HPE Aruba Certified Certification Changed HPE7-A07 Questions

The provided event logs from Aruba Central show multiple entries of:

Client PMK/OKC Key Add/Update

Client PMK/OKC Key Delete

Operation ADD/UPDATE for key cache entry for client ...

Operation DEL for key cache entry for client ...

These log entries refer to Pairwise Master Key (PMK) and Opportunistic Key Caching (OKC) updates in the Aruba gateway or access point for wireless clients.

When a client roams between APs or the system refreshes key entries for active clients, Aruba’s infrastructure updates or deletes PMK cache entries dynamically. This process ensures secure key continuity across APs and controllers for tunneled SSIDs.

Exact Extracts from Aruba WLAN and AOS-10 Documentation:

“PMK/OKC cache updates and deletions are part of normal operation. When clients connect, disconnect, or roam, the system adds or removes their PMK cache entries. These log messages are informational and indicate expected WPA2-Enterprise behavior.”

“In a tunneled SSID, PMK and OKC entries are managed at the gateway level. When a client roams or rekeys, the gateway logs PMK/OKC Key Add/Update and Key Delete messages. These are not error conditions.”

“Frequent ADD/DEL entries for a client MAC address reflect normal WPA2 key lifecycle events—such as reauthentication, idle timeout, or client-driven disassociation.”

Thus, these messages indicate normal background key management (PMK caching and rekeying) and not any fault or attack scenario.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:

A. Denial-of-Service attack:False. These events correspond to key management, not excessive connection requests. Aruba security logs for DoS attacks show messages like “Association flood” or “Authentication flood,” not PMK/OKC operations.

B. Roaming issue:While OKC relates to roaming optimizations, these log messages do not indicate a failure or issue — they show successful key caching updates.

“OKC Key Add/Update events confirm successful key caching, not roaming failure.”

C. Client WLAN driver issue:No error messages (timeouts, EAP failures, or deauths) are logged. The presence of PMK updates and deletes alone does not imply a driver issue.

“Client driver problems typically manifest as association failures or 4-way handshake errors, not PMK cache logs.”

Conclusion:

The repeated “PMK/OKC Key Add/Update” and “Key Delete” events represent routine client key caching and refresh behavior in Aruba’s tunneled WLAN design.

No misconfiguration, client issue, or attack is implied.

Therefore, the correct answer is:

✅ D. This is normal, expected behavior. No further actions are needed.

References of HPE Aruba Networking Switching Documents or Study Guide:

ArubaOS 10 Wireless and Gateway Configuration Guide – “PMK caching and OKC operation.”

Aruba WLAN Troubleshooting and Operations Guide – “Understanding PMK/OKC key lifecycle and expected log events.”

Aruba Campus WLAN Best Practices Guide – “Tunneled SSID key management (PMK, OKC, and 802.11r Fast Roaming).”

Aruba Central Monitoring and Event Logs Reference – “Client PMK/OKC Key Add/Delete informational messages.”

In Aruba AOS-CX, OSPF neighbors that reach EXSTART/EXCHANGE but fail to advance typically indicate a database description (DD) negotiation issue, most commonly caused by an MTU mismatch on the link. The OSPF header carries the interface MTU; if the values do not match, the peer rejects DD packets and the adjacency remains stuck at EXSTART (often shown as EXSTART/DR or EXSTART/BDR).

Aruba’s OSPF guidance states:

“If neighbors remain in EXSTART/EXCHANGE, verify that the Layer-3 MTU matches on both ends of the adjacency. An MTU mismatch causes DD packets to be rejected and prevents the adjacency from reaching FULL.”

Recommended corrective action is to align or remove custom L3 MTU settings on the participating interfaces (or use the mtu-ignore feature where appropriate).

In this scenario, removing the custom Layer-3 MTU configuration so both sides use the same default MTU allows DD packet negotiation to succeed and the adjacency to progress to FULL.

The wireless connection phase that has just been completed is L2 authentication and encryption. This phase includes processes such as the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) exchange, RADIUS requests and responses, and the 4-way handshake which is characteristic of WPA2-AES encryption.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract of HPE Aruba Networking Switching:

Accurate and trusted time on gateways is essential for audit logs. Aruba gateways and AOS-CX switches support NTP authentication, where the device and the NTP server share cryptographic keys (key-id with MD5/SHA-1 depending on platform). The device accepts time updates only from servers that successfully authenticate, protecting against spoofed NTP responses and time-shifting attacks.

Exact extract:

“Configure NTP authentication to verify time sources. Define an authentication key, mark it as trusted, and associate it with the NTP server. The device will synchronize time only with authenticated servers.”

“Accurate logging relies on NTP. Enabling authentication helps prevent malicious or accidental tampering with system time.”

Thus, enabling and configuring NTP authentication directly secures the time clock against attacks, making B correct.

Option A would block time synchronization; C (a generic ACL) does not provide cryptographic validation; D changes only display/timezone and does not secure the source of time.

References of HPE Aruba Networking Switching documents or Study Guide:

ArubaOS 10 Gateway Management and Security Guide — “Configuring NTP authentication (keys, trusted key, server association).”

Aruba AOS-CX System Management Guide — “Securing NTP and its impact on event/audit logs.”