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300-410 Practice Question: An engineer is troubleshooting why the NMS is…
An engineer is troubleshooting why the NMS is receiving duplicate SNMP traps from router R9 for the same event. The router has two 'snmp-server host' commands pointing to the same NMS IP address but with different community strings: 'public' and 'private'. The NMS is configured to process traps from both communities. What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the misconception that multiple 'snmp-server host' commands with the same IP but different communities are redundant or that the router deduplicates them, when in fact each command generates a separate trap transmission.
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 router sends one trap per 'snmp-server host' command, resulting in duplicate traps for the same event.
Each 'snmp-server host' command creates a separate trap destination entry in the router's SNMP configuration. When a trap-generating event occurs, the router sends a trap to each configured destination. Since both commands point to the same NMS IP address but with different community strings ('public' and 'private'), the router sends two identical traps (one with each community string) for the same event, causing the NMS to receive duplicates.
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 sends one trap per 'snmp-server host' command, resulting in duplicate traps for the same event.
Why this is correct
Each snmp-server host command creates a separate notification destination entry, so the router generates one trap per matching command for the same event. Two commands pointing at the same NMS IP therefore produce duplicate traps, which the NMS processes from both communities.
- ✗
The NMS is configured to listen on two different ports, causing duplicate reception.
Why it's wrong here
Two listening ports would yield one trap per port, not two from a single event; the duplicate arises because each 'snmp-server host' entry generates its own trap copy. Port configuration matters when the NMS must segregate trap sources, not when diagnosing duplicate delivery from one router.
- ✗
The router has an SNMP trap filter that is misconfigured, causing the same trap to be sent twice.
Why it's wrong here
A trap filter selects which trap types are permitted or denied; it cannot cause the same trap to be transmitted twice. Filters are the correct control when specific OIDs must be suppressed from reaching the NMS, whereas duplicate delivery here stems from two host entries targeting the same address.
- ✗
The engineer enabled both 'snmp-server enable traps' and 'snmp-server enable informs', causing duplicate notifications.
Why it's wrong here
Traps and informs are separate notification types; enabling both does not duplicate a single event, because each configured host receives one notification per event. Informs add acknowledgement and retry, so they are chosen when trap delivery to the NMS must be confirmed, not to double-send.
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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.