A global logistics company is experiencing inconsistent optimization for their custom-built inventory management application, which communicates over TCP port 8443. Analysis reveals that traffic is intermittently passed through without optimization. The network architect suspects asymmetric routing. Which SteelHead CLI command would be most effective in confirming this specific issue?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C
The show stats asymmetric-routing command is specifically designed to display statistics about connections that have been detected as asymmetric. It provides counters for asymmetric connection attempts, which is the most direct way to confirm if the SteelHead is identifying and passing through traffic due to this condition. While other commands show connection details or errors, this one directly targets asymmetry detection.
Question 2
An engineer is configuring SSL optimization for traffic destined for a server that uses a certificate signed by a well-known public Certificate Authority (e.g., DigiCert). Which component is essential on the server-side SteelHead to correctly intercept and optimize this traffic without causing trust errors on the client's browser?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: D
For SSL optimization, the server-side SteelHead acts as a Man-in-the-Middle. It needs its own Certificate Authority (CA) certificate and private key to dynamically create and sign 'proxy' certificates for the servers clients are accessing. This proxy certificate is presented to the client-side SteelHead. The client browsers must be configured to trust this SteelHead CA certificate to avoid warnings. While the SteelHead must trust the public CA, the key component for the interception itself is its own signing capability.
Question 3
A company is deploying SteelHeads to optimize SMBv3 traffic between its headquarters and a branch office. The security policy mandates that all SMBv3 traffic must be encrypted. The administrator has enabled SMBv3 optimization and configured signing on both SteelHeads. However, reports show no data reduction for this traffic. What is the most likely reason for this behavior?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Optimizing encrypted SMBv3 traffic requires the server-side SteelHead to participate in the Kerberos authentication process. To do this, it must be joined to the Active Directory domain in the correct mode (e.g., Active Directory Integrated). Without domain membership, the SteelHead cannot obtain the necessary session keys to decrypt, optimize, and re-encrypt the traffic, resulting in the connection being passed through without data reduction.
Question 4
Multiple answers
A network administrator is reviewing the QoS configuration on a SteelHead appliance. They notice that an application classified as 'Real-Time' is experiencing poor performance during periods of high network congestion. Which TWO QoS settings should be investigated to prioritize this traffic effectively? (Select TWO)
Answer and explanation
Correct answers: A, C
The DSCP mark tags the packet so that other network devices (routers, switches) can honor the priority level across the WAN. Ensuring the correct DSCP value (e.g., EF for Expedited Forwarding) is critical for end-to-end prioritization.
The traffic shaping policy on the SteelHead itself determines how bandwidth is allocated on the WAN link. The 'Real-Time' class must have a high priority and a guaranteed minimum bandwidth to ensure it is not starved by other traffic during congestion.
Question 5
True or False: When a SteelHead appliance is deployed in a virtual in-path mode using WCCP, the appliance's in-path interface must be configured with an IP address on the same subnet as the router performing the redirection.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
In a WCCP deployment, the router encapsulates redirected packets using GRE and sends them to the SteelHead's in-path IP address. The SteelHead then processes the traffic and sends it back to the router. For this communication to function correctly, the router and the SteelHead's in-path interface must be able to communicate at Layer 3, which typically requires them to be on the same IP subnet.
Question 6
A system administrator needs to upgrade the RiOS software on a pair of SteelHeads in a high-availability (HA) configuration. What is the recommended procedure to minimize downtime?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: D
The correct procedure for upgrading an HA pair is to upgrade the backup (standby) unit first. Once it has successfully rebooted with the new software version, you can initiate a manual failover. This makes the newly upgraded appliance the active primary. You can then proceed to upgrade the other appliance (now the backup) with minimal interruption to traffic, as one unit remains active throughout the process.
Question 7
After deploying SteelHead-c in AWS, an administrator notices that no traffic is being optimized. The deployment uses path selection rules to direct traffic from a branch office to the AWS VPC. Which of the following is a primary troubleshooting step to verify traffic is reaching the SteelHead-c instance?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
In a cloud environment like AWS, routing is controlled by VPC route tables. For a SteelHead-c to intercept traffic, the route tables for the relevant subnets must be explicitly configured to send traffic destined for the on-premises network (or other targets) to the Elastic Network Interface (ENI) of the SteelHead-c instance. If this routing is incorrect, traffic will bypass the appliance entirely.
Question 8
The command protocol smb signing ____ is used to configure the SteelHead's behavior for SMB signing. To ensure the SteelHead optimizes traffic when the client requests signing but the server does not, which parameter should be used in the blank?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C
The enabled parameter configures the SteelHead to perform SMB signing on behalf of the server if the client requests it, even if the server itself does not support or require signing. This allows optimization to proceed while still satisfying the client's security requirement. required would force signing always, and passthrough would disable signing optimization.
Question 9
A university is using SteelHeads to optimize traffic for its online learning platform. During peak usage, the SteelHead's CPU utilization is consistently above 90%, and connection admission control begins to drop new connections. Which report in the SteelHead management console is most useful for identifying the specific applications or traffic types consuming the most CPU resources?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
The Top Talkers report provides a breakdown of traffic by application, source/destination IP, and port. This allows an administrator to quickly identify which specific flows are generating the most traffic and, by extension, likely consuming the most CPU for optimization processing. This is more granular and actionable for this scenario than a general traffic summary.
Question 10
Case Study:
A retail corporation, 'GlobalMart', has a central data center and 500 branch stores. Each store has a SteelHead CX appliance, and the data center has a SteelHead cluster. They are heavily reliant on an encrypted Point-of-Sale (POS) application that uses a proprietary TCP protocol on port 9100. They also use encrypted MAPI for corporate email.
The network team has been tasked with optimizing both applications. They have successfully joined the data center SteelHeads to the domain for MAPI optimization. However, the POS application traffic remains unoptimized, showing as 'Passthrough (Encrypt)' in the connection reports. The security team has prohibited installing the SteelHead's private CA certificate on the POS terminals in the stores.
Which solution would allow GlobalMart to optimize the proprietary POS application traffic without compromising the security team's requirement?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
This is a classic use case for server-side private key SSL optimization. By installing the actual private key of the POS server onto the SteelHead, the appliance can decrypt the traffic for optimization without needing to forge a proxy certificate. Since the client (POS terminal) sees the original, unaltered server certificate, there is no need to install a new trusted CA on the client side, thus satisfying the security team's constraint.
