JN0-106 Operational Monitoring and Maintenance Practice Question
Which command displays the status of all configured interfaces, including administrative and operational status?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse 'show interfaces terse' with 'show interface statistics' or 'show configuration interfaces', mistakenly thinking statistics or configuration output will show operational status, but only 'show interfaces terse' provides the concise admin and link status in a single view.
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
✓
show interfaces terse
The 'show interfaces terse' command displays a concise summary of all interfaces, including their administrative status (up or down) and operational status (up or down), along with protocol states. This makes it the correct choice for quickly viewing the status of all configured interfaces in a single output.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
show interfaces terse
Why this is correct
The 'show interfaces terse' command renders each interface on the device—including all configured interfaces—as a single line in a table with columns for Interface, Admin, Link, Proto, and Local address. Admin reflects the administrative state (up when not administratively disabled, regardless of the physical condition), Link reflects the actual operational state (up only when a valid carrier or signal is detected), and Proto indicates whether a protocol such as inet/IPv4 is active on the interface. Because it combines both the configured administrative state and the real-time operational state in one compact, easy-to-scan output, it is the standard quick check for interface health.
- ✗
show configuration interfaces
Why it's wrong here
'show configuration interfaces' outputs the interface configuration stanza from the configuration database, typically in set or display set format, showing what has been configured—such as logical unit numbers, family inet addresses, and the 'disable' statement if an interface is administratively down. It is purely a view of the intended configuration and never inspects the data plane or hardware, so it cannot know whether a cable is connected, whether a transceiver is present, whether the peer is up, or whether the interface is actually carrying traffic. Even if a configured interface has no physical link, this command will still display it as configured up unless 'disable' was explicitly added, making it useless for operational status checks.
- ✗
show chassis hardware
Why it's wrong here
The 'show chassis hardware' command queries the chassis inventory and reports physical components and their identifying information—routing engines, line cards (MRMICs, FPCs, PICs), power supplies, fans, and serial numbers. This command is valuable for verifying hardware installation, firmware versions, or serial numbers for support, but it does not track per-interface state or administration flags. Interface status is determined by the interface's logic and the transceiver's link state, not by the chassis inventory database, so this command cannot answer whether a specific interface is up or down.
- ✗
show interface statistics
Why it's wrong here
The 'show interface statistics' command reports traffic counters and error counters for each interface, including input/output bytes, packets, and drops or CRC errors. It is primarily an accounting tool for the forwarding plane, not a status display; it lacks the concise Admin and Link columns of 'show interfaces terse' and does not explicitly state whether an interface is administratively up or operationally up. Although a suddenly high error counter or a zero traffic counter might hint at a problem, this command alone does not give you the immediate up/down status you would get from 'show interfaces terse'.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every JN0-106 question from scratch — 156 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This JN0-106 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Juniper Networks 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 JN0-106 exam.