HPE7-A07 HP Aruba Certified Campus Access Mobility Expert Written Exam Free Practice Exam Questions (2025 Updated)

The Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) used by wireless stations is directly affected by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the frequency band. Higher SNR can lead to higher MCS values, which means better data rates. The frequency band can affect MCS due to different channel characteristics, such as the presence of interference and propagation properties, which are factors in determining data rates.

Dynamic Multicast Optimization (DMO) and Multicast Transmission Optimization are features that can help address issues with multicast traffic in wireless environments. DMO optimizes the way multicast traffic is transmitted over the air by converting multicast streams into unicast streams to the clients that need them. This reduces unnecessary traffic for clients that have not subscribed to the multicast group and can improve overall network performance. Multicast Transmission Optimization adjusts the transmission rate of multicast frames to ensure they are sent at optimal speeds, addressing the issue of multicast flow being received at slow speeds by all users.

The capture shows messages related to WPA key management, indicating WPA2-PSK is being used. Also, the capture includes a DHCP request from the client but no corresponding DHCP ACK, suggesting the client is not receiving an IP address, which could explain the connectivity failure.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract of HPE Aruba Networking Switching:

The requirement in this question is to allow IT staff to provision unique pre-shared keys (PSKs) for each IoT device on a single SSID, ensuring that one device’s PSK cannot be used by another. This is the definition of Multi-Pre-Shared Key (MPSK) functionality.

HPE Aruba Networking supports three main MPSK deployment methods:

MPSK Local – Keys are defined locally on the AP or gateway; no external integration.

MPSK with ClearPass – Keys are managed and validated via ClearPass Policy Manager.

MPSK with Cloud Authentication – Keys are generated, stored, and managed natively through Aruba Central Cloud Authentication.

In this scenario, the IT Helpdesk wants a simplified, cloud-based method to generate and manage per-device unique PSKs without needing a ClearPass deployment. This aligns directly with MPSK AES with HPE Aruba Networking Central Cloud Authentication.

Exact Extract from HPE Aruba Networking Switching and Central Documentation:

“MPSK with Cloud Authentication allows administrators to configure a single SSID where each device is assigned a unique PSK. The PSKs are securely stored and validated using Aruba Central’s cloud-based authentication service.”

“Each PSK is tied to a specific client identity. If another device attempts to connect using the same PSK, the authentication will fail.”

“This method simplifies onboarding of IoT and headless devices while maintaining security equivalent to 802.1X.”

Thus, the correct recommendation is MPSK AES with Aruba Central Cloud Authentication, which fully supports per-device key uniqueness, centralized management, and cloud-based authentication—ideal for IoT device onboarding.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:

A. MPSK AES with ClearPass:Valid and secure, but requires an on-prem ClearPass Policy Manager deployment. The question specifies a simpler method for IT Helpdesk to manage keys directly, which Cloud Authentication provides natively.

“ClearPass MPSK requires policy manager integration; Aruba Central Cloud Authentication provides a simpler cloud-native alternative.”

C. MPSK Local:Suitable for small static environments, but not scalable and requires manual key creation on the AP or gateway. Does not allow IT staff to easily generate new keys per device via Central.

“MPSK Local does not support centralized lifecycle management or key revocation.”

D. MPSK AES with MAC Auth:MPSK already handles per-device authentication via unique keys; MAC authentication is unnecessary and less secure.

“MAC authentication is an alternate method for non-802.1X devices but is not required with MPSK.”

References of HPE Aruba Networking Switching Documents or Study Guide:

Aruba Central Cloud Authentication and MPSK Deployment Guide – “Configuring MPSK AES with Cloud Authentication.”

Aruba Wi-Fi 6 and IoT Integration Best Practices Guide – “Securing IoT with Cloud-Managed MPSK.”

ArubaOS 10 WLAN Configuration Guide – “MPSK Modes (Local, ClearPass, Cloud Authentication) and Use Cases.”

The error message "User not found" indicates that the authentication source, in this case, Active Directory (AD), is not able to locate the user account based on the current search parameters. This often occurs when the User Principal Name (UPN) that the client is using to authenticate is not included in the search parameters of the AD authentication source within ClearPass. By modifying the AD authentication source to include the UPN in the search, ClearPass will be able to correctly locate the user account and proceed with the authentication using the valid client certificates.

In a packet capture from an upstream switch port mirror, you would see the VLAN assignment. The port mirror captures the traffic as it is on the network, including any VLAN tags. GRE or IPsec tunnels encapsulate the original packet, including VLAN tags, but the VLAN information is not visible within the encapsulation headers.

VoIP quality can be negatively impacted by insufficient cell overlap in AP deployment plans, which can cause poor handoffs between APs as a user moves around. This results in a degraded VoIP experience. Additionally, roaming into an area with continuous Zigbee operation can cause interference with the 5GHz frequency band, further contributing to poor VoIP call quality. The Zigbee communication protocol operates on the same frequency band as Wi-Fi and can introduce noise and interference, which leads to a reduced MOS score, as reported by the VoIP engineer.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract of HPE Aruba Networking Switching:

In AOS-10 wireless deployments, HPE Aruba Networking supports the configuration of Primary and Secondary Gateway Clusters in the SSID profile to ensure high availability, redundancy, and load distribution. This configuration follows Aruba’s gateway clustering best practices, where access points (APs) attempt to establish tunnels with their Primary Gateway Cluster first. If the AP cannot reach the primary cluster (due to reachability, latency, or network topology), it automatically connects to the Secondary Gateway Cluster.

When both gateway clusters are active and reachable but some APs cannot reach the primary cluster—for example, due to Layer 3 routing, firewall restrictions, or network segmentation—those APs will associate with the secondary cluster instead. This results in an approximately equal split of APs across both clusters, even though the primary cluster is operational.

Exact Extract from HPE Aruba Networking Switching and AOS-10 Gateway Documentation:

“Access Points attempt to form tunnels with the Primary Gateway Cluster first. If the primary cluster is unreachable or fails to respond within the defined timeout, the AP establishes a tunnel with the Secondary Gateway Cluster.”

“When the primary and secondary gateway clusters are both up but APs are distributed across separate routed networks or VLANs, APs may select the gateway cluster that is most reachable at that time, resulting in an even or partial split of AP distribution.”

“This is expected behavior when APs in different subnets cannot reach the same primary cluster due to network topology. The secondary cluster provides redundancy and connectivity continuity.”

Therefore, the equal split of 260 APs is explained by the fact that while the primary cluster is active, a subset of APs cannot reach it due to routing or segmentation and thus join the secondary cluster—this behavior aligns with Aruba’s gateway redundancy mechanism.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:

A. The statement reverses the cause: APs that cannot reach the primary connect to the secondary—not the other way around. The secondary cluster’s reachability does not affect AP selection when the primary is available and reachable.

“APs first attempt the primary cluster; only failure to reach it triggers fallback to secondary.”

B. Secondary cluster is homogeneous:Cluster homogeneity refers to identical hardware/software versions between gateways; it does not influence AP distribution or equal load split.

“Homogeneity is a software version consideration, not an AP load-balancing factor.”

C. Secondary cluster is heterogeneous:Heterogeneity (mixed hardware types) is unsupported or discouraged; it does not cause AP distribution behavior.

“Heterogeneous gateway clusters are not a cause of AP distribution variation; cluster type does not dictate AP split.”

References of HPE Aruba Networking Switching Documents or Study Guide:

ArubaOS 10 Gateway and AP Deployment Guide – “Primary and Secondary Gateway Cluster Configuration and AP Association Logic.”

Aruba High Availability and Clustering Best Practices Guide – “Gateway Cluster Failover, Redundancy, and AP Selection.”

Aruba Central Cloud Management and Monitoring Guide – “SSID Profile Configuration: Primary and Secondary Gateway Clusters.”

Aruba Campus Wireless Design Guide (AOS 10.x) – “Cluster Reachability, Redundancy, and Role Propagation Across Gateways.”

default GBP role = GBP role ID = 0

infrastructure GBP role = GBP role ID = 2

user-defined GBP role = GBP role ID = <100-8191>

The command shown in the exhibit is:

Access-1# show ubt state

This command displays the User-Based Tunneling (UBT) status on an Aruba CX switch. UBT allows wired access devices (like CX 6300/6400) to extend tunneled connectivity to Aruba gateways, using GRE tunnels for user traffic.

The output contains the following sections:

1. Local Conductor Server (LCS) State

Primary : 172.16.200.252 ready_for_bootstrap operational_primary

Secondary : 172.16.200.253 ready_for_bootstrap operational_secondary

This confirms that two gateways (IP 172.16.200.252 and 172.16.200.253) form an LCS pair in an Aruba gateway cluster.

Exact extract:

“The Local Conductor Servers (LCS) represent the pair of Aruba Gateways that control and terminate UBT tunnels. One operates as the primary (active) and the other as the secondary (standby). These gateways must be configured as a cluster pair.”

2. Switch Anchor Controller (SAC) State

Active : 172.16.200.252 20:4c:03:81:e7:ca registered

Standby : 172.16.200.253 20:4c:03:b2:12:0a registered

Both gateways are registered as active and standby switch anchor controllers. This is a clear indication that the switch (Access-1) has successfully established tunnels to both gateways within the cluster.

Exact extract:

“The Switch Anchor Controller (SAC) section lists both cluster members to which the switch forms GRE tunnels. The switch maintains active and standby tunnels for redundancy.”

3. User Anchor Controller (UAC) State

Each connected user is mapped to a User Anchor Controller (UAC) — one of the two gateways — depending on cluster load balancing:

User Anchor Controller (UAC): 172.16.200.252

User Anchor Controller (UAC): 172.16.200.253

Each user session is anchored on a specific gateway within the cluster. The presence of two different UAC IPs confirms that users are being distributed across both gateways — a behavior that occurs only in a clustered gateway configuration.

Exact extract:

“In a clustered gateway deployment, each user session is dynamically anchored to one of the gateways. The UAC field shows which gateway currently handles each user session.”

Conclusion:

From the output:

Two gateways are shown as primary and secondary LCS.

Both are registered as SACs (tunnel endpoints).

Users are distributed across both gateways as UACs.

This confirms that Access-1 (the CX switch) has established GRE tunnels to a pair of gateways within a cluster.

Hence, the correct answer is A. A pair of gateways within a cluster.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:

B. A pair of switches running VXLAN:UBT tunnels are GRE-based and terminate on Aruba Gateways, not VXLAN-enabled switches.

“User-Based Tunneling uses GRE tunnels to Aruba Gateways; VXLAN is not used for UBT.”

C. A single gateway within a cluster:The output explicitly shows two controllers (active and standby) registered — not a single one.

D. A pair of standalone gateways:The LCS state shows primary/secondary operational roles, which exist only in a cluster, not standalone gateways.

References of HPE Aruba Networking Switching Documents or Study Guide:

ArubaOS-CX Access Security and UBT Configuration Guide – “Understanding User-Based Tunneling (UBT), LCS, SAC, and UAC roles.”

Aruba Gateway Clustering and Redundancy Guide – “Cluster operation and role distribution for UBT.”

Aruba Campus Wired and Wireless Integration Guide – “How CX switches form UBT tunnels to clustered Aruba gateways.”

Aruba Zero Trust Access Design Guide – “High availability with UBT across gateway clusters.”

In Aruba CX 6300 and other AOS-CX switches, device profiling enables automatic assignment of roles and policies to endpoints based on device attributes such as MAC OUI, LLDP, or DHCP fingerprint — without requiring an external authentication server such as ClearPass or RADIUS.

The configuration snippet shows:

mac-group iot

seq 10 match mac-oui 81:cd:93

port-access device-profile iot-prod

enable

associate role iot-prod

associate mac-group iot

This means that any device with a MAC address matching the OUI 81:cd:93 will automatically be assigned the iot-prod device profile and its associated role (iot-prod).

However, the requirement also specifies that any other device connected to the same interface (that does not match the OUI or device profile) should still be assigned a default role called iot-default.

To ensure that endpoints not matching any known device profile still receive limited network access, Aruba AOS-CX uses the fallback-role feature under port-access configuration.

The command:

port-access fallback-role iot-default

defines the role that will be automatically assigned to endpoints that fail to match any of the configured device-profile conditions.

This mechanism is crucial in lab or standalone environments where no external authentication (e.g., RADIUS, ClearPass) is configured. It ensures devices are still given a default policy, preventing them from being left in an unauthenticated or blocked state.

Official HPE Aruba Extract (ArubaOS-CX Security and Access Guide):

“The fallback-role command allows the switch to assign a predefined local role to a device when no authentication server is available, or when the device does not match any configured device profile.”

“This command is typically used in test or lab environments where profiling is local to the switch, and a baseline role must still be enforced for unknown devices.”

Therefore, in this case:

Devices matching the MAC OUI 81:cd:93 → assigned iot-prod role

All other devices → automatically assigned iot-default role via port-access fallback-role iot-default

Option Analysis:

A. Incorrect – The port-access onboarding-method precedence command changes the priority order between authentication methods (e.g., 802.1X, MAC-auth, device profile). It does not control fallback behavior.

B. Incorrect – The block-until-profile-applied option delays port activation until profiling completes, but it doesn’t provide a fallback role.

C. Correct – The port-access fallback-role iot-default command ensures that any device not matching the iot-prod profile receives the iot-default role.

D. Incorrect – Lowering precedence has no effect on assigning a default role.

Final Verified Answer: C

Reference Sources (HPE Aruba Official Materials):

Aruba AOS-CX Security and Access Configuration Guide – Device Profiling and Role Assignment

Aruba Certified Switching Professional (ACSP) Study Guide – Port Access and Device Profiling

ArubaOS-CX Fundamentals Guide – Port Access and Fallback Role Implementation

The issue is that unknown TLVs (Type Length Values) cannot be displayed. LLDP (Link Layer Discovery Protocol) is used to share device information with network neighbors, but if a TLV is not recognized by the LLDP implementation on the gateway, it won't be displayed or processed. Hence, the Asset ID TLV set on the device for inventory management is not showing up because it is unrecognized or unsupported by the gateway's LLDP.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract of HPE Aruba Networking Switching:

When using Downloadable User Roles (DUR) with HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass, the Aruba device (AP, gateway, or switch) must authenticate to ClearPass to retrieve and install the user role that ClearPass sends dynamically. This process differs from normal RADIUS authentication, where only the user credentials are verified.

In Aruba Central, when you configure an authentication server (ClearPass) and enable Downloadable Roles, the system requires CPPM Username and CPPM Password fields. These credentials are specifically used by the Aruba device to establish a secure HTTPS (TLS) session to the ClearPass server for DUR retrieval.

If the CPPM Username or CPPM Password values are missing, incorrect, or not synchronized with the corresponding credentials defined on ClearPass, the device will fail to authenticate to ClearPass for DUR retrieval. This results in RADIUS authentication succeeding (because LUR is still functioning), but the DUR cannot be downloaded.

Exact Extract from HPE Aruba Networking Switching and ClearPass Configuration Guides:

“When Downloadable User Roles are enabled, the Aruba device must authenticate with ClearPass using configured credentials. The device uses the CPPM Username and Password for HTTPS-based role retrieval. If the credentials are not defined or are invalid, role download will fail even if RADIUS authentication succeeds.”

“The CPPM Username and Password define the credentials the device uses to connect to ClearPass for downloadable role retrieval. These credentials must match the admin or API credentials configured on the ClearPass Policy Manager server.”

This explains why Local User Roles (LUR) work (standard RADIUS), but Downloadable User Roles (DUR) do not — the HTTPS/TLS authentication for DUR fails because the required credentials were not configured correctly.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:

A. Add a new Enforcement Policy of type "WEBAUTH" on ClearPass:WebAuth enforcement policies are unrelated to DUR. Downloadable User Roles are delivered using an Aruba Downloadable Role enforcement profile, not WebAuth.

“Downloadable roles are defined and enforced through the Aruba Downloadable Role profile type. WebAuth policies are used for captive portal authentication only.”

C. Uncheck the "Dynamic Authorization" checkbox:Dynamic Authorization (RFC 3576 or CoA) allows session reauthentication or role changes. Disabling this feature would not fix DUR, as DUR relies on CPPM credentials for HTTPS authentication.

“Dynamic Authorization (CoA) enables session updates but does not control role download authentication.”

D. Modify the shared secret on the switch using the 'radius-server host' command:This option applies to switch RADIUS configuration, not Aruba Central APs or gateways. The DUR process uses HTTPS with ClearPass credentials, not the RADIUS shared secret.

“The RADIUS shared secret is used for authentication requests, not for downloadable role retrieval. Downloadable roles require valid CPPM credentials.”

References of HPE Aruba Networking Switching Documents or Study Guide:

Aruba Central Management and Configuration Guide — Downloadable Roles Section(Explains CPPM Username/Password requirement and DUR HTTPS authentication process.)

Aruba ClearPass Policy Manager Configuration Guide — Aruba Downloadable Role Enforcement Profiles(Details the role download process and ClearPass credential validation.)

ArubaOS-Switch and AOS-CX Security Configuration Guide — Role-Based Access Control and ClearPass Integration(Describes the mechanism for DUR retrieval and the use of HTTPS between the Aruba device and ClearPass.)

When troubleshooting a WLAN with 802.1X tunneled SSID issues, AP tunnel states indicate the status of the connection between the AP and the gateway/controller. The states 'SM_STATE_REKEYING' and 'SM_STATE_CONNECTING' could indicate transitional states where the connection has not been fully established, hence users might face issues connecting to the SSID. 'SM_STATE_REKEYING' implies that the AP is in the process of re-establishing encryption keys, while 'SM_STATE_CONNECTING' indicates that the AP is trying to establish a connection with the controller or gateway. These states could lead to temporary connectivity issues until the state transitions to 'SM_STATE_CONNECTED'.