Practice 220-1201 Common Networking Hardware questions with full explanations on every answer.
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A company is upgrading its network to support 10 Gbps speeds for a server farm. The existing cabling is Cat6a, and the switches are Gigabit. The IT manager wants to minimize cost while achieving 10 Gbps. Which hardware change is required?
2A small office with 15 employees uses a single switch to connect all workstations. Users report that the network becomes extremely slow during peak hours, and some packets are being dropped. The switch is a 10/100 model with a 1 Gbps uplink to the router. What is the most likely cause of the slowdown?
3A user reports that their desktop computer cannot connect to the internet, but other devices on the same network work fine. You check the patch cable from the wall jack to the PC and find it is a Cat5e cable. The PC's network adapter shows a link light, but no activity. What should you do first?
4A technician is setting up a new wireless network for a warehouse. The warehouse has metal shelving and concrete walls. Which wireless standard should the technician choose to maximize range and penetration through obstacles?
5A small business has a single router with four built-in switch ports. They need to connect 12 wired devices. They have a 24-port unmanaged switch. Which configuration will provide the best network performance and connectivity?
6A user complains that their wireless connection drops frequently, but only when they are in the conference room. Other areas of the office have stable connections. What is the most likely cause?
7A company's network uses a router with a built-in 4-port switch. The IT manager wants to segment the network into two separate broadcast domains for security. What additional hardware is required?
8A user reports that their VoIP phone works but the connected PC cannot access the network. The phone is connected to the wall jack, and the PC is connected to the phone's passthrough port. What is the most likely cause?
9A company is setting up a new branch office with 50 workstations and needs to connect them to the existing corporate network across a city. The connection must be dedicated and provide consistent bandwidth. Which type of WAN hardware should be installed at the branch office?
10A network administrator is deploying a new wireless network in a large office building. They need to ensure seamless roaming for users moving between floors. The building has concrete floors and metal studs. Which hardware configuration will best support this requirement?
11A customer complains that their wireless network is slow and frequently drops connections. They live in a densely populated apartment building. The technician checks the wireless router and sees it is using channel 1. What is the most likely cause of the issue?
12A company is setting up a new branch office with 30 employees. They need to connect all workstations to the network and provide internet access. The internet connection is a fiber optic line terminating in an ONT. Which device should be placed between the ONT and the switch to route traffic and provide NAT?
13A technician is troubleshooting a network where users on one floor cannot communicate with users on another floor. Both floors are connected to the same switch via separate VLANs configured for security. What additional device is needed to allow communication between the VLANs?
14A network administrator needs to connect two switches that are 200 meters apart. The connection must support 1 Gbps speed. The administrator has Cat5e cable available. However, Cat5e is only rated for 100 meters at 1 Gbps. Which device can be used to extend the distance without replacing the cable?
15A small office has a single internet connection and needs to provide wired network access to 20 computers. They also need to allow guests to connect wirelessly but keep the guest traffic separate from the internal network. Which single device can handle both wired switching and wireless access with VLAN support?
16A company is deploying a new VoIP phone system. Each desk needs both a computer and a phone connected to the network. To minimize cabling, the phone will be connected to the wall jack, and the computer will connect to the phone. Which feature must the switch ports support to ensure both devices receive network access?
17During a network upgrade, a technician needs to connect a legacy printer that only has a USB port to the network. The printer is in a location without a nearby computer. Which device should the technician use to enable network printing?
18A technician is deploying a wireless network in a large warehouse. The warehouse has metal shelving and concrete walls. The technician needs to ensure coverage throughout the area. Which antenna type should be used for the access points to maximize coverage in this environment?
19A user reports that their wired connection is intermittent. They are using a Cat5e cable connected to a 1000BASE-T switch. The link light on the switch port is blinking rapidly. What is the most likely cause of the intermittent connection?
20A technician is installing a new network switch in a server room. The switch has 48 ports and needs to connect to the existing network backbone via fiber optic cable. The technician has a 10GBASE-SR SFP+ module. Which type of fiber optic cable should be used to ensure compatibility?
21A technician is deploying a new network in a warehouse and needs to connect two separate switches that are 120 meters apart. The cable run must support 1 Gbps speeds. Which networking hardware component should be used to ensure reliable connectivity?
22A network engineer is designing a new data center and needs to connect multiple servers to a core switch with redundant paths. To prevent loops while allowing failover, which networking hardware feature should be implemented?
23A user complains that their VoIP phone intermittently loses audio during calls. The phone is connected to a PoE switch. The technician checks the switch and sees that the port's PoE power budget is at 95% capacity. What is the most likely cause of the audio drops?
24A customer reports that their desktop computer, which is connected to the network via a wall jack, can access the internet but cannot see other computers on the same local network. The network uses a single switch and a router. What is the most likely misconfiguration causing this issue?
25A technician is troubleshooting a network where a user's computer cannot obtain an IP address via DHCP. The computer is connected to a switch, and other devices on the same switch work fine. The technician checks the switch and sees that the port is up and the link light is green. What should the technician check next?
26A company's network uses a managed switch with VLANs. Users in VLAN 10 can ping the default gateway but cannot communicate with users in VLAN 20. The switch is connected to a router that handles inter-VLAN routing. What is the most likely misconfiguration?
27A customer reports that their network printer is not accessible from any computer on the network. The printer is connected to a switch via Ethernet, and the switch port LED is blinking green. The technician pings the printer's IP address from a computer and gets no reply. What is the most likely cause?
28A technician is setting up a small office network with a router, a switch, and a wireless access point. The router has only one LAN port. The technician needs to connect the switch and the WAP to the router, but the switch has no uplink port. Which hardware component should the technician use to connect both devices to the router?
29A small office has a network with a single switch and a wireless access point (WAP). Users on the wired network can access the internet, but wireless users cannot. The WAP shows a solid green power LED and a blinking amber activity LED. What is the most likely cause?
30A company is setting up a guest wireless network in a conference room. They want to ensure that guests can access the internet but cannot communicate with internal corporate devices. The network uses a single router and a switch. Which configuration on the router will best achieve this?
The Common Networking Hardware domain covers the key concepts tested in this area of the 220-1201 exam blueprint published by CompTIA. Courseiva provides free domain-focused practice, mock exams, missed-question review, and readiness tracking across all 220-1201 domains — no account required.
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