4A0-AI1 Nokia NSP IP Network Automation Professional Composite Exam Questions and Answers

Workflow Manager is a module of Nokia NSP that allows users to create and execute automated procedures and closed loop automation using Nokia NSP or third party APIs 3 .  It uses Mistral as the workflow engine and supports various technologies that can be used in a workflow 2 .

Some of the technologies that are supported by Workflow Manager out of the box are:

REST/RESTCONF APIs

CLI command execution on SROS and third party routers

Optical integration using TL1

SNMP traps

Email notifications

Intent Manager to communicate with network elements that are not directly supported by NSP 1 2 . A generic mediator can use SNMP or other protocols to interact with network elements.

NSP APIs allow for supervision of network elements, help with the definition and activation of network services, and allow for an OSS and NSP server to talk to each other. However, they do not support GraphQL, which is a query language for APIs. 

According to Nokia NSP IP Network Automation Professional guide, NSP APIs support REST/RESTCONF, SOAP/XML and GraphQlll, and help with the definition and activation of network services, and they also allow for supervision of network elements and an OSS and NSP server to talk to each other. Therefore, statement B is false as it states that NSP APIs support Kafka which is not mentioned in the guide as a supported API.

An integrated control plane and data plane is NOT an advantage of Software-Defined Networks (SDN) over traditional networks. SDN separates the control plane from the data plane, enabling more efficient and flexible network management. By centralizing the network logic at the controller level, applications can communicate directly with the controller, allowing for greater agility in automating, monitoring, and provisioning network infrastructure.

some of the advantages of Software-Defined Networks (SDN) over traditional networks are:

Traffic programmability

Agility

Policy-driven network supervision

Network automation

Centralized controller operations

Decoupling of control plane from data plane

Global view of network’s state

The HTTP methods that are supported by REST/RESTCONF are:

GET: Used to retrieve a representation of a resource.

PUT: Used to replace a resource or create it if it does not exist.

DELETE: Used to delete a resource.

PATCH: Used to apply a partial update to a resource.

The HTTP method ADD is not a standard HTTP method and is not supported by REST/RESTCONF.

The option that is NOT a benefit of ZTP (Zero Touch Provisioning) is:

B. Increases network throughput.

ZTP is a network device deployment method that automates the initial configuration process of network devices, eliminating the need for manual intervention. The benefits of ZTP include:

A. Lowers overall time for network rollout C. Optimizes costs D. Minimizes the amount of commands typed

ZTP is a method of setting up devices that automatically configures the device using a switch feature.  Another source 2  mentions that ZTP helps IT teams quickly deploy network devices in a large-scale environment, eliminating most of the manual labor involved with adding them to a network.  A third source 3  explains that ZTP uses Cisco Plug and Play (Cisco PnP) to verify devices and perform downloads over a secure, encrypted channel. 

Intent Types have four life-cycle states: Draft, Released, Phased-Out, and Deleted. The Created state is not a life-cycle state for Intent Types; instead, it is an intermediate state used to create an Intent before it is moved to a life-cycle state.

nsp.sr_cli  is a nodal communication action that uses the network element’s NE ID to establish communication. It is one of the NSP actions and expression functions that can be used to design workflows for network automation

Infrastructure Lure Intents  are a type of  Network Intent  that describe how network resources should be allocated and configured for a specific service or application.

L2/L3 VPN configuration of multiple services  is NOT a characteristic of Infrastructure Lure Intents, because it is more related to service provisioning than resource allocation.

CLI is not used in Model Driven Telemetry. Model Driven Telemetry is a technology that uses YANG data models, NETCONF, gRPC and KAFKA to monitor and collect data from network elements. It provides an abstracted view of the network element and is vendor agnostic.

Model Driven Telemetry is a method of collecting real-time data from network devices, allowing for more efficient network monitoring and troubleshooting. It uses a variety of protocols and standards, including NETCONF, gRPC, and Kafka. However, CLI is a text-based user interface used for issuing commands to a device, and it is not typically used for collecting telemetry data.

According to the Nokia Network Services Platform for industry and the public sector datasheet 1 ,  NSP model-driven telemetry framework  supports the Nokia SR OS and third-party devices in configuring and collecting performance statistics using  gRPC , SNMP,  NETCONF  and accounting files such as SAP QoS 1 .  It also enables data to be persisted in a database and be made available (e.g., over a  Kafka  bus) for a variety of use cases 1 .

This system action allows you to pause a workflow and prompt the user for input. You can use this action to confirm or deny a course of action, or to enter some data that is required for the workflow 1 . For example, you can use nsp.user_input to ask the user if they want to continue with a service deployment or rollback.

The other options are not correct because:

std.sleep is a standard Python function that pauses the execution of a script for a specified number of seconds 2 .

nsp.wait is a system action that waits for an event or condition to occur before resuming the workflow 1 . For example, you can use nsp.wait to wait for a service activation status change or a network element alarm.

nsp.pause_before is not a valid system action.  There is no such action defined in the NSP documentation 1 .

YANG is a data modeling language used to model configuration and state data for network devices. It defines a tree-like structure for data and is used to store, configure, and retrieve information from network devices. It is human readable and can be used to define actions and operations.

According to the Nokia NSP Workflow Design and Management course 1 2 , a workflow is a sequence of tasks that are executed to achieve a certain goal. Data flow in a workflow refers to  passing data between tasks 1 2 . Therefore, the correct answer is B.

Data flow can be defined using  input ,  output , and  publish  parameters in a workflow definition 3 .  Input parameters are used to pass data into a workflow, output parameters are used to return data from a workflow, and publish parameters are used to share data between tasks within a workflow 3 .

According to the Nokia NSP Learning and Certification Program 2 , there are four main NSP applications:

Service Fulfillment : Enables service providers to design, create, and deliver IP/MPLS services across a multi-vendor network.

Network Supervision : Provides real-time visibility and control of network performance, faults, and inventory across physical and virtual networks.

IP/MPLS Optimization : Optimizes network resources by applying advanced algorithms and machine learning techniques to automate traffic engineering and path computation.

Network Virtualization : Enables service providers to create and manage virtualized network functions (VNFs) and network slices using cloud-native technologies.

the input that is optional when using the std.ssh action is  cmd .  This parameter specifies the command to be executed on the remote server 1 .  If this parameter is not provided, the action will only establish an SSH connection with the remote server and return its output 1 . The other parameters are required to authenticate and connect to the remote server.

Intent is a high-level description of the desired outcome or state of the network. It allows users to specify what they want to achieve rather than how to achieve it. The intent is then translated into network configurations and policies that are used to configure the network infrastructure. Intent-based networking provides a higher level of abstraction than traditional network configuration methods, making it easier for users to specify their requirements and automate the configuration process.

The template-mappings can only be viewed by making a RESTCONF call to query an existing intent.

The template-mappings are a set of key-value pairs that map the abstract YANG model attributes to concrete NFM-P templates and parameters. They are not exposed in the UI or the ibn:intent model, but they are stored internally in the NSP database.

For example, a template-mapping could be:  /network=IP/service=VPN - > nsp-ip-vpn-template .

According to the Nokia NSP Workflow Manager Application Help 2 , Workflow Manager has the following characteristics:

It provides several building tools to design and create new workflows. You can use graphical editors, text editors, or import existing workflows from files or repositories.

It uses Openstack Mistral as the core workflow engine. Mistral is an open source project that provides a service for managing workflows across multiple cloud platforms.

It supports scheduling of workflow executions. You can use cron expressions or triggers to specify when and how often a workflow should run.

It supports parallel execution of many workflows. You can run multiple workflows simultaneously on different network elements or services.

Therefore, based on these sources , the correct answer is:

B. It uses Openstack Heat as the core workflow engine.

This is FALSE because Workflow Manager uses Openstack Mistral, not Heat, as the core workflow engine. Heat is another open source project that provides a service for orchestrating multiple cloud applications using templates.

The other statements are TRUE because:

A. It provides several building tools to design and create new workflows.  This allows you to create workflows that suit your specific network needs and preferences.

C. It supports scheduling of workflow executions.  This allows you to automate recurring network tasks and optimize network performance and availability.

D. It supports parallel execution of many workflows.  This allows you to handle complex network scenarios and operations efficiently and effectively.

a workflow can use  environments  to make it portable if the workflow needs to be executed on either a development or production lab.  Environments are files that contain key-value pairs that can be used as input parameters for workflows 1 .  Environments allow workflows to be executed with different settings without modifying the workflow definition 1 .

The script-content.js file contains all the back end implementations required for Intent configurations to be performed.

The script-content.js file is a JavaScript file that defines the logic for creating, updating, deleting and synchronizing intents. It also defines the validation rules and error handling mechanisms for intents.

For example, a script-content.js file could contain:

function createIntent(intent) { // logic for creating an intent }

function updateIntent(intent) { // logic for updating an intent }