200-901 Network Fundamentals Practice Question
A network engineer is analyzing traffic and needs to identify which applications use UDP. Which three applications commonly use UDP as their transport protocol? (Choose three.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the distinction between control plane protocols (like DHCP, DNS, NTP) that use UDP for efficiency versus management or data transfer protocols (like SSH, SMTP) that require TCP's reliability, leading candidates to mistakenly associate all 'important' traffic with TCP.
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
✓
DHCP
DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) uses UDP as its transport protocol because it relies on connectionless, best-effort delivery for broadcasting IP configuration requests and offers. DHCP clients send discovery messages to UDP port 67 (server) and servers respond to UDP port 68 (client), avoiding the overhead of TCP's connection establishment, which is unnecessary for transient broadcast-based transactions.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
DHCP
Why this is correct
DHCP uses UDP for client-server communication.
- ✗
SSH
Why it's wrong here
SSH uses TCP for reliable, encrypted remote login.
- ✗
SMTP
Why it's wrong here
SMTP uses TCP for email delivery.
- ✓
DNS
Why this is correct
DNS uses UDP for queries and responses (though TCP is used for large responses).
- ✓
NTP
Why this is correct
NTP uses UDP for time synchronization.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 200-901 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Cisco certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 200-901 exam.