100+ Free Arista ACE Specialist - Data Center Practice Questions

Pass your Arista ACE Specialist - Data Center (AN-DC-OP01 / AN-DC-EN01) exam on the first try — instant access, no signup required.

✓ No registration✓ No credit card✓ No hidden fees✓ Start practicing immediately

Arista does not publicly report pass rates Pass Rate

100+ Questions

100% Free

1 / 100

Question 1

Score: 0/0

What is the size of the VXLAN VNI (VXLAN Network Identifier) field?

32 bits

12 bits — same as a VLAN ID

24 bits — supporting ~16 million identifiers

16 bits — same as a TCP port

to track

Same family resources

Explore More Arista Certifications

Continue into nearby exams from the same family. Each card keeps practice questions, study guides, flashcards, videos, and articles in one place.

2026 Statistics

Key Facts: Arista ACE Specialist - Data Center Exam

$295

Exam Fee Per Sub-Track

AN-DC-OP01 or AN-DC-EN01

4 hr

Practical Lab Duration

Per sub-track exam

Honorlock

Proctoring Provider

Online open-book

2 exams

Operations + Engineering

Both required for full track

100

Free MCQ Practice Items

Conceptual prep set

EOS + CVP

Real Lab Environment

Hands-on, not multiple choice

Arista ACE Specialist - Data Center is a two-exam, hands-on practical track ($295 per sub-track) covering Operations (AN-DC-OP01) and Engineering (AN-DC-EN01), each a 4-hour online open-book lab on real EOS and CloudVision proctored by Honorlock. The exams are NOT multiple-choice; they require live configuration and troubleshooting of Arista DC fabrics. This free 100-question MCQ set is a conceptual companion: it reinforces the theory you must apply during the lab, covering MLAG, VARP, leaf-spine and eBGP underlays, VXLAN data plane, BGP-EVPN control plane (Route Types 1-5, symmetric IRB, Anycast Gateway), CloudVision Portal Studios/Workspaces/Change Control, Telemetry/AQL, AVD, and ANTA. Use it to validate concepts before practicing on Arista Test Drive (ATD) labs.

Sample Arista ACE Specialist - Data Center Practice Questions

Try these sample questions to test your Arista ACE Specialist - Data Center exam readiness. Each question includes a detailed explanation. Start the interactive quiz above for the full 100+ question experience with AI tutoring.

1Two Arista leaf switches form an MLAG pair. Which two interfaces are required between the peers to establish the MLAG domain?

A.Peer-link (data) and peer-keepalive (control/heartbeat)

B.Two physical uplinks bonded as Po1

C.VARP virtual interface and OSPF adjacency

D.VXLAN VTI and BGP EVPN session

Explanation: An Arista MLAG domain requires a peer-link that carries MLAG control PDUs and dual-homed data traffic, plus a peer-keepalive (also called peer-address heartbeat) that runs over a separate Layer 3 path — typically a /30 SVI in a dedicated VLAN or the management VRF — so the peers can detect a true peer failure versus a peer-link failure.

2On an Arista MLAG pair, which port-channel ID is conventionally used for the peer-link itself?

A.Port-Channel1

B.Port-Channel10

C.Port-Channel1000

D.Port-Channel4094

Explanation: The peer-link Inter-Switch Link (ISL) is conventionally configured as Port-Channel1000 in Arista designs and Arista Validated Designs (AVD). MLAG member port-channels (the dual-homed ports) use the `mlag <id>` command to map a local port-channel to a shared MLAG number.

3An engineer enters `show mlag` and the local interface state shows `secondary`. What does this indicate?

A.The MLAG peer is offline and traffic is blackholed

B.The MLAG agent is healthy and this peer was elected as the secondary by system MAC tiebreaker

C.The peer-link is congested and traffic is being load-balanced to spine

D.The switch has lost its license and is read-only

Explanation: MLAG peers elect a primary and secondary based on the lower MLAG system MAC. Both peers forward traffic equally on dual-homed port-channels — the primary/secondary role only matters for resolving config-sanity tiebreakers and for assignment of certain control-plane elements; data forwarding is fully active/active.

4After bringing up MLAG, which command quickly reports VLANs, interfaces, or settings that are inconsistent between the two peers?

A.show running-config diffs

B.show mlag config-sanity

C.show vlan internal usage

D.show spanning-tree mst inconsistency

Explanation: `show mlag config-sanity` compares MLAG-relevant configuration between the two peers and flags global parameters (VLAN list, MTU, STP mode) and per-interface parameters (allowed VLANs, native VLAN, port-channel membership) that disagree. It is the first troubleshooting command for dual-homed connectivity issues.

5Which statement about Arista VARP (Virtual ARP) is correct?

A.VARP elects one active forwarder per VLAN like VRRP

B.VARP requires PIM-SM to flood ARP requests in the underlay

C.VARP allows all configured switches to forward Layer 3 traffic for the same virtual IP and virtual MAC simultaneously

D.VARP only works when the peer-link is a Layer 3 routed link

Explanation: VARP is an active/active first-hop redundancy mechanism unique to Arista: every SVI configured with the same `ip virtual-router address` and a common `ip virtual-router mac-address` answers ARP for the gateway with the shared MAC. There is no election protocol — both peers route locally without traversing the peer-link.

6Which command sets the shared virtual MAC address used by VARP across an MLAG pair?

A.ip virtual-router mac-address aaaa.bbbb.cccc

B.mac-address virtual aaaa.bbbb.cccc

C.vrrp 1 mac aaaa.bbbb.cccc

D.ip helper virtual aaaa.bbbb.cccc

Explanation: The global command `ip virtual-router mac-address <mac>` defines the shared MAC that VARP uses to answer ARP. The same MAC must be configured on both MLAG peers, and per-SVI virtual IPs are then assigned with `ip virtual-router address <ip>`.

7What is the primary advantage of VARP over VRRP in an MLAG-based data center?

A.VARP encrypts gateway ARP responses

B.VARP avoids hairpinning traffic across the peer-link because every peer routes locally

C.VARP provides BFD-style sub-second failure detection

D.VARP supports up to 1024 virtual routers per VLAN

Explanation: With VRRP, only the active master routes for the virtual IP — frames hitting the standby must traverse the peer-link to reach the master. VARP makes both MLAG peers active forwarders for the same gateway IP/MAC, so traffic is L3-routed locally on whichever peer received it, eliminating peer-link hairpins.

8An MLAG-connected server is single-homed to only one of the MLAG peers. Which port-channel/VLAN behavior applies?

A.The port must be configured as `mlag 1` so both peers terminate it

B.The port should be a regular access/trunk port; MLAG peers will forward via the peer-link if the other peer needs to reach the orphan

C.Single-homed devices are not allowed on MLAG switches

D.Spanning-tree must be disabled on the orphan port

Explanation: An orphan (single-homed) port is configured as a normal access or trunk interface — not under an `mlag <id>` port-channel. Traffic destined to an orphan from the peer correctly transits the peer-link, which is exactly why the peer-link must trunk all relevant VLANs.

9Which combination of EOS commands shows the operational status of all MLAG-bound port-channels and which peer is forwarding each one?

A.show mlag detail and show mlag interfaces detail

B.show port-channel summary and show interfaces description

C.show running-config mlag and show vlan brief

D.show ip arp vrf default and show ip route

Explanation: `show mlag detail` reports the state of the MLAG agent, peer-link, peer address, and primary/secondary role. `show mlag interfaces detail` lists every MLAG ID, the local and remote port-channels mapped to it, and the active/inactive forwarding state per peer.

10What is the role of the MLAG `dual-primary-detection delay` timer?

A.It controls how long the secondary waits before becoming primary after peer-link failure

B.It defines the maximum allowed clock skew between peers

C.It sets a delay before MLAG peers come up after reload

D.It is the LACP slow timer for MLAG member ports

Explanation: If both the peer-link and the keepalive are lost, both peers could declare themselves primary (split brain) and forward duplicates. The dual-primary-detection delay gives the peers time to confirm true peer loss via the keepalive before each takes ownership of the shared resources.

About the Arista ACE Specialist - Data Center Exam

The Arista ACE Specialist - Data Center credential validates hands-on data-center engineering and operations skills on Arista EOS and CloudVision. The track has two separate practical lab exams: AN-DC-OP01 (Operations) and AN-DC-EN01 (Engineering). Each is a 4-hour online open-book practical lab, proctored by Honorlock, run on real EOS switches and CloudVision Portal. Topics include MLAG and VARP, Layer 2 and Layer 3 leaf-spine designs, eBGP/OSPF/IS-IS underlays, BGP unnumbered, VXLAN data plane and BGP-EVPN control plane, symmetric/asymmetric IRB, Anycast Gateway, EVPN multihoming with Designated Forwarder, CloudVision Studios/Workspaces/Change Control, Telemetry and AQL queries, Arista Validated Designs (AVD), and ANTA test automation.

Assessment

The real Arista ACE Specialist Data Center is a hands-on, open-book practical lab on real EOS and CloudVision (NOT multiple-choice). This free question set provides 100 conceptual MCQs across the 6 covered topic areas (Layer 2 leaf-spine, Layer 3 leaf-spine and underlay, VXLAN/EVPN overlays, CloudVision operations, Day-2 troubleshooting, and design/architecture) to reinforce theory before the live lab.

Time Limit

4 hours per sub-track (live practical lab)

Passing Score

Not publicly disclosed by Arista

Exam Fee

$295 per sub-track exam (Arista / Honorlock online proctored)

Arista ACE Specialist - Data Center Exam Content Outline

17%

Layer 2 Leaf-Spine Design

MLAG architecture (peer-link on Po1000, peer-keepalive in mgmt VRF, domain-id, primary/secondary), VARP active/active gateway with shared virtual MAC, dual-primary-detection, MLAG over L3, single-homed orphan ports, LACP partner system MAC, config-sanity

17%

Layer 3 Leaf-Spine and Underlay

3-stage Clos and 5-stage Clos with super-spines, eBGP underlay with private ASNs, multipath-relax for ECMP, BGP unnumbered using IPv6 link-local with RFC 5549/8950 next-hop, OSPFv2/v3 and IS-IS underlay alternatives, /32 loopbacks as VTEP source, MTU sizing for VXLAN

17%

VXLAN and EVPN Overlays

VXLAN UDP 4789 data plane, 24-bit VNI, head-end replication vs PIM-SM multicast underlay, BGP-EVPN l2vpn evpn family (RFC 7432), Route Types 1-5, symmetric vs asymmetric IRB (RFC 9135/9136), Anycast Gateway, Anycast VTEP for MLAG, EVPN multihoming, ESI, DF election, ARP suppression, MAC mobility

17%

CloudVision Operations

CVP discovery and ZTP, Configlets (static and Builder), Studios as declarative intent templates, Workspaces for review, Change Control with snapshots and rollback, Compliance/drift detection, CV Telemetry with TerminAttr to TSDB, AQL/NetSQL queries, AEM event-driven scripting, eAPI JSON-RPC, CV-CUE for wireless

17%

Day-2 Operations and Troubleshooting

Show-command muscle memory (show mlag detail, show vxlan address-table, show bgp evpn route mac, show ip route vrf, show interfaces transceiver detail, show isis neighbors, show lldp, show port-channel detail all), sFlow, SNMPv3, BFD fast convergence, terminal monitor, MTU validation, CVP audit trails

15%

Design and Architecture

Leaf vs spine VTEP placement, border-leaf DCI gateways with VNI stitching, oversubscription planning, BGP listen ranges, route reflectors for iBGP EVPN, AVD YAML + Jinja2 eos_designs role, ANTA pytest NRFU, symmetric IRB packet walk, Type 5 vs Type 2 scaling tradeoffs

How to Pass the Arista ACE Specialist - Data Center Exam

What You Need to Know

Passing score: Not publicly disclosed by Arista
Assessment: The real Arista ACE Specialist Data Center is a hands-on, open-book practical lab on real EOS and CloudVision (NOT multiple-choice). This free question set provides 100 conceptual MCQs across the 6 covered topic areas (Layer 2 leaf-spine, Layer 3 leaf-spine and underlay, VXLAN/EVPN overlays, CloudVision operations, Day-2 troubleshooting, and design/architecture) to reinforce theory before the live lab.
Time limit: 4 hours per sub-track (live practical lab)
Exam fee: $295 per sub-track exam

Keys to Passing

Complete 500+ practice questions
Score 80%+ consistently before scheduling
Focus on highest-weighted sections
Use our AI tutor for tough concepts

Arista ACE Specialist - Data Center Study Tips from Top Performers

1Memorize the MLAG basics first: peer-link on Po1000, peer-keepalive in mgmt VRF on a /30 SVI, identical domain-id on both peers, and the role of `show mlag config-sanity` for VLAN allowed-list mismatches

2Drill VARP versus VRRP: VARP has no election, every peer answers ARP for the same virtual IP/MAC, traffic never hairpins across the peer-link — this is a frequent practical-lab differentiator

3Build the EVPN Route Type 1-5 mental model cold: Type 2 = MAC/IP, Type 3 = inclusive multicast for HER, Type 4 = ESI for DF election, Type 5 = IP prefix for L3 scale

4Practice the symmetric IRB packet walk: ingress leaf routes into the L3 VNI, encapsulates with destination VTEP loopback, spine ECMPs the underlay, egress leaf decaps and routes out of the L3 VNI to the destination subnet

5Get fluent with CloudVision's review pipeline: Studios edited inside a Workspace, peer-reviewed diff, submitted to Change Control with Snapshots and rollback. This is the modern Arista answer to ad-hoc CLI changes

6Spend real lab time with AVD's YAML data model and Jinja2 templates plus ANTA's pytest validation — both are tested in the Engineering sub-track and reward repetition over reading

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Arista ACE Specialist - Data Center credential?

The Arista ACE Specialist - Data Center is a Level 3 specialist track in Arista's certification program covering hands-on data-center engineering and operations on Arista EOS and CloudVision. The track is split into two separate practical lab exams: AN-DC-OP01 (Operations) and AN-DC-EN01 (Engineering). Each is a 4-hour online open-book practical lab on real Arista EOS switches and CloudVision, proctored by Honorlock.

How many questions are on the AN-DC-OP01 / AN-DC-EN01 exams?

Neither exam uses multiple-choice questions. Each is a hands-on practical lab where you log into real EOS switches and CloudVision Portal and complete configuration, validation, and troubleshooting tasks within the 4-hour window. This 100-question practice set is a conceptual companion that reinforces theory across the same six topic areas, but it is not the same format as the live exam.

How much does the Arista ACE Specialist - Data Center exam cost?

The published fee is approximately $295 USD per sub-track exam, so completing both AN-DC-OP01 (Operations) and AN-DC-EN01 (Engineering) totals about $590. Pricing and proctoring details are managed through the Arista certification portal at arista.com/en/support/certification.

What topics does the Arista ACE-S Data Center track cover?

Topics include Layer 2 leaf-spine design (MLAG, VARP, peer-link/keepalive), Layer 3 leaf-spine with eBGP/OSPF/IS-IS underlays and BGP unnumbered (RFC 5549), VXLAN data plane (UDP 4789, 24-bit VNI), BGP-EVPN control plane (l2vpn evpn family, Route Types 1-5, symmetric IRB, Anycast Gateway, EVPN multihoming with DF election), CloudVision operations (Configlets, Studios, Workspaces, Change Control, Telemetry, AQL, AEM, eAPI), Day-2 troubleshooting, and design topics including AVD and ANTA.

Is the Arista ACE-S DC exam multiple-choice or hands-on?

The official Arista ACE Specialist Data Center exams (AN-DC-OP01 and AN-DC-EN01) are hands-on practical labs on real EOS and CloudVision, not multiple-choice tests. Open-book documentation is allowed during the 4-hour exam window. Our 100-question MCQ set is intentionally conceptual prep — use it to lock in theory, then practice on Arista Test Drive (ATD) labs.

How should I prepare for the Arista ACE-S Data Center exams?

Recommended prep is: complete Arista Academy's Data Center Operations and Engineering courses, run the corresponding Arista Test Drive (ATD) labs end-to-end, build at least one fabric using AVD (eos_designs role), validate it with ANTA, practice CloudVision Studios and Workspaces with Change Controls, drill the show-command toolbox (show mlag, show vxlan address-table, show bgp evpn route mac, show ip route vrf), and use this 100-question MCQ set to confirm conceptual readiness before sitting the live lab.

Who proctors the Arista ACE Specialist exams?

Arista uses Honorlock for online proctoring (not Pearson VUE). Candidates need a webcam, microphone, quiet workspace, and a stable internet connection. The exam is open-book — you can use Arista documentation, your saved configurations, and prepared scripts during the 4-hour window.

100+ Free Arista ACE Specialist - Data Center Practice Questions

Explore More Arista Certifications

Arista ACE Network Foundations (AN-FN-OP01, Associate tier)

Arista ACE Specialist - Automation (AN-AU-FP01 Foundations)

Arista ACE Specialist - Campus (AN-CA-OP01 / AN-CA-EN01)

Arista ACE Specialist - WAN Routing (AN-RT-MP01 MPLS Core)

Arista Certified Engineer — Associate (ACE-A)

Arista Certified Engineer — Expert (ACE-E)