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220-1201 Practice Question: A company's web server is accessible from the…
A company's web server is accessible from the internet, but users report that the website loads slowly. The server's public IP is 203.0.113.10, and the internal IP is 192.168.1.10. The network administrator notices that the router's port forwarding rule is set to forward port 80 to 192.168.1.10:8080. What is the likely cause of the slow performance?
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 port forwarding rule uses the wrong internal port
Port forwarding should map external port 80 to the server's internal port 80, not 8080 unless the server listens on 8080. If the server listens on port 80, the mismatch causes connection delays or errors as the router forwards to a closed port. Correcting the internal port resolves the issue.
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 DNS server is misconfigured
Why it's wrong here
A misconfigured DNS server would primarily prevent the domain name from resolving to the correct public IP address of the company's web server. This would result in a "server not found" error or an inability to initiate a connection at all, rather than a slow or intermittent connection once the public IP is reached. DNS is responsible for name-to-IP mapping, not for directing traffic to specific internal ports after the initial connection to the router's public IP.
- ✗
The NAT table is full
Why it's wrong here
A full Network Address Translation (NAT) table on a router indicates that the maximum number of concurrent connections the router can track has been exceeded. This condition typically manifests as new connection attempts failing outright for *all* internal devices trying to access external resources, or vice-versa, rather than just causing a specific web server to respond slowly. It's a resource exhaustion issue affecting connection establishment, not the performance of an already established or misdirected service.
- ✓
The port forwarding rule uses the wrong internal port
Why this is correct
If the port forwarding rule directs incoming internet traffic for the web server to an incorrect internal port (e.g., forwarding external port 80 to internal port 8080, while the web server is actually listening on internal port 80), the connection will fail to establish properly. The router successfully receives the request but sends it to a port where no service is listening, or to the wrong service. This often results in connection timeouts, significant delays, or eventual connection resets as the client waits for a response from the non-existent or incorrect service.
- ✗
The DHCP scope is exhausted
Why it's wrong here
DHCP scope exhaustion means that the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol server has run out of available IP addresses to assign to new devices joining the local network. This issue primarily impacts new clients attempting to obtain an IP address for internal network access. It has no direct bearing on the functionality of an existing, statically configured web server's port forwarding rule or its ability to receive traffic from the internet once its internal IP is established.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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