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300-410 Practice Question: Configures SPAN on a Cisco Catalyst switch to…
A network engineer configures SPAN on a Cisco Catalyst switch to monitor traffic between two hosts. The engineer configures the source interface as GigabitEthernet0/1 and the destination interface as GigabitEthernet0/2. After the configuration, the engineer notices that the monitored traffic is not being forwarded to the destination port. 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 destination port is in a blocking state due to Spanning Tree Protocol.
SPAN destination ports must be configured with the 'spanning-tree portfast' command to avoid being blocked by Spanning Tree Protocol (STP). Without this, the destination port may remain in a blocking state.
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 destination port is not in the same VLAN as the source port.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect because SPAN can monitor traffic across different VLANs; the destination port does not need to be in the same VLAN.
- ✗
The destination port is configured as a trunk port.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect because a trunk port can be a SPAN destination; this would not prevent traffic forwarding.
- ✓
The destination port is in a blocking state due to Spanning Tree Protocol.
Why this is correct
Correct because SPAN destination ports are not expected to participate in STP; they should be configured with 'spanning-tree portfast' to avoid blocking.
- ✗
The source interface is not in the same VLAN as the destination interface.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect because SPAN does not require the source and destination to be in the same VLAN; the destination port simply receives a copy of the traffic.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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