AZ-802 Practice Question: Implement and Manage On-Prem and Hybrid Networking
You are monitoring network utilization on a Windows Server 2022 node. You notice consistently high CPU usage when transferring large amounts of data over the network. Which feature can you enable to offload this processing and improve performance?
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
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Receive Side Scaling (RSS)
Receive Side Scaling (RSS) is a technology that allows the network stack to distribute incoming network traffic processing across multiple CPU cores. By offloading this task, the server can handle higher network throughput without overloading a single core, which is critical for high-traffic servers. This reduces CPU bottlenecks and ensures that the server can scale its networking capabilities to meet increasing demand efficiently.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Receive Side Scaling (RSS)
Why this is correct
RSS enables the parallel processing of incoming network traffic across multiple CPU cores. By spreading the load, it prevents a single core from becoming a bottleneck during high-volume transfers, effectively improving overall system performance and throughput for data-intensive applications running on the Windows Server host.
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Virtual Machine Queue (VMQ)
Why it's wrong here
VMQ is designed to offload packet processing for virtual machines to the physical network adapter. While it helps performance in virtualized environments, it is not the primary mechanism for optimizing general host-level network stack processing when high CPU usage is observed during large data transfers on the server itself.
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IPsec Task Offloading
Why it's wrong here
IPsec Task Offloading moves the cryptographic processing from the CPU to the network interface card. While it reduces CPU usage during encrypted transfers, it does not address the performance overhead associated with standard, non-encrypted network stack processing. It is specifically for reducing the load of IPsec encryption/decryption tasks.
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Network Load Balancing (NLB)
Why it's wrong here
NLB is a clustering technology that distributes traffic across multiple servers. It does not optimize the CPU processing of a single server's network stack. Enabling NLB would increase the number of servers, but it does not address the CPU efficiency of an individual server handling a high network load.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every AZ-802 question from scratch — 116 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 and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Microsoft exam blueprint
This AZ-802 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft 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 AZ-802 exam.