hardMultiple Choice
300-410 Practice Question: An engineer configured IP SLA 40 with a UDP echo…
An engineer configured IP SLA 40 with a UDP echo probe to monitor a remote server port 80. The IP SLA is used in a track object for a backup static route. The engineer observes that the IP SLA state is 'Timeout' even though the server is reachable via ping from the router. What is the most likely cause?
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
✓
The server is not running a UDP service on port 80; HTTP uses TCP, so the UDP probe will fail.
UDP echo probes require a service listening on the specified port. If the server does not have a UDP service on port 80 (HTTP uses TCP), the probe will timeout.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The router's firewall is blocking UDP packets to the server.
Why it's wrong here
A router firewall filtering UDP would block the probe, but the stem gives no firewall and ping success does not test UDP port 80. The real cause is the server not running the UDP echo service on that port. It is tempting because ACLs commonly break IP SLA, and would be correct if an explicit deny existed.
- ✓
The server is not running a UDP service on port 80; HTTP uses TCP, so the UDP probe will fail.
Why this is correct
A UDP echo probe sends UDP datagrams to the target port and expects replies. Port 80 runs TCP HTTP, not a UDP service, so no response returns and the probe times out despite ICMP ping succeeding. The protocol mismatch causes the failure.
- ✗
The IP SLA frequency is set too high, causing the router to miss responses.
Why it's wrong here
A high frequency does not cause timeouts; the router still waits for each reply within the timeout window. Frequency only sets how often probes launch. It is tempting because aggressive polling can overload a device, but that produces missed probes under load, not a consistent Timeout when the target port is closed.
- ✗
The track object is misconfigured with the wrong IP SLA number.
Why it's wrong here
A wrong track number would leave the track object in a Down or unknown state, not the IP SLA probe itself reporting Timeout. The probe's own state is independent of tracking. It is tempting because track misconfiguration genuinely breaks route failover, and that would be the fault if the SLA showed OK but the route never switched.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 300-410 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 300-410 exam.