We missed something. At the same time as the upgrade, the certificate for the FMC was updated to a new RSA certificate from our enterprise PKI with a 4096-bit strength key. It turns out that the web interface works fine with this longer key, but the java processes used to deal with the API fail with any key over 2048 bits. The clue was finding this message "Could not generate DH keypair" in the logs with pigtail. Web searches show that it's listed with Oracle as a symptom of an old java limitation. Fixed versions appear to include JDK-8072452, "Support DHE sizes up to 8192-bits and DSA sizes up to 3072-bits". While we wanted to use the stronger certificate, the fix was regenerating it with only 2048 bits. With the 2048 bit certificate installed, no problems. ... View more

The practice question's answer is correct. Network statements are interpreted as covering their respective classful ranges unless you override that by explicitly providing a supernet mask (such as 172.16.0.0/12 or 192.168.0.0/16). ... View more

It depends. I've most commonly seen some type of Ethernet-based handoff, but it isn't necessarily so. It could come in on a serial line, like a T1, or a DS3 speed HSSI interface, or just about anything else. In practice, the interface speed and type of connection are typically specified when ordering.  I almost always see fiber coming into enterprise-class customers, and if there's a copper handoff to the customer it's usually based on a managed, co-located, fiber/copper conversion box. My normal expectation nowadays is that it will be some kind of optical Ethernet. At 100 Mbps and below I've often seen it delivered on copper FastEthernet (fiber into the building, with some kind of converter or provider-managed switch for the copper).   Here are samples of some of the MPLS connections I've worked on recently (with provisioned MPLS speeds of 3 Mbps up to 1 Gbps): FastEthernet0/1,  Full-duplex, 100Mb/s, 100BaseTX/FX hssi1/0, Hardware is M1T-HSSI-B   GigabitEthernet0/0/0,  Full-duplex, 1000Mb/s, link type is autonegotiation, media type is LX   GigabitEthernet0/0/0,  Full Duplex, 100Mbps, link type is force-up, media type is RJ45   GigabitEthernet0/1,  Full-duplex, 100Mb/s, media type is RJ45 The layer two handoff is independent of the fact that you're using MPLS for a private L3 network. Fiber-based Ethernet is common at higher speeds.  Copper based Ethernet is more common for lower speeds (and typically for very short distances, within the same building).   MPLS backbones typically use a high speed type of Ethernet over fiber (often running through DWDM) or even SONET connectivity. Fundamentally, the hardware used is often mostly the same as it would be in a purely IP-based network with a few extra configuration commands to provide the MPLS L3 VPN-based isolation required. ... View more