easyMultiple Choice
350-401 Practice Question: Is using Cisco DNA Center to monitor network…
A network engineer is using Cisco DNA Center to monitor network health. The Assurance dashboard shows that a particular access switch has a high CPU utilization issue. The engineer wants to investigate the root cause using DNA Center's built-in tools. Which feature should the engineer use to analyze the switch's CPU utilization over time?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is confusing Assurance's analytical/trending tools with on-demand CLI tools like Command Runner — the exam expects you to know that historical metric analysis lives in Trends, not in ad-hoc command execution.
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
✓
Use the 'Trends' feature in Assurance to view CPU utilization over time.
Cisco DNA Center Assurance includes a 'Trends' feature that provides historical time-series visualization of device health metrics, including CPU utilization, memory, and interface statistics. This is the purpose-built tool for analyzing how a metric has changed over time, which is exactly what the engineer needs to investigate the high-CPU condition. It correlates the metric with other Assurance data (client, application, network) to help identify root cause.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Use the 'Trends' feature in Assurance to view CPU utilization over time.
Why this is correct
The Trends feature in Assurance plots historical telemetry, letting the engineer chart the access switch's CPU utilisation over time and correlate the spike with its root cause, which the real-time health dashboard alone cannot show.
- ✗
Use the 'Command Runner' to execute 'show process cpu' on the switch.
Why it's wrong here
Command Runner executes one-off CLI commands and returns a static snapshot, so it cannot chart CPU utilisation over time. It is genuinely useful for ad-hoc troubleshooting or verifying current running configuration, but the Assurance requirement here is historical trending, which Command Runner does not retain or graph.
- ✗
Use the 'Path Trace' tool to analyze traffic paths.
Why it's wrong here
Path Trace computes hop-by-hop forwarding paths between endpoints, so it reports reachability and latency, not device CPU counters. It is the correct choice when diagnosing where traffic is dropped or which interface a flow traverses, but it collects no historical CPU utilisation data for the switch.
- ✗
Use the 'Software Image Management' to check for software bugs.
Why it's wrong here
Software Image Management handles image repository, upgrade scheduling and compliance auditing, not performance telemetry, so it cannot show CPU utilisation over time. It is the right tool when investigating whether a known buggy software release needs upgrading, but the stem asks for root-cause analysis of a live CPU spike.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
SDN Controllers and Cisco ACI
Key term
Cisco DNA Center Assurance
Cisco DNA Center Assurance is a network monitoring and analytics tool within Cisco's DNA Center platform that provides real-time visibility, proactive alerts, and historical insights into network health, performance, and user experience.
Key term
Cisco DNA Center
A centralized network management and automation platform from Cisco that provides intent-based networking for easier configuration, monitoring, and troubleshooting of Cisco devices.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every 350-401 question from scratch — 1,923 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.