SD-WAN-Engineer · domain
Troubleshooting
This domain covers diagnosing Prisma SD-WAN (ION) issues: control and data plane connectivity, overlay/VPN policy mapping, interface and DHCP behavior, and application/voice prioritization. Questions present a branch symptom and ask which orchestrator tool, policy construct, or SD-WAN feature to inspect or correct.
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What to know about Troubleshooting
Be able to take a branch symptom, isolate whether it is control plane, data plane, or policy, and pick the correct orchestrator view or policy construct to inspect. The most important thing is verifying VLAN-to-VPN overlay mapping in network policy before chasing interface or link faults.
Reading ION control connection status and events in the Prisma SD-WAN orchestrator
Verifying WAN interface state, DHCP lease, and data-path forwarding on ION devices
Applying application and voice prioritization via policy rules and traffic classes
Watch out for
Common Troubleshooting exam traps
- ▸Assuming a WAN interface showing 'up' means traffic forwards, ignoring DHCP lease or policy binding failures.
- ▸Confusing control connection problems with data plane issues, so the wrong layer gets investigated.
- ▸Checking interface status instead of the network policy that maps a VLAN to its VPN overlay.
Question index
All Troubleshooting questions (63)
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If an ION device is not receiving DHCP addresses from an upstream provider, where should you look first?
Medium2A network administrator is troubleshooting a Prisma SD-WAN environment where a branch ION device is configured with two WAN interfaces: one primary and one secondary. The administrator notices that all traffic is being sent over the secondary WAN interface even though the primary interface is up and has better path quality. Which of the following is the most likely cause?
Hard3A network operations center (NOC) engineer is investigating a performance issue at a branch site. The engineer needs to identify which application is consuming the most bandwidth on the WAN link. Which dashboard in the Prisma SD-WAN orchestrator should the engineer use?
Easy4A network engineer is troubleshooting a Prisma SD-WAN deployment where an ION device has established a control connection to the controller but is not receiving any configuration. The engineer verifies that the device is licensed and the controller is reachable. Which of the following should the engineer check next to resolve the missing configuration?
Medium5A network administrator is troubleshooting a branch site that is experiencing poor voice quality. The administrator suspects that the SD-WAN fabric is not prioritizing voice traffic correctly. Which dashboard in the Prisma SD-WAN Orchestrator provides a real-time view of application performance, including latency, jitter, and packet loss per application?
Easy6What does the 'Flow Monitor' tool primarily track?
Easy7A network administrator is examining the Prisma SD-WAN orchestrator dashboard to identify which sites are consuming the most bandwidth. Which dashboard widget should the administrator use to quickly see the top bandwidth consumers?
Easy8You notice an ION device is showing as 'Disconnected' in the Controller UI. What is the first step you should take?
Easy9A network administrator is troubleshooting an ION device at a branch site that intermittently loses connectivity to the Prisma SD-WAN Controller. The administrator suspects a problem with the underlying WAN link. Which CLI command provides the most direct real-time view of the interface status, IP address, and packet counters for the WAN interfaces?
Medium10A network administrator is troubleshooting a Prisma SD-WAN environment where an ION device is experiencing intermittent packet loss on a business-critical application. The administrator suspects that the issue is related to a policy misconfiguration. Which two actions should the administrator take to verify that the correct policies are being applied to the traffic? (Choose two.)
Hard11Which THREE pieces of information are critical when opening a support ticket for a suspected SD-WAN bug?
Hard12A specific branch is failing to steer traffic via the preferred ISP despite a defined Path Policy. What is the most likely cause?
Medium13A network operations team is troubleshooting a Prisma SD-WAN environment where multiple sites are reporting intermittent connectivity to critical cloud applications. The team suspects an issue with the SD-WAN fabric's path selection or link quality. Which two actions should the team perform to gather the most relevant data for diagnosis? (Choose two.)
Hard14A network administrator is investigating why a specific SaaS application is being blocked for users at a branch site. The security policy in the orchestrator does not show any hits for that application. The administrator suspects that the ION device is not correctly identifying the application. Which feature should be verified to ensure the application is recognized and allowed?
Easy15Which mechanism would explain why traffic is taking a sub-optimal path despite a policy favoring a different link?
Hard16Which TWO factors contribute to the 'Path Health' score?
Medium17Which TWO metrics are displayed in the Path Quality dashboard?
Medium18An administrator is troubleshooting a routing loop that occurs intermittently between two branch sites. The administrator suspects that the BGP route advertisements received by one of the ION devices are causing the loop. Which tool in the Prisma SD-WAN orchestrator can be used to view the BGP routes received by an ION device?
Medium19A network engineer is analyzing a Prisma SD-WAN network where a critical SaaS application is experiencing intermittent performance degradation. The engineer suspects that the SD-WAN policy is not correctly steering traffic to the optimal path. Which feature in the Prisma SD-WAN orchestrator should the engineer use to verify the path selection decisions made for the application's traffic flows?
Hard20A network engineer is troubleshooting a Prisma SD-WAN environment where a branch ION device is not forming a control-plane connection to the controller. The engineer has verified that the underlay WAN interface is up and can ping the internet. Which step should the engineer take next to diagnose the control-plane issue?
Medium21A network engineer is troubleshooting a Prisma SD-WAN environment where a branch site is experiencing intermittent connectivity to a critical cloud application. The engineer suspects that the issue is related to the SD-WAN fabric's handling of the application's traffic. Which of the following tools should the engineer use to capture and analyze the actual packets traversing the ION device to determine if packets are being dropped or modified?
Medium22You need to see the exact DSCP markings on packets exiting the ION. Which tool should you use?
Hard23A network operations team is troubleshooting a Prisma SD-WAN network where a specific branch site is experiencing poor voice quality. The team suspects that the issue is due to the branch's WAN link not meeting the required SLA for jitter. Which tool in the Prisma SD-WAN orchestrator should the team use to verify the real-time jitter measurements for the branch's WAN link?
Medium24A site has two ISPs. Traffic is only using one. What is the best way to verify if both paths are available?
Medium25A network administrator is troubleshooting a Prisma SD-WAN environment and needs to view the current status of all WAN interfaces on a specific ION device. Which section of the Prisma SD-WAN portal should the administrator navigate to?
Easy26What information is provided by the 'Controller Status' widget on the dashboard?
Easy27A network engineer is troubleshooting a site that is experiencing intermittent connectivity issues. The ION device shows the WAN interface flapping. Which two CLI commands should the engineer use to gather information about the interface flapping? (Choose two.)
Medium28Which feature should you examine if traffic is not being steered based on the application category?
Medium29A network engineer is troubleshooting an ION device that frequently reboots and loses its configuration. The engineer suspects a hardware or software issue. Which two commands should be used to gather relevant diagnostic information from the ION device? (Choose two.)
Hard30Which THREE logs or reports should be reviewed to troubleshoot a security policy drop?
Hard31Where do you view the history of configuration changes pushed to an ION device?
Easy32A branch loses connectivity to the internet, but local LAN traffic is fine. What should you troubleshoot first?
Medium33A network engineer is investigating why a branch site is not receiving any traffic from the data center after a recent change. The engineer suspects that the SD-WAN fabric is not advertising the branch's subnet correctly. Which CLI command on the ION device can be used to verify the routes being advertised to and received from the SD-WAN fabric?
Hard34A branch site reports intermittent application slowness. Which tool in the Prisma SD-WAN ION dashboard is best for viewing real-time latency and jitter metrics per path?
Easy35When analyzing a PCAP from an ION device, you see 'ICMP Destination Unreachable'. Which policy is most likely causing this?
Hard36A network operations center (NOC) engineer is monitoring a Prisma SD-WAN deployment and notices that one ION device at a remote site is consistently showing high latency on its broadband link, while the LTE link is performing well. The engineer wants to quickly identify whether the high latency is due to an ISP issue or a device problem. Which of the following should the engineer check first?
Easy37Which THREE methods can be used to troubleshoot application identification issues?
Hard38Which log file on the ION device provides the most detailed information about WAN interface flapping?
Easy39Which THREE areas of configuration should you verify if a site cannot reach the local LAN gateway?
Hard40A branch is failing to load-balance traffic across two ISPs. Both are active. Which setting controls the load-balancing algorithm?
Hard41A network engineer is investigating a performance issue in a Prisma SD-WAN environment where an ION device is showing high jitter on a business-critical VoIP call. The engineer has verified that the WAN link quality is good and that no policies are misconfigured. The engineer suspects that the issue might be due to the ION device's handling of the traffic. Which of the following should the engineer check next to determine if the ION device is correctly marking and prioritizing the VoIP traffic?
Hard42Which dashboard is most useful for identifying top bandwidth consumers in the network?
Easy43What is the function of the 'Reachability' check in the ION device configuration?
Easy44A network engineer is troubleshooting a site where traffic from a specific VLAN is not being forwarded to the correct VPN overlay. The engineer suspects a misconfiguration in the network policy. Which tool in the Prisma SD-WAN Orchestrator should the engineer use to view the effective policy applied to that site and verify the path selection decisions?
Hard45A network engineer is troubleshooting an SD-WAN deployment where an ION device at a branch site is not forming a control connection to the Prisma SD-WAN Controller. The device is powered on and has a link light on its WAN port. The engineer suspects a certificate or licensing issue. Which two items should the engineer verify to confirm the device's identity and authorization with the controller? (Choose two.)
Medium46Which TWO tools are available in the ION CLI for network connectivity testing?
Medium47A user reports slow speeds. You see that the interface is not hitting the configured throughput limit. What could be the issue?
Medium48Which log is used to view denied traffic attempts?
Easy49An engineer notices that an ION device at a branch site shows a WAN interface status of 'up' in the Prisma SD-WAN orchestrator, but no traffic is being forwarded over that interface. The interface is configured for DHCP. Which troubleshooting step should be performed first to determine why the interface is not passing traffic?
Medium50You are debugging a routing loop. Which tool can you use to see the BGP route advertisements received by an ION device?
Hard51An ION device has experienced a configuration drift. How can you restore the last known good configuration?
Medium52A network administrator is troubleshooting a site that is experiencing poor voice quality over the SD-WAN. The administrator suspects that the voice traffic is not being prioritized correctly. Which SD-WAN feature should be verified to ensure that voice packets are marked and queued appropriately across the WAN?
Medium53A network engineer is troubleshooting why a branch ION device is not receiving any traffic from the data center. The engineer suspects that a firewall rule on the ION device is blocking traffic. Which log should the engineer check to see if traffic is being dropped by the firewall?
Easy54Which TWO of these are valid ways to verify the status of an ION device's WAN interface?
Medium55Which TWO items are checked by the ION device to determine if a WAN path is healthy?
Medium56A network engineer is troubleshooting a Prisma SD-WAN deployment where a new ION device at a remote site fails to establish any data plane tunnels to other sites. The engineer has verified that the control connection to the controller is up and the device is showing as 'Connected' in the orchestrator. Which step should the engineer take next to diagnose the data plane tunnel issue?
Easy57A network engineer is troubleshooting a Prisma SD-WAN site where a specific business-critical application is experiencing high latency. The engineer wants to quickly identify which WAN path the application traffic is currently using and its performance metrics. Which tool in the Prisma SD-WAN orchestrator should the engineer use?
Easy58When troubleshooting QoS, what does a high 'drop' count in the interface statistics imply?
Medium59Which THREE components are verified during the ION device 'check' sequence at startup?
Hard60A network administrator is troubleshooting an ION device that is experiencing intermittent packet loss on its WAN interface. The administrator wants to determine whether the issue is due to physical layer errors or congestion. Which CLI command provides the most detailed statistics for identifying such problems?
Medium61A user is complaining about high latency for a SaaS app. The Path Quality dashboard shows low latency. What is the next logical step?
Hard62When troubleshooting a site-to-site VPN issue between two ION devices, which status should you check first?
Hard63A network operations team is troubleshooting an intermittent connectivity issue between two branch sites. The ION devices at both sites are managed by Prisma SD-WAN. The team suspects that the issue is related to the underlay network. Which two actions should the team perform to gather relevant troubleshooting data? (Choose two.)
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Frequently asked questions
- What does the Troubleshooting domain cover on the SD-WAN-Engineer exam?
- Be able to take a branch symptom, isolate whether it is control plane, data plane, or policy, and pick the correct orchestrator view or policy construct to inspect. The most important thing is verifying VLAN-to-VPN overlay mapping in network policy before chasing interface or link faults.
- How many questions are in this domain?
- This page lists all 63 Troubleshooting questions in the SD-WAN-Engineer question bank. The actual exam draws from this domain proportionally to its weighting in the official exam blueprint.
- What is the best way to practise this domain?
- Start with a short focused session (10 questions) to identify gaps, then work through explanations. Repeat with a longer session once the weak areas feel solid.
- Can I practise only Troubleshooting questions?
- Yes — the session launcher on this page filters questions to this domain only. Choose any session length for inline explanations and scoring.