HP HPE7-A02 - Aruba Certified Network Security Professional Exam

For a company that lacks visibility into various types of user and IoT devices on its internal network, HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Device Insight (CPDI) is the recommended solution. CPDI provides comprehensive visibility and profiling of all devices connected to the network. It uses machine learning and AI to identify and classify devices, offering detailed insights into their behavior and characteristics. This enhanced visibility enables the security team to effectively monitor and manage network devices, improving overall network security and compliance.

Hub-Spoke VPN Configuration:

HPE Aruba Central SD-WAN Orchestrator enables hub-spoke topology where branch gateways (BGWs) connect to VPN concentrators (VPNCs) located at data centers.

A key step in configuring this is defining which VPNCs the BGWs will prefer for connectivity.

The DC Preference List is configured in the BGW groups to prioritize the data centers to which BGWs connect.

Option Analysis:

Option A: Incorrect. VPN pools control IP allocation, not which branches connect to VPNCs.

Option B: Incorrect. IKE policies define key exchange mechanisms but are not part of the connection preference process.

Option C: Correct. Admins configure a DC preference list in BGW groups to determine connectivity priorities with VPNCs.

Option D: Incorrect. IPsec policies define encryption parameters at a global level, but this is not specific to the hub-spoke connection configuration.

A conflict in the Endpoints Repository usually indicates that ClearPass has seen different profiling data for the same MAC, which might mean a spoofing attempt—or simply normal behavior for certain device types.

Devices that use PXE boot often:

Boot initially from the network with one set of characteristics (e.g., a minimal OS, different DHCP fingerprint),

Then chain-load into a different OS with a different fingerprint and sometimes even a different network profile.

Aruba exam and design material specifically point out PXE boot as a common, benign cause of profiler conflicts and recommend tuning cluster-wide profiler parameters to ignore or relax some conflicts for these devices.

Therefore, you look at whether the company has devices that use PXE boot when deciding whether to tune profiler conflict behavior → Option D.

To configure the HPE Aruba Networking VIA solution for remote employees who need to download their VIA connection profile from the VPN Concentrator (VPNC) and ensure that only those who authenticate with their domain credentials through ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM) can do so, you need to set up a VIA Authentication Profile. This profile should use the CPPM's RADIUS server group. Once the VIA Authentication Profile is created, you need to reference this profile in the VIA Web Authentication Profile. This configuration ensures that the authentication process requires employees to validate their credentials via CPPM before they can download the VIA connection profile.

Wireshark: Follow TCP Stream:

Wireshark provides an intuitive feature to filter and display a complete TCP conversation.

By right-clicking any packet within the conversation and selecting "Follow → TCP Stream", Wireshark isolates and displays the entire conversation.

This feature allows you to view the communication in a simplified, sequential manner, including requests and responses.

Option Analysis:

Option A: Incorrect. Capture filters only apply during packet capturing, not for analyzing already saved packet captures.

Option B: Incorrect. Sorting packets helps with organizing data but does not isolate a complete conversation.

Option C: Incorrect. A capture filter for TCP port 5448 would have to be applied before capturing; it does not work for saved data.

Option D: Correct. Right-clicking a packet and choosing "Follow TCP Stream" is the simplest way to display the full conversation between 10.1.70.90 and 10.1.79.11 on port 5448.

Steps in Wireshark to Follow a TCP Stream:

Locate any packet within the desired conversation (e.g., between 10.1.70.90 and 10.1.79.11 on TCP port 5448).

Right-click on the packet.

Choose "Follow" → "TCP Stream".

Wireshark will display the entire TCP conversation, including both directions of communication.

This feature is especially useful when troubleshooting or analyzing detailed interactions between hosts.

Centralized Role Configuration on CPPM:

CPPM can assign roles to clients dynamically during authentication.

However, the actual ACL policies (e.g., firewall policies) must already exist and be referenced locally on the switch.

CPPM cannot directly configure ACL details on AOS-CX switches.

Option Analysis:

Option A: Correct. The role is defined on CPPM, but it references a policy pre-configured on the switch.

Option B: Incorrect. This does not align with Aruba's centralized role-based access control design.

Option C: Incorrect. CPPM cannot configure the ACL policies and classes directly; they must exist locally.

Option D: Incorrect. Policies can be referenced centrally but not fully configured on CPPM.

ClearPass Role Mapping Policy:

The Endpoint namespace is used to reference attributes and tags related to endpoint devices.

Device Insight Tags are part of endpoint profiling information and are stored in the Endpoint Repository.

Option Analysis:

Option A: Correct. The Endpoint namespace includes Device Insight Tags.

Option B: Incorrect. TIPS refers to system attributes and configuration data, not endpoint tags.

Option C: Incorrect. Device is not a valid namespace in this context.

Option D: Incorrect. Application relates to application-level attributes, not Device Insight Tags.

MAC Spoofing Detection with Endpoint Conflict:

When two devices attempt to use the same MAC address, ClearPass identifies a Conflict state in the Endpoints Repository.

This condition can be used to detect and quarantine clients that spoof legitimate devices.

Option D: Correct. The Conflict EQUALS true condition identifies devices with duplicate MAC addresses.

Option A: Incorrect. Endpoint compliance checks posture, not MAC spoofing.

Option B: Incorrect. Device Insight Tags are used for profiling but do not identify conflicts.

Option C: Incorrect. Compromised devices relate to security incidents, not MAC address conflicts.

ClearPass Device Profiler gathers information (DHCP, HTTP user-agent, MAC OUI, RADIUS, etc.) to identify device types and roles—especially non-user devices. Aruba documentation describes using profiling to recognize and categorize devices such as IP cameras, printers, and IoT “bots”, and to supply this identity context to access control policies. ExamTopics

Typical use cases include:

Automatically identifying a device as a security camera, printer, IP phone, etc.

Using that profile to assign an appropriate role/VLAN and enforcement profile in CPPM (e.g., restricted video-surveillance VLAN).

ClearPass literature explicitly calls out that Device Profiler is used to “automatically profile devices and provide an identity context (such as cameras, printers, or bots)” that can be used in policy decisions.

Options B, C, and D are handled by vulnerability scanners, directory services, or posture/OnGuard, not by Device Profiler itself. Therefore the correct use case is Option A.

When configuring 802.1X authentication on edge ports of an AOS-CX switch and assigning VoIP phones to a "voice" role, the correct approach is to configure VLAN 12 as the allowed trunk VLAN in the "voice" role. This setup ensures that traffic tagged for VLAN 12 is appropriately managed by the role applied to the VoIP phones. In AOS-CX switches, the role-based VLAN configuration allows for more granular control and ensures that the VoIP phones' traffic is handled correctly without altering the edge port settings, which typically operate with default settings for authentication.