350-401 Network Assurance Practice Question
A network administrator needs to validate that the path taken by packets from a branch router to a remote server matches the expected primary path. The administrator wants to collect per-hop latency and packet loss statistics along that path. Which tool should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse IP SLA path-echo with basic ICMP echo, which only measures end-to-end reachability and does not provide per-hop statistics.
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
✓
IP SLA with a path-echo operation
IP SLA path-echo is designed to trace the path to a destination and collect per-hop latency and packet loss. Unlike simple ICMP echo, it provides hop-by-hop details, which are necessary to validate that traffic follows the expected primary path. The other options either lack hop-by-hop granularity or are not performance-monitoring tools.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Cisco IOS Embedded Event Manager (EEM) with a Tcl script
Why it's wrong here
EEM is an automation and event-triggering framework, not a path analysis tool. While you could script a series of pings, it would not natively provide per-hop latency and loss statistics along the path. EEM is used for reacting to events, not for collecting hop-by-hop performance data, so it does not meet the requirement.
- ✓
IP SLA with a path-echo operation
Why this is correct
A path-echo operation in IP SLA sends a series of packets with incrementing TTLs to discover the path and collect per-hop latency and loss statistics. This directly matches the requirement to validate the path and gather hop-by-hop performance data. It provides detailed information about each hop, including packet loss and round-trip time per hop, making it the correct tool.
- ✗
IOS IP SLA with an ICMP echo operation
Why it's wrong here
An ICMP echo operation measures round-trip reachability and latency to a destination but does not provide hop-by-hop statistics. It only tells you whether the destination is reachable and the total round-trip time, not the individual hops along the path. Therefore, it cannot validate the exact path or collect per-hop latency and loss, so it is not the best choice here.
- ✗
Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) neighbor details
Why it's wrong here
CDP provides information about directly connected Cisco devices, such as device IDs and interfaces, but it does not measure path performance or latency. It cannot show the path taken by packets to a remote server or provide per-hop statistics. Therefore, CDP is not suitable for validating the path or collecting latency and loss data.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Cisco exam blueprint
This 350-401 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 350-401 exam.