350-501 Automation and Quality of Service Practice Question
An SP engineer is configuring QoS on a router and needs to drop traffic that exceeds a certain rate while allowing bursts up to a specified amount. Which QoS feature should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the distinction between policing (drops excess traffic) and shaping (buffers excess traffic), so the trap here is that candidates may confuse 'allowing bursts' with shaping's buffering behavior, but policing explicitly permits bursts up to a configured size before dropping.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Policing
Policing is the correct QoS feature because it drops traffic that exceeds a configured rate while allowing bursts up to a specified amount. Unlike shaping, which buffers excess traffic, policing enforces a rate limit by immediately dropping or re-marking packets that exceed the configured committed information rate (CIR) and burst size (Bc/Be). This matches the requirement to drop traffic that exceeds a certain rate while permitting bursts.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Shaping
Why it's wrong here
Shaping buffers traffic to meet a target rate, but does not drop exceeding traffic; it queues it.
- ✗
WRED
Why it's wrong here
WRED is a congestion avoidance mechanism that drops packets based on queue depth, not a fixed rate.
- ✓
Policing
Why this is correct
Policing uses a token bucket to enforce a maximum data rate; excess packets are either dropped or re-marked.
- ✗
Queueing
Why it's wrong here
Queueing manages the order of packet transmission, not rate enforcement.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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