N10-009 Network Operations Practice Test 2 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A network administrator is preparing to upgrade the firmware on a critical router. Which document should the administrator consult to understand the steps required to minimize downtime and ensure a successful upgrade?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Change management plan. The change management plan documents the approved procedures, rollback steps, and communication protocols for performing maintenance on critical infrastructure. Consulting this plan ensures the administrator follows the organization's predefined steps to minimize downtime and mitigate risks during the firmware upgrade.

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SLA

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Network diagram

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Baseline performance report

Question 2

An NOC technician receives an alert that latency on a critical WAN link has increased significantly. The technician needs to analyze the latency trend over the past week to identify patterns. Which approach is the most efficient for gathering this historical data?

Accepted Answer

Use SNMP polling with a suitable MIB to collect latency metrics at regular intervals. SNMP polling with a suitable MIB (e.g., IF-MIB for interface statistics or IP-MIB for performance metrics) allows the NOC to collect latency data at regular, configurable intervals over time. This historical data can be stored in a management system and analyzed for trends, making it the most efficient method for identifying patterns in WAN latency over a week. SNMP traps, by contrast, are event-driven and do not provide the continuous, periodic data needed for trend analysis.

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Use SNMP traps to alert on each latency spike

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Run a continuous ping test and manually log timestamps

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Use traceroute to identify each hop and measure latency per hop

Question 3

A network administrator wants to be alerted immediately when any interface on a core router goes down. The administrator has already configured SNMP community strings. Which additional configuration is necessary to receive these alerts?

Accepted Answer

A) Configure the router to send SNMP traps to the NMS. SNMP traps are unsolicited notifications sent from the managed device (the router) to the Network Management Station (NMS) when a specific event occurs, such as an interface going down. Since the administrator wants immediate alerts without polling, configuring the router to send SNMP traps to the NMS is the correct approach. The SNMP community strings are already set, so the missing piece is the trap destination and enabling trap generation for interface state changes.

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B) Perform an SNMP walk of the interface OIDs

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C) Use SNMP get to retrieve interface status periodically

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D) Configure SNMP set to change interface parameters

Question 4

A network administrator plans to make a configuration change on a core switch during a maintenance window. According to best practices, which document should the administrator prepare and have approved before making the change?

Accepted Answer

A) Change management request. A change management request is the correct document because it formalizes the proposed configuration change, including the scope, risk assessment, rollback plan, and approval chain. This ensures that all stakeholders review and authorize the change before implementation, reducing the risk of unintended network outages or security gaps. Best practices from ITIL and Cisco's own change management guidelines mandate this process for any production network device modification.

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B) Network diagram

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C) Incident report

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D) Backup configuration

Question 5

A network administrator needs to collect traffic flow data from routers and switches to analyze bandwidth usage patterns. Which protocol should be implemented on the devices to export flow data to a collector?

Accepted Answer

NetFlow. NetFlow (or its standards-based equivalent, IPFIX) is the correct protocol because it is specifically designed to export traffic flow metadata—such as source/destination IPs, ports, and byte counts—from routers and switches to a collector for bandwidth usage analysis. SNMP can poll interface counters but does not provide per-flow granularity, making NetFlow the appropriate choice for detailed traffic pattern analysis.

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SNMP

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ICMP

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LLDP

Question 6

An organization wants to centrally manage and monitor network devices from a single interface. The solution should support auto-discovery, configuration management, and performance monitoring. Which type of system should be deployed?

Accepted Answer

Network Management System (NMS). A Network Management System (NMS) is the correct choice because it provides a centralized interface for auto-discovery (e.g., via SNMP or CDP/LLDP), configuration management (e.g., using NETCONF or CLI scripting), and performance monitoring (e.g., polling SNMP MIBs or streaming telemetry). This directly matches the requirement for a single-pane-of-glass solution for network device lifecycle management.

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AAA server

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SIEM

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DHCP server

Question 7

A network administrator needs to schedule a firmware upgrade for a critical router. Which document should be used to formally communicate the change, seek approval, and track the implementation?

Accepted Answer

A) Change management request. A change management request is the formal document used to communicate, seek approval, and track the implementation of a firmware upgrade on a critical router. This process ensures that the change is reviewed by stakeholders, risks are assessed, and a rollback plan is documented, which is essential for maintaining network stability and compliance with ITIL or organizational change control policies.

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B) Network diagram

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C) Service level agreement (SLA)

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D) Baseline performance report

Question 8

An NOC technician observes that the average latency on a critical WAN link has risen sharply. To determine which applications are consuming the most bandwidth and contributing to the latency, which tool should the technician use?

Accepted Answer

A) NetFlow. NetFlow is the correct tool because it provides per-flow traffic analysis, allowing the technician to identify which applications (by protocol and port) are consuming the most bandwidth on the WAN link. Unlike simple bandwidth monitors, NetFlow exports detailed records of source/destination IPs, ports, and byte counts, enabling precise identification of bandwidth-hungry applications contributing to increased latency.

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B) SNMP

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C) Syslog

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D) Ping

Question 9

A network administrator wants to be notified immediately when any interface on a core router goes down. The administrator has already configured SNMP community strings on the router. What additional configuration is necessary to receive these notifications?

Accepted Answer

Configure an SNMP trap receiver on the NMS and set the router to send traps to that receiver.. SNMP traps are unsolicited notifications sent from a managed device (the router) to a Network Management System (NMS) when a specific event occurs, such as an interface going down. Since the administrator already configured SNMP community strings (which provide authentication for SNMP messages), the missing piece is configuring the router to send traps to a specific trap receiver (the NMS) and ensuring the NMS is set up to listen for those traps. Without this trap receiver configuration, the router will not generate or forward the event-driven alerts.

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Enable SNMP polling from the NMS at regular intervals.

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Set up syslog to forward log messages to a centralized server.

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Configure an access control list to allow the NMS to poll the router.

Question 10

A network administrator needs to schedule a firmware upgrade on a core switch during the next maintenance window. According to best practices, which document should the administrator create and have approved before making the change?

Accepted Answer

A change request form with a rollback plan and approval signatures.. A change request form with a rollback plan and approval signatures ensures that the firmware upgrade follows the ITIL change management process, which is a best practice for network operations. This document provides a structured approach to assess risks, obtain authorization, and define steps to revert the switch to its previous state if the upgrade fails, minimizing downtime and impact on the network.

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A network diagram showing the current topology.

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An incident report detailing previous firmware issues.

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A baseline performance report from the current firmware version.

Question 11

A network administrator needs to perform a critical firmware upgrade on a core switch during a maintenance window. Which of the following should the administrator do FIRST before making the change?

Accepted Answer

Test the firmware in a lab environment. Before making any change to a production device, the firmware should first be tested in a lab environment that mirrors the production setup. This validates compatibility with existing hardware, software features, and configurations, preventing unexpected behavior such as boot loops, protocol failures, or hardware incompatibility that could cause extended outages.

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Notify all users of the planned outage

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Create a backup of the current switch configuration

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Submit a change request for approval

Question 12

A network administrator is creating a performance baseline for a new VoIP application. Which metric is most critical to monitor in order to ensure good voice quality for end users?

Accepted Answer

Latency. Latency is the most critical metric for VoIP voice quality because it directly impacts the conversational flow. High latency (above 150 ms one-way, per ITU-T G.114) causes noticeable delays that disrupt natural conversation, leading to user dissatisfaction. While jitter and bandwidth are important, latency is the primary factor that degrades the interactive experience.

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Bandwidth utilization

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Jitter

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Packet loss

Question 13

A network administrator is creating a standard operating procedure for firmware upgrades. Which step should be performed FIRST according to best practices?

Accepted Answer

Test the firmware in a lab environment. According to best practices for firmware upgrades, the first step should always be to test the new firmware in a non-production lab environment that mirrors the production setup. This validates compatibility, identifies potential bugs, and ensures the upgrade process works without risking network downtime or data loss. Only after successful lab testing should you proceed to backup the current configuration and schedule the upgrade during a maintenance window.

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Schedule the upgrade during a maintenance window

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Back up the current configuration

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Notify users of the planned outage

Question 14

An organization is implementing a network monitoring solution that uses SNMP. The administrator wants to receive traps from all devices but is concerned about the security of SNMPv1/v2c community strings. Which SNMP version should be used to provide authentication and encryption?

Accepted Answer

SNMPv3. SNMPv3 is the correct choice because it is the only version of SNMP that provides both authentication and encryption, addressing the security concerns with SNMPv1/v2c community strings. SNMPv3 supports user-based security models (USM) with features like message integrity, authentication, and encryption (e.g., using SHA/MD5 for auth and AES/DES for privacy). This ensures that traps are sent securely, preventing unauthorized access or tampering.

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SNMPv1

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SNMPv2c

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SNMPv4

Question 15

A network administrator is preparing documentation for a new branch office. The administrator needs a diagram that shows the logical relationships between network devices and how VLANs are trunked over inter-switch links. Which type of document should be created?

Accepted Answer

Logical topology diagram. A logical topology diagram is the correct choice because it illustrates how devices communicate across the network, including VLAN assignments and trunk links (e.g., 802.1Q tagging) between switches. This diagram abstracts physical locations to show Layer 2 and Layer 3 relationships, such as which VLANs traverse which inter-switch links, making it ideal for documenting VLAN trunking and logical connectivity.

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Network baseline

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Wiring diagram

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Physical topology diagram