Question 21 of 1,840
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350-401 Practice Question: Is troubleshooting intermittent packet loss on a…
A network engineer is troubleshooting intermittent packet loss on a WAN link connecting two data centers. The engineer suspects that certain traffic types are being dropped but needs to confirm this without impacting production. The engineer has access to Cisco IOS-XE routers at both ends. Which approach should the engineer use to identify the specific flows being dropped?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the distinction between aggregate drop counters (SNMP) and per-flow drop visibility (Flexible NetFlow), leading candidates to mistakenly choose SNMP polling because they think it provides sufficient detail to identify specific flows.
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
✓
Configure Flexible NetFlow on the routers with a flow monitor that includes the 'drop' keyword to capture dropped packets per flow.
Flexible NetFlow with the 'drop' keyword allows the router to capture and report packets that are dropped due to various reasons (e.g., ACLs, QoS, or buffer exhaustion) on a per-flow basis. This provides granular visibility into which specific traffic flows are being dropped, enabling the engineer to identify the problematic traffic types without impacting production traffic.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Configure Flexible NetFlow on the routers with a flow monitor that includes the 'drop' keyword to capture dropped packets per flow.
Why this is correct
Correct because Flexible NetFlow with the 'drop' keyword allows per-flow drop monitoring, directly identifying which flows are being dropped.
- ✗
Enable SNMP polling of interface counters to identify the total number of dropped packets on the WAN interface.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect because SNMP polling shows aggregate drops but does not provide per-flow granularity needed to identify specific traffic types.
- ✗
Use Embedded Event Manager (EEM) to trigger on interface drops and capture a packet trace.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect because EEM can trigger on events but does not inherently capture per-flow drop details; packet capture would be needed separately.
- ✗
Deploy IP SLA probes to measure latency and jitter, and correlate with drop events.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect because IP SLA measures performance metrics but does not identify which specific flows are being dropped.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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