Cisco Certified Support Technician (CCST) NetworkingAutomation and ProgrammabilityEasy
A network administrator is designing a new campus network and wants to implement a solution that centralizes network configuration and management, allowing for programmatic control and automation. The administrator specifically wants to decouple the control plane from the data plane. Which networking concept best fits these requirements?
- AVirtual Local Area Network (VLAN)
- BQuality of Service (QoS)
- CSoftware-Defined Networking (SDN)
- DNetwork Address Translation (NAT)
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. Software-Defined Networking (SDN)
Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is an architectural approach that decouples the network control and forwarding functions, enabling network programmability and abstracting underlying infrastructure from applications and network services. This allows for centralized management and automation.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. VLANs segment a network into smaller broadcast domains, but do not provide centralized programmatic control.
- B. QoS prioritizes network traffic, but does not address centralized configuration or control plane separation.
- D. NAT is used for translating IP addresses, not for centralizing network control.
Software-Defined Networking (SDN)
An architecture that decouples the network control and forwarding functions, enabling network programmability and abstracting underlying infrastructure from applications and network services.
- Separates control plane from data plane
- Enables centralized network management
- Allows for programmatic network control
Memory trick: SDN: Smartly Directing Networks.