220-1201 Practice Exam 63 — 20 Questions

Question 1

A user wants to securely transfer files to a remote server using a command-line tool. Which port is the default for SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol)?

Accepted Answer

22. SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) operates over the SSH protocol, which uses TCP port 22 by default. Unlike FTP or FTPS, SFTP does not use separate control and data channels; it encapsulates all file operations within a single encrypted SSH session. This makes port 22 the correct default for SFTP transfers.

Answer

21

Answer

20

Answer

990

Question 2

A 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?

Accepted Answer

Directional antenna. In an environment with obstacles like metal and concrete, omnidirectional antennas may not penetrate well. Directional antennas can focus the signal in a specific direction, helping to overcome obstacles and extend range. The correct answer is a directional antenna, such as a Yagi or panel antenna.

Answer

Omnidirectional antenna

Answer

Dipole antenna

Answer

Rubber duck antenna

Question 3

A technician is troubleshooting a desktop PC that displays a blank screen on boot. The monitor's power LED is on (green), but no image appears. The PC beeps once during startup, and the hard drive activity light flashes. Which component is most likely faulty?

Accepted Answer

The video card. The single beep and hard drive activity indicate that the POST (Power-On Self-Test) has passed for the CPU and RAM, isolating the issue to the video subsystem. Since the monitor's power LED is green (receiving power) but no image appears, the most likely faulty component is the video card, which is responsible for generating the display signal.

Answer

The CPU

Answer

The RAM

Answer

The monitor's power supply

Question 4

A small office uses a single router with a built-in DHCP server. The office has 15 devices that need IP addresses. The router's default subnet mask is 255.255.255.0. How many usable IP addresses are available for devices on this subnet?

Accepted Answer

254. The subnet mask 255.255.255.0 corresponds to a /24 prefix, which provides 256 total addresses (2^8). However, the first address (network address) and the last address (broadcast address) are reserved, leaving 254 usable IP addresses for devices. This is a fundamental IPv4 subnetting rule defined in RFC 791.

Answer

255

Answer

256

Answer

15

Question 5

A technician is setting up a new network printer for a department. The printer needs to be accessible to all users on the same subnet without a dedicated print server. Which configuration method should the technician use?

Accepted Answer

Assign a static IP address to the printer. Assigning a static IP address to the printer ensures it has a permanent address on the network, allowing all users on the subnet to connect directly. DHCP could change the IP, breaking connections. A static IP is the simplest method for direct network printing without a server.

Answer

Connect the printer via USB to a user's workstation and share it

Answer

Use DHCP with a short lease time

Answer

Install a print server on a domain controller

Question 6

A technician is troubleshooting a laptop that has a blank screen after the user closed the lid and then reopened it. The laptop's power LED is on, and the fan is spinning. Pressing keys does not wake the display. What should the technician do first?

Accepted Answer

Perform a hard reset by holding the power button for 10-15 seconds. This scenario describes a classic 'lid sensor' or 'display not waking' issue. The laptop is on (power LED, fan), but the display is blank. The first step should be to perform a hard reset by holding the power button to force a shutdown, then power on again. This can clear a hung state.

Answer

Replace the LCD panel

Answer

Reseat the RAM modules

Answer

Check the laptop's lid sensor for damage

Question 7

A user's laptop screen has a small crack in the corner, and the display shows lines and discoloration in that area. The rest of the screen works. What is the most cost-effective solution?

Accepted Answer

Replace the LCD panel.. The LCD panel contains the glass substrate and liquid crystal layer that physically cracks, causing localized lines and discoloration. Replacing just the LCD panel (the display assembly) is the most cost-effective solution because it restores full functionality without the expense of a new laptop or the inconvenience of a permanent external monitor. The display cable is unlikely to cause a crack or localized discoloration, as cable damage typically affects the entire screen or causes intermittent issues.

Answer

Replace the entire laptop.

Answer

Replace the display cable.

Answer

Use an external monitor permanently.

Question 8

A security audit reveals that an internal file server is listening on multiple ports, including 137, 138, 139, and 445. The auditor recommends disabling older protocols. Which port is associated with SMB over TCP/IP directly (without NetBIOS)?

Accepted Answer

445. Port 445 is the correct answer because it is used by Microsoft SMB (Server Message Block) for direct TCP/IP communication without the need for NetBIOS. This is known as SMB over TCP (or SMB Direct), which operates as a transport protocol directly over TCP, bypassing the NetBIOS layer. Ports 137, 138, and 139 are associated with NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NBT), which is the older protocol stack that the auditor recommends disabling.

Answer

137

Answer

139

Answer

443

Question 9

A company deploys a new VoIP system. Users report that calls drop frequently. The network uses a single flat subnet with no QoS configured. The technician monitors traffic and sees high bandwidth utilization during peak hours. What is the most effective solution to improve call quality?

Accepted Answer

Replace all switches with managed switches and enable QoS. This question tests knowledge of Quality of Service (QoS) and network segmentation. VoIP traffic is sensitive to latency and jitter. Implementing QoS prioritizes voice traffic over other data, ensuring call quality even during high utilization. VLANs can also help by separating voice and data traffic.

Answer

Increase the bandwidth of the internet connection

Answer

Change all VoIP phones to use static IP addresses

Answer

Disable DHCP on the network to reduce broadcast traffic

Question 10

A user complains that their VoIP phone intermittently loses connectivity. The phone is connected to a switch via a 50-meter run of solid-core Cat6 cable. You suspect interference from nearby fluorescent lights. Which cabling characteristic is most relevant to this issue?

Accepted Answer

The cable is not shielded (STP).. Fluorescent lights generate electromagnetic interference (EMI), which can disrupt data transmission over unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cabling. Shielded twisted-pair (STP) cable includes a conductive shield that protects against EMI, making it the relevant characteristic for this issue. The user's intermittent connectivity is likely caused by EMI coupling onto the UTP cable, and using STP would mitigate this.

Answer

The cable is not properly terminated with RJ45 connectors.

Answer

The cable length exceeds the maximum for Cat6.

Answer

The cable is a crossover cable.

Question 11

A customer reports that their internet connection drops frequently during rainstorms. They have a DSL line and a standard modem. Which factor most likely causes this issue?

Accepted Answer

Moisture in the copper line causes signal degradation.. DSL operates over copper telephone lines, which are susceptible to moisture ingress during rainstorms. Water in the line increases signal attenuation and introduces impedance mismatches, causing the modem to lose synchronization with the DSLAM. This results in frequent disconnections, as the DSL signal degrades below the threshold required for a stable link.

Answer

The modem's power supply is failing.

Answer

The customer's router is overheating.

Answer

The ISP is throttling the connection during storms.

Question 12

A company wants to connect two office buildings that are 2 miles apart in the same city to share a high-speed internet connection and internal resources. Fiber optic cable is not an option due to cost. Which network type and technology would be most appropriate?

Accepted Answer

MAN using a point-to-point wireless bridge. A MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) using a point-to-point wireless bridge is the most appropriate choice because it connects two buildings within the same city (a metropolitan area) without the high cost of fiber. A wireless bridge operating in the 5 GHz or 60 GHz band can provide high-speed, dedicated links over distances up to several miles, making it ideal for sharing internet and internal resources between the two sites.

Answer

LAN using CAT6 Ethernet cable

Answer

WAN using a satellite link

Answer

PAN using Bluetooth

Question 13

A technician is configuring a server that requires maximum memory bandwidth for virtual machines. The motherboard has four memory slots and supports dual-channel architecture. The technician installs two 16 GB DIMMs. Which configuration will provide the best performance?

Accepted Answer

Install both DIMMs in slots 1 and 3 (different channels). Dual-channel memory architecture requires matched pairs of DIMMs installed in specific slots (usually slots 1 and 3 or 2 and 4) to operate in dual-channel mode. Installing them in the same channel (e.g., slots 1 and 2) forces single-channel mode, halving memory bandwidth.

Answer

Install both DIMMs in slots 1 and 2 (same channel)

Answer

Install one DIMM in slot 1 and leave the other empty

Answer

Install both DIMMs in slots 2 and 3 (adjacent slots)

Question 14

A technician is configuring a small office network with 15 computers and a single router. The router's WAN port is connected to a cable modem, and the LAN port is connected to a switch. All computers are connected to the switch. The technician assigns the router's LAN interface the IP 192.168.0.1/24. What should be the default gateway setting on each computer?

Accepted Answer

192.168.0.1. The default gateway is the router's LAN interface IP address because it is the next-hop device that forwards traffic from the local subnet to external networks. Since the router's LAN interface is configured as 192.168.0.1/24, all computers on the 192.168.0.0/24 subnet must use that address as their default gateway to reach the internet via the cable modem.

Answer

The IP address of the cable modem.

Answer

The IP address of the switch.

Answer

192.168.0.255

Question 15

During a system boot, a user sees an error message: 'CMOS checksum error - Defaults loaded.' The system then boots normally but loses the date and time settings after power-off. What is the most likely hardware failure?

Accepted Answer

The motherboard's CMOS battery is depleted or failing.. The CMOS checksum error indicates that the BIOS settings are corrupted or not being retained. The date/time resetting after power-off points to a failing or dead CMOS battery, which powers the volatile memory that stores these settings when the system is off.

Answer

The UEFI firmware has become corrupted and needs reflashing.

Answer

The power supply unit is not providing enough standby power.

Answer

The hard drive is failing and corrupting the boot sector.

Question 16

A technician is troubleshooting a customer's smart home setup where the thermostat, lights, and door lock are controlled via a smartphone app. The devices communicate directly with each other without a central hub, but the range is limited to about 30 meters. Which network type is being used?

Accepted Answer

Personal Area Network (PAN). This scenario describes a Personal Area Network (PAN) because the devices (thermostat, lights, door lock) communicate directly with each other over a short range of approximately 30 meters without a central hub. This is characteristic of PAN technologies like Zigbee or Z-Wave, which use mesh networking to extend range and allow direct device-to-device communication within a limited area.

Answer

Local Area Network (LAN)

Answer

Wide Area Network (WAN)

Answer

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

Question 17

A technician is deploying a new Android app across several company tablets. The app requires access to the device's camera to scan barcodes. During testing, the app fails to open the camera on one tablet but works on others. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The camera permission for the app has been denied.. The most likely cause is that the camera permission for the app has been denied. On Android, apps must request runtime permissions for sensitive hardware like the camera. If the user or a policy denied this permission, the app cannot access the camera, even if the hardware is functional. This explains why the app works on other tablets where the permission was granted.

Answer

The tablet's camera hardware is defective.

Answer

The app is not compatible with the tablet's Android version.

Answer

The tablet's storage is full, preventing the app from saving photos.

Question 18

A technician is setting up a virtual lab on a laptop with 8 GB RAM and a dual-core CPU. The technician creates two VMs: one with 4 GB RAM and one with 2 GB RAM. The host OS is Windows 10. When both VMs are running, the laptop becomes unresponsive and the VMs are extremely slow. The technician checks resource monitor and sees that the host is using 95% of RAM. What should the technician do to improve performance without purchasing new hardware?

Accepted Answer

Reduce the RAM allocation of the 4 GB VM to 2 GB.. Over-allocating RAM to VMs on a host with limited memory causes swapping and poor performance. The best solution is to reduce the RAM allocated to the VMs or use dynamic memory allocation if supported. The correct answer focuses on adjusting VM memory settings, which is a practical troubleshooting step.

Answer

Enable hardware virtualization in the BIOS.

Answer

Convert the VMs to use dynamic memory allocation.

Answer

Move the VMs to a Type 1 hypervisor.

Question 19

A user wants to connect their laptop to a 4K external monitor for a presentation. The laptop has USB-C ports, and the monitor supports HDMI and DisplayPort. Which adapter or cable should the technician recommend for the best video quality?

Accepted Answer

USB-C to DisplayPort cable. A USB-C to DisplayPort cable supports native DisplayPort Alt Mode over USB-C, which can deliver uncompressed 4K video at 60Hz or higher without conversion. This provides the best video quality for a 4K external monitor, as DisplayPort is designed for high-bandwidth video and supports higher refresh rates and color depths than HDMI in many implementations.

Answer

USB-C to VGA adapter

Answer

USB-C to HDMI adapter

Answer

USB-C to DVI adapter

Question 20

A user reports that their laptop cannot connect to the internet, but other devices on the same network work fine. The technician runs ipconfig and sees an IP address of 169.254.12.34 with a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0. What is the most likely cause of this issue?

Accepted Answer

The DHCP server is not responding to the laptop's request.. The IP address 169.254.12.34 with a 255.255.0.0 subnet mask is an Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) address, assigned by Windows when the DHCP client fails to receive a response from a DHCP server. Since other devices on the same network work fine, the DHCP server is operational, but the laptop's DHCP request is not being answered, likely due to a network connectivity issue between the laptop and the DHCP server or a DHCP client service problem.

Answer

The laptop has a static IP address configured incorrectly.

Answer

The subnet mask is wrong; it should be 255.255.255.0.

Answer

The laptop's network adapter is faulty.