (e.g., Spectrum-4 switches) use switch ports labeled swpX, making swp01 and swp41 appropriate for this simulation.

This syntax ensures that the NVIDIA AIR simulation accurately models the physical connection between spine-01 port 1 and gpu-leaf-01 port 41, enabling validation of the Spectrum-X network topology. The DOT file can be uploaded to NVIDIA AIR to generate the topology, as described in the documentation.

To enable RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) on a Cumulus switch, the correct command is:​

nv set qos roce enable on

This command configures the Quality of Service (QoS) settings to support RoCE, ensuring that the necessary parameters for lossless Ethernet are applied.​

The Network Traffic Map in NVIDIA's Unified Fabric Manager (UFM) provides a visual representation of the network topology and traffic flows, which is particularly useful for identifying congestion points, verifying network configurations, and optimizing workload distribution.

However, when troubleshooting a single node's hardware failure, the Network Traffic Map is less effective, as it focuses on network-level issues rather than individual hardware components.​

Accessing theBlueField DPU Operating System (OS)is possible throughrshim, either over PCIe or USB, and viaSSH through the OOB interfacewhen in DPU mode.

From theNVIDIA BlueField Software Documentation:

"You can access the BlueField OS through the rshim interface. The rshim module enables host-to-DPU communication either via PCIe (default) or USB."

B. rshim over PCIe: Default when BlueField is installed in a host.

D. rshim over USB: Useful for provisioning or systems without PCIe drivers.

Incorrect Options:

A (NIC mode): BlueField acts as a transparent NIC; OS access is not available to the host.

C (Redfish): Redfish is for out-of-band management, not direct OS-level access.

Before upgrading Cumulus Linux, it's essential to back up configuration files to a different server. The /etc directory is the primary location for all configuration data in Cumulus Linux. Specifically, the following files and directories should be backed up:​

/etc/frr/ - Routing application (responsible for BGP and OSPF)

/etc/hostname - Configuration file for the hostname of the switch

/etc/network/ - Network configuration files, most notably /etc/network/interfaces and /etc/network/interfaces.d/

/etc/cumulus/acl - Access control list configurations​

Cumulus Linux is a network operating system used on NVIDIA Spectrum switches, including those in the Spectrum-X platform, to provide a Linux-based environment forEthernet networking in AI and HPC data centers. When upgrading Cumulus Linux to a new version, it’s critical to migrate specific configuration files to preserve network settings and ensure continuity. The question asks for the two configuration file locations that should be migrated from the old installation during an upgrade.

According to NVIDIA’s official Cumulus Linux documentation, the key directories containing configuration files that should be migrated during an upgrade are /etc/cumulus/acl (for access control list configurations) and /etc/network (for network interface configurations). These directories store critical network settings that define the switch’s behavior, such as ACL rules and interface settings, which must be preserved to maintain network functionality after the upgrade.

Exact Extract from NVIDIA Documentation:

“When upgrading Cumulus Linux, you must back up and migrate specific configuration files to ensure continuity of network settings. The following directories should be included in the backup:

/etc/cumulus/acl: Contains access control list (ACL) configuration files that define packet filtering and security policies.

/etc/network: Contains network interface configuration files, such as interfaces and ifupdown2 settings, which define the network interfaces and their properties.Back up these directories before upgrading and restore them after the new version is installed to maintain consistent network behavior.”—NVIDIA Cumulus Linux Upgrade Guide

This extract confirms that options A and B are the correct answers, as /etc/cumulus/acl and /etc/network contain essential configuration files that must be migrated during a Cumulus Linux upgrade. These files ensure that ACL policies and network interface settings are preserved, which are critical for Spectrum-X configurations in AI networking environments.