mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped

A network technician is installing a new fiber optic link between two switches located in different buildings. The technician uses identical SFP modules on both ends and connects them with a single fiber patch cable. After powering on, the link lights on both switches remain off. The technician verifies the SFP modules are compatible with the switches and that the cable is not damaged. Which of the following should the technician check NEXT?

Question 1mediummultiple choice
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A network technician is installing a new fiber optic link between two switches located in different buildings. The technician uses identical SFP modules on both ends and connects them with a single fiber patch cable. After powering on, the link lights on both switches remain off. The technician verifies the SFP modules are compatible with the switches and that the cable is not damaged. Which of the following should the technician check NEXT?

Answer choices

Why each option matters

Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.

A

Best answer

Swap the transmit and receive connections at one end of the fiber cable

If the TX and RX are matched incorrectly (TX to TX), the link will not establish. Swapping the connectors at one end ensures proper polarity, allowing the link to come up.

B

Distractor review

Change the duplex settings on both switches to half-duplex

Fiber links are almost always full-duplex. Forcing half-duplex would degrade performance and is unlikely to fix a link light issue caused by polarity problems. Modern switches auto-negotiate duplex.

C

Distractor review

Update the firmware on both switches

Firmware updates are not the first step for a link light issue. The link light is hardware-related; firmware issues usually affect other functionality. Polarity is a more immediate and common cause.

D

Distractor review

Verify that the VLAN configuration matches on both ends

VLAN configuration affects traffic flow after the link is established, but does not prevent the link light from coming on. The physical layer (polarity) must be correct before higher-layer settings matter.

Common exam trap

Common exam trap: an active trunk can still block the VLAN you need

A trunk being up does not prove every VLAN is crossing it. Check allowed VLAN lists, native VLAN mismatch, VLAN existence and access-port assignment.

Technical deep dive

How to think about this question

VLAN questions usually combine access-port and trunking clues. The key is to identify whether the issue is local to one switchport, caused by the trunk, or caused by the VLAN not existing where it needs to exist.

KKey Concepts to Remember

  • Access ports place end devices into a single VLAN.
  • Trunk ports carry multiple VLANs between switches.
  • Allowed VLAN lists decide which VLANs can cross a trunk.
  • Native VLAN mismatch can create confusing symptoms.

TExam Day Tips

  • Use show vlan brief to verify access VLANs.
  • Use show interfaces trunk to verify trunk state and allowed VLANs.
  • Do not treat every same-VLAN issue as a routing problem.

Related practice questions

Related 220-1101 practice-question pages

Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.

More questions from this exam

Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.

Question 1

A user reports intermittent network connectivity on a desktop computer. The technician observes that the Ethernet link light on the NIC turns off for a few seconds and then turns back on. The cable passes a wiremap test, the switch port is verified good with another device, and the NIC driver is updated. The issue occurs more frequently when the computer's case fan runs at high speed. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause?

Question 2

A workstation is unable to connect to the internet. The technician runs the 'ipconfig' command and sees the IPv4 address is 169.254.15.200 with a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0. The workstation can ping other devices on the local subnet but cannot ping the default gateway or any external addresses. Which TWO actions should the technician take to resolve this issue? (Select two.)

Question 3

A workstation is connected to a managed switch. It obtains a valid IP address (192.168.10.50) from the DHCP server, but it cannot ping the default gateway (192.168.10.1). The link light on both the workstation NIC and the switch port are solid green. Other workstations on the same switch CAN ping the default gateway successfully. The technician accesses the switch management interface and finds that the workstation's port is configured as an access port on VLAN 10. The default gateway is located on VLAN 20. An inter-VLAN router is configured but not explicitly allowing VLAN 10 access to VLAN 20. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the problem?

Question 4

A company develops a web application that relies on a custom library available only for a specific Linux distribution. They want to deploy the application in the cloud with minimal administrative overhead, but they need full control over the software stack, including the ability to install the custom library and configure the web server. Which cloud service model BEST meets these requirements?

Question 5

A company has a legacy virtual machine running on a deprecated hypervisor (Hyper-V). They want to migrate this VM to a new hypervisor (VMware vSphere) hosted in a private cloud while preserving the VM's configuration, installed applications, and data. The migration must be performed with minimal downtime. Which of the following methods is MOST appropriate?

Question 6

A company hosts a critical database on a virtual machine in a public cloud. The database requires persistent storage that must be retained even if the VM is terminated. The storage must also be accessible from multiple VMs simultaneously for a future high-availability configuration. Which type of cloud storage BEST meets these requirements?

FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this 220-1101 question test?

Access ports place end devices into a single VLAN.

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: Swap the transmit and receive connections at one end of the fiber cable — Fiber optic connections require that the transmit (TX) of one device connects to the receive (RX) of the other. A single fiber cable may be a simplex cable (one strand) or a duplex cable with two strands. If using a duplex cable, the connectors may need to be crossed (TX to RX) at one end, or the patch cable may be a 'crossover' cable. The technician should verify that the polarity is correct: the TX of switch A must connect to the RX of switch B, and vice versa. This is a common misconfiguration that prevents the link from coming up.

What should I do if I get this 220-1101 question wrong?

Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.

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