350-701 Practice Question: Secure Network Access, Visibility and Enforcement
This 350-701 practice question tests your understanding of secure network access, visibility and enforcement. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Which TWO configuration steps are required to implement 802.1X authentication on a Cisco switch for wired clients?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Configure AAA authentication using RADIUS
Option D is correct because 802.1X requires AAA authentication to be configured on the switch to forward EAP frames to a RADIUS server for user credential verification. Without the 'aaa authentication dot1x default group radius' command, the switch cannot process authentication requests, making this a mandatory step.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse enabling dot1x globally (Option A) as a required step, but Cisco tests that the two mandatory steps are AAA authentication using RADIUS and configuring the interface as an access switchport, while global enablement is optional if per-interface 'dot1x port-control auto' is used.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, 802.1X uses EAP over LAN (EAPoL) between the client and the switch, and the switch acts as an authenticator that encapsulates EAP frames into RADIUS packets (RFC 3579) for communication with the authentication server. A real-world scenario where this matters is when a switchport is configured in trunk mode by mistake, causing EAPoL frames to be dropped because trunk ports do not process 802.1X, leading to authentication failures for wired clients.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A help-desk technician troubleshoots why a newly connected PC cannot reach shared printers on the same floor. The cable is good, the switch port is active, but the PC is in VLAN 20 and the printers are in VLAN 10. The uplink trunk only allows VLAN 10. A trunk being up does not mean every VLAN crosses it.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Secure Network Access, Visibility and Enforcement — This question tests Secure Network Access, Visibility and Enforcement — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Configure AAA authentication using RADIUS — Option D is correct because 802.1X requires AAA authentication to be configured on the switch to forward EAP frames to a RADIUS server for user credential verification. Without the 'aaa authentication dot1x default group radius' command, the switch cannot process authentication requests, making this a mandatory step.
What should I do if I get this 350-701 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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