Practise command-choice questions where the task is to identify the correct verification, configuration or troubleshooting command.
Start Scenario PracticeA network engineer is troubleshooting an STP issue in a network that uses Rapid PVST+. The network has a root bridge (SW1) and a secondary root bridge (SW2). The engineer notices that after a link failure between SW1 and SW2, the network takes longer than expected to converge. The engineer checks the configuration and finds that SW2 has the 'spanning-tree uplinkfast' command enabled. The engineer also notices that SW2 has a lower priority than SW1. What is the most likely cause of the slow convergence?
Explanation: UplinkFast is a legacy STP feature that is incompatible with Rapid PVST+. When enabled on a switch running Rapid PVST+, it forces the switch to revert to 802.1D STP convergence behavior on the affected ports, disabling the rapid transition mechanisms (such as proposal/agreement and sync). This causes the network to take longer to converge after a link failure, as the switch falls back to the slower listening and learning states.
A network engineer is configuring EIGRP on a router that connects to a service provider network. The engineer wants to advertise a default route to internal routers. The engineer configures 'ip default-network 0.0.0.0' and redistributes a static default route into EIGRP. However, internal routers are not receiving the default route. The engineer checks the EIGRP topology table and sees the default route with a metric of 1. What is the most likely reason?
Explanation: The engineer's configuration includes both 'ip default-network 0.0.0.0' (which is an IGRP command, not EIGRP) and redistribution of a static default route. The appearance of the default route in the EIGRP topology table with metric 1 indicates that redistribution occurred, but the route is not being advertised to internal routers. The most likely reason is that the static default route itself is not correctly configured. For EIGRP redistribution to succeed, the static route must point to a valid next-hop IP address using the syntax 'ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 <next-hop>'. If the engineer used an interface instead of a next-hop, or the next-hop is unreachable, the static route may be invalid or not installed in the routing table, preventing its advertisement to EIGRP neighbors.
A network engineer configures IP SLA 20 to monitor the response time of a DNS server at 10.1.1.1 using DNS query for 'example.com'. The operation is used to influence routing decisions. The engineer notices that the IP SLA operation shows 'State: Active' and 'Latest RTT: 50 ms', but the DNS server is actually down and not responding to any queries. What is the most likely reason?
Explanation: IP SLA DNS probes rely on the router's local DNS resolver. If the resolver has a cached response for 'example.com', the probe will return the cached RTT without actually querying the DNS server. This explains why the operation shows 'Active' and a 50 ms RTT even though the DNS server is down.
A company is deploying a new Cisco wireless LAN controller (WLC) and wants to use RADIUS for authenticating wireless users. The WLC is configured with the RADIUS server IP, shared secret, and authentication port 1812. However, users are unable to authenticate. The network engineer checks the RADIUS server logs and sees that the server is receiving authentication requests from the WLC but is responding with an 'Access-Reject' message. The WLC logs show 'RADIUS server not responding' for the same server. What is the most likely cause?
Explanation: The RADIUS server is receiving authentication requests and sending 'Access-Reject' responses, but the WLC logs show 'RADIUS server not responding'. This indicates the WLC is not receiving the responses. The most likely cause is a source IP mismatch: the RADIUS server sends responses from a different IP address than the one configured on the WLC. The WLC drops these responses because they do not match the expected source IP, making it appear as if the server is not responding.
An engineer configures IP SLA 100 to monitor the jitter and latency of a VoIP call path between two branch routers. The configuration uses UDP jitter with a target of 192.168.2.2 on port 16384. The engineer notices that the IP SLA operation shows 'State: Active' but no jitter or latency statistics are collected. The router is generating the probe packets, but the remote router does not respond. What is the most likely reason?
Explanation: For UDP jitter IP SLA operations to collect jitter and latency statistics, the remote router must be configured as an IP SLA responder. The responder processes the probe packets and sends back time-stamped responses, which are essential for calculating jitter and one-way delay. Without the responder, the source router can send probes (showing 'Active' state) but cannot compute meaningful statistics because it never receives the required response packets.
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Practice all Which Command Should the Administrator Use Practice QuestionsPractise command-choice questions where the task is to identify the correct verification, configuration or troubleshooting command. These appear throughout the 350-401 and require you to apply your knowledge, not just recall facts.
Cisco doesn't publish an exact breakdown, but scenario-based questions (especially exhibit and command-output formats) make up a significant portion of the 350-401. Practicing each scenario type ensures you're ready for any format.
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