N10-009 Network Operations Practice Test 3 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A network administrator needs to document the physical placement of devices in a server room, including exact rack location, port labels, and cable connections between patch panels and switches. Which type of diagram is most appropriate?

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

Accepted Answer

Rack diagram. A rack diagram is specifically designed to document the physical placement of devices in a server room, including exact rack units, port labels, and cable connections between patch panels and switches. This type of diagram provides a visual representation of the physical layout, which is essential for asset management, troubleshooting, and maintenance planning.

Answer

Network topology map

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Wiring schematic

Answer

Logical topology diagram

Question 2

A network engineer plans to change the routing protocol configuration on a core router that will affect all branch connectivity. According to change management best practices, which step should the engineer perform BEFORE implementing the change?

Accepted Answer

Create a detailed rollback plan. Creating a detailed rollback plan is a fundamental change management best practice because it ensures that if the routing protocol reconfiguration (e.g., switching from EIGRP to OSPF or modifying redistribution) causes connectivity loss to all branches, the engineer can revert to the previous configuration quickly and safely. Without a rollback plan, a failed change could result in prolonged network downtime while troubleshooting from scratch, violating the principle of minimizing business impact. This step is performed before implementation to predefine the exact commands or backup configuration needed to restore the original routing state.

Answer

Implement the change during business hours to ensure staff availability

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Notify all users after the change is complete

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Test the change directly on the production router

Question 3

A network administrator needs to replace a core switch that is nearing end-of-life. According to change management best practices, which step should the administrator perform FIRST?

Accepted Answer

D. According to change management best practices, the first step is to create a detailed change request or plan that documents the scope, risk assessment, rollback procedures, and approval requirements. This ensures all stakeholders review and authorize the replacement before any physical work begins, minimizing network downtime and operational impact.

Answer

A

Answer

B

Answer

C

Question 4

A network administrator is investigating reports of slow network performance. Which tool should the administrator use to capture and analyze individual packets to identify the cause of the latency?

Accepted Answer

Packet analyzer. A packet analyzer captures and decodes individual packets, allowing the administrator to inspect frame-level details, identify retransmissions, TCP window scaling issues, or application-layer delays that cause latency. This granularity is essential for pinpointing the exact cause of slow performance.

Answer

Throughput tester

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Spectrum analyzer

Answer

NetFlow analyzer

Question 5

A network administrator needs to document the physical placement of devices in a server room, including exact rack location, port labels, and cable connections between patch panels and switches. Which type of diagram is most appropriate?

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

Accepted Answer

Wiring schematic. A wiring schematic provides the most detailed information about physical connections, including cable types, patch panel ports, and exact pin-to-pin wiring. This level of detail is essential for auditing physical infrastructure, as it documents the actual cabling plant rather than logical or high-level connectivity.

Answer

Logical diagram

Answer

Network topology map

Answer

Asset management database

Question 6

A network administrator is creating documentation for a new data center. Which type of diagram is BEST for showing the logical relationships between VLANs and their associated subnets?

Accepted Answer

Logical topology diagram. A logical topology diagram is the correct choice because it illustrates how devices communicate across the network, including the mapping of VLANs to their associated IP subnets. This type of diagram abstracts away physical cabling and device locations to focus on Layer 2 and Layer 3 relationships, such as VLAN IDs, subnet masks, and default gateways. It is essential for documenting network segmentation and troubleshooting inter-VLAN routing.

Answer

Physical topology diagram

Answer

Wiring diagram

Answer

Rack elevation diagram

Question 7

A network administrator needs to ensure high availability for a critical server that has two network interfaces connected to two different switches. Which configuration should be implemented to provide failover and load balancing at the network layer?

Accepted Answer

Link aggregation (LACP). Link Aggregation (LACP) allows multiple physical network interfaces to be combined into a single logical link, providing both failover and load balancing at Layer 2. In this scenario, the server's two NICs are connected to two different switches; LACP can be configured across the two switches (if they support Multi-chassis Link Aggregation) or the NICs can be set up in an active/standby team for failover. This satisfies the requirement for high availability and load balancing at the network layer (Layer 2/3 boundary). Virtual IP protocols like VRRP/HSRP are designed for gateway redundancy, not for server NIC failover.

Answer

Virtual IP (VRRP/HSRP)

Answer

Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)

Answer

Port mirroring

Question 8

A network administrator needs to monitor network traffic to identify which hosts are consuming the most bandwidth. Which of the following tools is BEST suited for this task?

Accepted Answer

NetFlow. NetFlow is the best tool for monitoring network traffic to identify bandwidth consumption by hosts because it collects and analyzes IP traffic flow data, providing detailed visibility into source/destination IPs, protocols, and byte counts. Unlike simple interface counters, NetFlow allows an administrator to pinpoint which specific hosts are generating the most traffic, making it ideal for bandwidth usage analysis.

Answer

Syslog server

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SNMP trap

Answer

Traceroute

Question 9

A company has a change management policy that requires all network changes to be approved and documented. An administrator needs to replace a faulty switch in the core network. According to best practices, which step should be performed after the replacement is complete?

Accepted Answer

Update the network diagram.. Updating the network diagram is the correct step because it ensures that the documentation accurately reflects the new switch's location, model, firmware version, and connections. This aligns with change management best practices, which require that all network changes be documented to maintain an accurate source of truth for troubleshooting, capacity planning, and future changes. Without this update, the diagram becomes stale, leading to potential misconfigurations or delays during incident response.

Answer

Roll back to the previous switch.

Answer

Notify users of the change.

Answer

Submit a change request.

Question 10

A network administrator needs to identify which application protocols are consuming the most bandwidth on the company WAN link. Which of the following tools should the administrator use?

Accepted Answer

NetFlow analyzer. A NetFlow analyzer is the correct tool because it collects flow-level metadata (e.g., source/destination IPs, ports, protocol, and byte counts) from routers or switches, enabling the administrator to identify which application protocols (via port/protocol analysis) are consuming the most bandwidth over time. Unlike packet-level tools, NetFlow provides aggregated traffic statistics without storing full packet payloads, making it efficient for long-term WAN bandwidth monitoring.

Answer

Packet sniffer (e.g., tcpdump)

Answer

Port scanner (e.g., Nmap)

Answer

Bandwidth speed test

Question 11

A network administrator receives an automated alert from the network monitoring system indicating that the bandwidth utilization on a specific switch port has exceeded the threshold for the past 10 minutes. According to best practices for network operations, what should the administrator do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Check the monitoring system logs to identify the traffic source and destination.. The first step in responding to a bandwidth utilization alert is to investigate the traffic causing the spike. Checking the monitoring system logs allows the administrator to identify the source and destination of the traffic, which is essential for determining whether the utilization is legitimate (e.g., a backup or large file transfer) or malicious (e.g., a DoS attack). This aligns with the network operations best practice of 'verify before acting' to avoid unnecessary disruptions.

Answer

Immediately block the port to prevent potential network congestion from affecting other users.

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Reboot the switch to clear any temporary errors that might be causing the alert.

Answer

Increase the bandwidth on the port to accommodate the higher traffic load.

Question 12

A network technician needs to find which physical patch panel port in the server room connects to a specific office wall jack. Which type of network documentation should the technician consult?

Accepted Answer

Cabling diagram. A cabling diagram provides the physical layer (Layer 1) documentation that maps specific patch panel ports to wall jacks, including cable runs, termination points, and labeling. This is exactly what the technician needs to trace the physical connection from the server room patch panel to the office wall jack.

Answer

Logical topology diagram

Answer

Network baseline

Answer

Rack diagram

Question 13

A network administrator wants to automate the backup of configuration files from multiple routers and switches. Which protocol is commonly used for this purpose and is supported by most network devices?

Accepted Answer

TFTP. TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol) is the correct choice because it is a lightweight, connectionless UDP-based protocol (port 69) that is widely supported on network devices like routers and switches for automated configuration backups. Its simplicity and minimal overhead make it ideal for scripting backup operations, even though it lacks security features like authentication or encryption.

Answer

FTP

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SFTP

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HTTP

Question 14

A network monitoring system alerts that a specific router interface has been flapping (repeatedly going up and down) for the past hour. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of this behavior?

Accepted Answer

Faulty transceiver. A faulty transceiver is the most likely cause of interface flapping because physical-layer issues, such as a failing SFP or GBIC, can cause intermittent loss of signal or link synchronization. The router's interface detects the loss of carrier and brings the link down, then re-establishes it when the signal returns, creating a repeated up/down cycle. This is a common hardware failure mode distinct from software or configuration problems.

Answer

High CPU utilization on the router

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Incorrect SNMP community string

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Routing protocol misconfiguration

Question 15

A network administrator is setting up SNMPv3 on a router for secure monitoring. Which of the following is required for SNMPv3 authentication?

Accepted Answer

Username and password. SNMPv3 introduces a security model that requires a username and password (authentication passphrase) for authentication, moving away from the community-string-based model of SNMPv1/v2c. The password is used with an authentication protocol like MD5 or SHA to verify the identity of the manager before allowing access. Without a valid username and password combination, SNMPv3 will reject the request.

Answer

Community string

Answer

Encryption key

Answer

Public key