ISC2 Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP) Practice Question
In preparation for a data center refresh, your organization is considering replacing traditional hardware routers and switches with a software-defined networking (SDN) solution. The network team wants to push new access-control policies to all forwarding devices instantly from a single management console instead of configuring each device individually. Which SDN design element specifically enables this capability?
Using Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) label-switched paths across the core
Configuring redundant Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) instances for each VLAN
Decoupling the control plane from the data plane through a centralized SDN controller
Running distributed routing protocols such as OSPF on every switch
A core premise of SDN is the logical separation of the control plane (which makes forwarding decisions) from the data plane (which moves packets). By centralizing the control plane in an SDN controller, administrators can define or change policies once and have the controller program all connected forwarding devices through southbound APIs such as OpenFlow. The other options describe legacy network features: MPLS label-switched paths focus on traffic engineering, distributed routing protocols require configuration on every router, and Spanning Tree Protocol prevents loops but does not provide centralized policy control. None of these delivers the single-point, policy-driven programmability that SDN's control/data plane decoupling provides.
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What is the difference between the control plane and data plane in SDN?
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What is an SDN controller and how does it manage network devices?
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What are southbound APIs, and why are they important in SDN?
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ISC2 Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP)
Network and Communication Security
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