XK0-006 Troubleshooting Practice Question
A system administrator is investigating a slow website. The web server is responding but pages load slowly. Which THREE commands can help identify network latency or packet loss?
⚠ Common exam trap
CompTIA often tests the distinction between `traceroute` (which shows a single snapshot of path latency) and `mtr` (which provides ongoing, aggregated statistics including packet loss per hop), leading candidates to overlook `mtr` as a superior tool for diagnosing intermittent or persistent network issues.
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
✓
mtr example.com
Option B, mtr example.com, is correct because mtr combines ping and traceroute into a continuous, per-hop report showing packet loss percentages and latency (average/best/worst) at each router along the path, which directly exposes where latency or loss is introduced. Option C, ping -c 10 example.com, is correct because it sends 10 ICMP Echo Requests and reports round-trip time statistics plus packet loss percentage to the destination, giving a quick measure of latency and loss to the target host. Option E, traceroute example.com, is correct because it maps the hop-by-hop path to the destination using incrementing TTL values and reports per-hop RTTs, revealing which intermediate hop adds delay or drops packets. Option A, dig example.com, is not correct here because it only queries DNS records and measures name-resolution behavior, not end-to-end network latency or packet loss. Option D, ss -tlnp, is not correct because it merely lists local listening TCP sockets and their owning processes, providing no path latency or loss measurements.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
dig example.com
Why it's wrong here
dig is for DNS queries, not latency.
- ✓
mtr example.com
Why this is correct
mtr combines ping and traceroute, continuously probing each hop between the host and example.com. It reports per-hop latency, jitter and packet loss, pinpointing whether slowness arises on the local network, an intermediate router or the destination itself.
- ✓
ping -c 10 example.com
Why this is correct
ping -c 10 sends ten ICMP echo requests to example.com and reports round-trip times plus packet loss percentage. This directly measures latency and loss to the destination, satisfying the requirement to identify network latency or packet loss affecting the slow site.
- ✗
ss -tlnp
Why it's wrong here
ss -tlnp lists listening TCP sockets and owning processes, showing local service state rather than path latency or loss. It would be the right tool to confirm which daemon binds a port. Diagnosing slow page loads across the network needs tools that measure round-trip timing and packet loss.
- ✓
traceroute example.com
Why this is correct
traceroute maps each hop along the path to example.com and reports per-hop round-trip times, so recurring high values or asterisks reveal the specific router introducing latency or dropping packets. This directly satisfies the stem's need to identify where slowness or loss occurs.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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