This N10-009 practice question tests your understanding of network operations. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A network administrator needs to maintain a record of all configuration changes made to network switches, including the date, time, and the administrator who made the change. Which document should be used for this purpose?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Change management log
A change management log is the correct document because it is specifically designed to record configuration changes, including the date, time, and the administrator responsible. This log provides an audit trail for network devices, ensuring compliance and facilitating troubleshooting by tracking who made what change and when.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Network topology diagram
Why it's wrong here
A topology diagram shows physical and logical layout, not a log of changes.
✗
Baseline configuration report
Why it's wrong here
A baseline report captures a snapshot of configuration at a point in time, not a record of changes.
✓
Change management log
Why this is correct
The change management log explicitly records details of each change, including the person, timestamp, and description.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Incident report
Why it's wrong here
An incident report documents security events or outages, not routine configuration changes.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse a baseline configuration report with a change log, thinking it records changes, when in fact a baseline is a snapshot of a known good state, not a running history of modifications.
Trap categories for this question
Command / output trap
A topology diagram shows physical and logical layout, not a log of changes.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Change management logs often integrate with syslog or SNMP traps to automatically record configuration changes via commands like 'archive log config' on Cisco IOS devices. In real-world scenarios, these logs are critical for compliance with standards like PCI-DSS or SOX, where every configuration change must be traceable to an individual administrator for auditing purposes.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A practitioner preparing for the N10-009 exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this N10-009 question in full detail.
Network Operations — This question tests Network Operations — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Change management log — A change management log is the correct document because it is specifically designed to record configuration changes, including the date, time, and the administrator responsible. This log provides an audit trail for network devices, ensuring compliance and facilitating troubleshooting by tracking who made what change and when.
What should I do if I get this N10-009 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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