Which initial cabling step is required when adding a 2-node AFF A250 system to an existing 4-node AFF A800 cluster that uses Cisco Nexus 3232C switches?

Which initial cabling step is required when adding a 2-node AFF A250 system to an existing 4-node AFF A800 cluster that uses Cisco Nexus 3232C switches?

• A. Install the A250s' licenses.
• B. Cable the AFF A250 nodes to the breakout ports on the switch.
• C. Connect the A250 to the existing HA interconnect.
• D. Power-down the A800 cluster before interconnecting.

Answer: (B)

The essential idea is to establish the new nodes on the same network fabric right away. For the Cisco Nexus 3232C with breakout capability, the first physical step when adding new AFF nodes is to connect the AFF A250 nodes to the switch using the breakout ports. This creates the necessary interconnect paths (the data and management channels) that the existing cluster relies on, allowing the new nodes to be seen and integrated into the fabric. Licensing and software activation come next, and there’s no need to power down the existing cluster just to perform this initial cabling. Connecting to the existing HA interconnect before the fabric is established isn’t required since you need the switch-side paths in place first. Once the cabling to the breakout ports is complete, you can configure the fabric and bring the new nodes into the cluster.

The essential idea is to establish the new nodes on the same network fabric right away. For the Cisco Nexus 3232C with breakout capability, the first physical step when adding new AFF nodes is to connect the AFF A250 nodes to the switch using the breakout ports. This creates the necessary interconnect paths (the data and management channels) that the existing cluster relies on, allowing the new nodes to be seen and integrated into the fabric. Licensing and software activation come next, and there’s no need to power down the existing cluster just to perform this initial cabling. Connecting to the existing HA interconnect before the fabric is established isn’t required since you need the switch-side paths in place first. Once the cabling to the breakout ports is complete, you can configure the fabric and bring the new nodes into the cluster.