HPE Aruba Switching Expert (Written, HPE7-A06) study guide
HPE Aruba Switching Expert (Written, HPE7-A06) · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The HPE Campus Access Switching Expert Written Exam (HPE7-A06) is a proctored HPE certification exam that validates mastery of campus networking with a specific focus on wired networking. According to HPE's exam datacard, the exam covers routing and switching, security, connectivity, performance optimization, and troubleshooting, and it also requires knowledge of some campus mobility topics. The HPE Aruba Switching Expert (Written, HPE7-A06) study guide has 6 sections and about 1,801 words.
01Routing and Switching
Aruba's switching exam expects fluency in Layer 2 and Layer 3 forwarding: VLANs and 802.1Q tagging, trunk vs. access ports, spanning tree (MSTP is the default and the exam favorite), link aggregation (LACP), and the Aruba VSX/MC-LAG redundancy model on AOS-CX.
320 words, about 2 min02Security
Security questions span port access control (802.1X, MAC authentication, captive portal), RADIUS/CoA, DHCP snooping, dynamic ARP inspection (DAI), and Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) on AOS-CX. Understand the order of authentication methods on a port, how reauthentication and CoA work, and how roles map to ACLs.
283 words, about 1 min03Connectivity
Connectivity covers how endpoints reach the network: PoE budgeting, LLDP/CDP neighbor discovery, uplink design, wireless client onboarding, and roaming infrastructure. Know PoE classes and the difference between PoE, PoE+, and PoE++ (802.3af/at/bt), plus how a switch budgets power across ports.
315 words, about 2 min04Performance Optimization
Performance questions focus on QoS, buffering, and traffic prioritization. Know the QoS pipeline on AOS-CX: classification (trust DSCP or CoS, or ACL-based), marking, queuing, and scheduling (strict priority vs.
293 words, about 1 min05Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting questions test a methodical approach: isolate the layer, gather evidence, and verify the fix. Know the AOS-CX and ArubaOS-CX CLI show commands (show interface, show spanning-tree, show lldp neighbor, show ip route, show vsx status, show authentication), log locations, and how to read counters.
300 words, about 2 min06Campus Mobility
Campus mobility covers wireless architecture and roaming: controller-based vs. controller-less (ArubaOS 8 Gateway/MM vs.
290 words, about 1 min