220-1102 Operational Procedures Practice Question
A technician is updating the firmware on a network switch during a scheduled maintenance window. The update fails and the switch becomes unresponsive. The technician had prepared a rollback plan and has a backup configuration file. According to change management best practices, what should the technician do NEXT?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to think escalation or vendor support is the next step, but change management best practices emphasize executing the pre-approved rollback plan immediately to restore service, not seeking additional approval or external help first.
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
✓
Implement the rollback plan to restore the previous firmware
Change management best practices require that when a change fails, the technician should immediately execute the pre-approved rollback plan to restore the previous firmware and configuration. This minimizes downtime and returns the switch to a known working state, as the rollback plan was prepared and approved during the change planning phase.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Escalate to the change management board for guidance
Why it's wrong here
The change management board approves or rejects a proposed change before implementation; it is not an emergency response team. Contacting them for guidance during a failure wastes valuable maintenance-window time. The rollback plan is already pre-approved as part of the change record, so you may execute it immediately. Escalation can occur after service is restored if the failure warrants it.
- ✗
Immediately call the vendor for support
Why it's wrong here
Vendor support has unpredictable response times, often exceeding the change window, and may require multiple diagnostic exchanges. The immediate objective is to restore network service, not to perform root-cause analysis. The documented rollback plan is a faster, known-good recovery path because it reverts the switch to the last working firmware image. Vendor support should be engaged later, if needed, to investigate the failed update.
- ✓
Implement the rollback plan to restore the previous firmware
Why this is correct
The rollback plan is the pre-tested, documented fallback specifically included in the change plan for this exact failure scenario. By loading the previous firmware image, you restore the switch to a known-good configuration, which returns traffic to a stable state. This is the fastest way to recover the network within the allotted maintenance window and avoids any additional unplanned risk. Once service is stable, the failed image can be preserved and analyzed.
- ✗
Document the failure and continue trying alternative methods
Why it's wrong here
Documenting the failure is essential but should never delay restoration of service. Continuing to try alternative methods is unplanned troubleshooting that may cause unexpected errors or configuration drift on a device that is already in an unknown state. The change plan explicitly designates the rollback as the fallback action; deviating from it without approval can invalidate the change record and extend the outage. Restore service first, then document thoroughly.
Go deeper
Related to this question
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Certificate Management for A+
Key term
Change management
Change management is the structured process of planning, approving, implementing, and reviewing changes to IT systems to minimize risk and disruption.
Key term
Backup
A backup is a copy of computer data taken and stored separately so that the original data can be restored if it is lost, damaged, or corrupted.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 220-1102 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA 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 220-1102 exam.