CompTIA Network+ Final Assessment: CompTIA Network+ Final Assessment
A network engineer oversees a network with 4 subnets of 16 IP addresses each. Each subnet will have the same Classless inter-domain routing (CIDR) range of 192.168.x.0/28, such that the first subnet has an IP range of 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.15, and so forth. If the engineer then needed 62 addresses on each subnet, how many mask bits would be represented in the CIDR notation of each subnet after the engineer has increased the IP range to 62?
26 **A 26-bit mask provides a range of 64 IP addresses (2^6), with 62 host addresses. A subnet with "/26" CIDR notation reserves one address for the network and one for broadcast, leaving 62 addresses available. The subnet mask for a "/26" network is 255.255.255.192.
A network specialist is installing a new WiFi 6 access point in a dentist's office lobby. The office is a small space with few physical obstacles, and only patients waiting in the lobby are expected to use the AP. There is a lot of interference from legacy devices used by the offices directly above, mostly on the lower channels of the lowest frequencies. Recommend a frequency and channel for the network.
5 Ghz, channel 40 **Because the office lobby is small in area and obstacle-free, 5 Ghz with multi-user MIMO could be ideal in a setting dominated by 2.4 Ghz devices (interference is stated to occur on lower frequencies). Channel 40 is a great default if there is no known interference.
A network technician is troubleshooting packet collision issues. The network uses Layer 2 Ethernet switches, and only some ports experience collisions. All of the ports that experience collisions are set at half-duplex; however not all half-duplex ports experience collisions. Recommend the next variable for the technician to check that may be causing collisions in a microsegments switch.
Are legacy hubs connected to the switch? **Legacy hubs often require half-duplex and can thus enable collisions within the segment branching from the switch port through the legacy hub. If packet collisions are an issue, upgrades should be considered.
A network security specialist is conducting an investigation into a network compromise. On-path exploits are a form of attack in which a threat actor breaches the link between two hosts and transparently intercepts and relays all communications between them. What are examples of on-path exploits? (Select all that apply.)
A. ARP spoofing B. DNS cache poisoning D. MAC address impersonation
A network administrator is with a major company that cannot handle downtime and requires redundancy at every level possible. They need to set up multiple physical routers to serve as a single default gateway for a subnet, but do not want to use a proprietary protocol. Which of the following will help them accomplish this? (Select all that apply.)
A. CARP D. VRRP **The Common Address Redundancy Protocol (CARP) enables multiple hosts to share an IP address on the same network segment so that they can act as a default gateway. The open standard protocol Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) allows the automatic assignment of IP routers to act as a default gateway on a single subnet.
A company has deployed a large network of PLC devices in its manufacturing facilities. The company has recently laid off several employees who had regular access to the configuration settings of the PLC devices through workstations connected to the PLC firmware through Secure Shell (SSH) sessions authenticated with public key infrastructure (PKI). Plan the proper actions for remediation of the client device and management of the keys associated with the user accounts of the former employees. (Select all that apply.)
A. Copy new public key to SSH server B. Regenerate a new key pair on the client device C. Delete the old public key from the appliance
A network consultant is asked to install environmental sensors on the organization's server to monitor conditions in the server rack. Which of the following factors need monitoring? (Select all that apply.)
A. Temperature C. Humidity D. Electrical
A network administrator is configuring a switching network based on the three-tiered hierarchy model used by Cisco. Which tier of Cisco's modular design principles would the administrator most likely install a Layer 2 LAN switch?
Access Layer **The access or EDGE layer allows end-user devices, such as computers, printers, and smartphones to connect to the network.
A network engineer is performing packet capture on a Gigabit copper cable for analysis and troubleshooting of a large network. The engineer requires a network sniffer that captures all frames (including frames with errors), performs signal regeneration, and is easy to implement with dedicated hardware. Suggest a network sniffer that will fulfill the engineer's requirements.
Active test access point (TAP) **An active test access point (TAP) is a powered device that performs signal regeneration and can capture all packets.
A company has installed a security device that automatically analyzes the network traffic and system and application logs to identify malicious activity by matching activity patterns to a signature database. The device is configured to alert the network security administrator upon matching a signature but takes no further action. Deduce the device the company has installed.
Intrusion Detection System (IDS)
The network security office is tasked with updating authentication requirements for computer access as it currently uses a single sign-on and password. The office determines that it will begin using the sign-on criteria but add an additional requirement of a code being sent to the employee's personal cell phone to grant authorization to complete access requirements for login. What is the name of this authentication?
Multi-Factor
A network engineer is testing an application over the IPv6 protocol. Determine how the server can cast packets to an entire local subnet.
Multicast to associated private topology
A network consultant is considering potential upgrades for a network that utilizes an edge router that connects to a layer 2 switch, which has ports subinterfaced into multiple VLANs per port. Suggest an upgrade that will increase the efficiency of routing between VLANs by mapping IP addresses to MAC addresses for hardware forwarding.
Replace the Layer 2 switch with a Layer 3 switch **A layer 3 capable switch is optimized for routing between VLANs, and maintains a mapping table of IP addresses to MAC addresses so that when a path is established, it can use low-latency hardware-based forwarding.
A systems administrator is configuring a server for email services. Which protocol or protocol command is also referred to as implicit TLS?
SMTPS **SMTPS establishes the secure connection before any SMTP commands (HELO, for instance) are exchanged. This is also referred to as implicit TLS and only represents encryption at the level of the transport layer.
A server manager has just been hired and they notice that sometimes servers are set up in different ways and some important steps end up getting missed. They want to set out the principal goals and considerations, such as budget, security, or customer contact standards, for performing a task and identify lines of responsibility and authorization for performing it. What should they set up to do this?
SOP
A branch manager of several chain stores has been researching physical security and wants to set up a network of monitored locks, intruder alarms, and video surveillance cameras. What should they set up?
PACS (Physical Access Control System)
A network administrator is remotely configuring an application on a Windows server. The application configuration screen is graphically based, with checkboxes, dropdown selectors, etc. Determine the protocol the administrator can use that provides a secure graphical user interface (GUI) connection to the remote server.
RDP
A company has been advised by a network consultant to have extra lengths of copper twisted-pair cables with 4 pairs of wires as well as 8-position/8-contact connectors. Assess what type of connector will be required.
RJ-45
A Windows server manager is trying to calculate the amount of data loss that a system can sustain, measured in time units. What is this referred to as?
RPO
An organizational employee contacts the network security office stating that their computer is saying that if $1,000,000 is not paid to a certain bank router in the Cayman Islands, then all server and legacy business data will be deleted. What is the organization experiencing at this moment?
Ransomware
While performing a resiliency test for availability, a technician is trying to calculate the amount of data loss that a system can sustain before the data is unrecoverable if it was targeted by a virus, and just how far back in time from the disaster that would be. What is the technician testing for?
Recovery point objective
A network technician is using Nmap to map a corporate network and decides to perform a half-open scan to limit visibility in logs. Select the Nmap argument that will perform this half-open scan.
-sS **The TCP SYN (-sS) scan is the appropriate choice for a half-open scan. This technique is faster as the scanning host sends a SYN packet to request a connection but does not complete the handshake. This method is typically used for stealthier scans, as it is less likely to be logged. The TCP connect (-sT) scan completes the three-way handshake, making a full TCP connection. This method is more visible in logs and is not considered a half-open scan. The -sU flag initiates a UDP scan, which, being connectionless, does not constitute a half-open scan. The -p flag is used to specify a port or range of ports for scanning and does not denote the type of scan.
A network security engineer is performing network penetration testing. The engineer is using Nmap to make a map of all network devices and wants to identify all host addresses on the network more quickly by skipping OS fingerprinting until after a target machine is selected. Suggest an Nmap switch that will allow the engineer to perform host discovery only.
-sn **Using Nmap with the -sn switch will suppress the port scan, which can reduce scanning time on large networks.
An electric power company is onboarding new employees for its IT/network team. The employees will be responsible for managing switches that connect a variety of Internet of Things (IoT) field devices. Determine the most relevant password policy rule to be applied that the network switch requires in order to align with NIST password recommendations for critical infrastructure.
14 character minimum password length
A network engineer is tracing network routes and counting network hops. The engineers ping packet passes through a total of 3 switches and two routers before reaching its target. Determine how many network hops the packet has taken. The TTL is set to 64.
2 **Two routers count as two hops. Switches do not count as hops. 64 is the default TTL, or Time To Live, in this case. It is a value that represents how many hops before a connection or packet is dropped, and decrements by one at each hop
What is the lowest ANSI/TIA/EIA copper Ethernet cabling category available in the form of shielded/foiled twisted pair (S/FTP), and is often recommended for use in healthcare settings?
6a **Category 6a fully shielded cabling has a braided outer screen and foil-shielded pairs and is referred to as shielded/foiled twisted pair (S/FTP).
Which IEEE wireless standard is designated as using high efficiency (HE), allowing throughput speeds of up to approximately 4800 Mbps over a 5 Ghz channel using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing with Multiple Access (OFDMA) modulation and UL-MIMO beamforming and can potentially reach approximate 10G speeds using a 6 Ghz frequency?
802.11ax **Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) uses more complex OFDM with multiple access (OFDMA) modulation and signal encoding to improve the amount of data sent per packet by about 40%. 802.11ah (Wi-Fi HaLow) uses the 900 MHz band for a much better range at much lower power. 802.11n products can use channels in the 2.4 GHz band or the 5 GHz band. The data rate for 802.11n is 72 Mbps per stream. 802.11ac provides downlink multiuser-MIMO which allows the AP to use its multiple antennas to process a spatial stream of signals in one direction separately to other streams. 802.11ac does not provide uplink MU-MIMO, and does not support 6 Ghz.
A manufacturing company utilizes multiple access points (APs) spread across its factory. The APs all share an SSID to allow client roaming. Since there are areas where it is difficult to run cabling, a wireless distribution system is used, where the main router is connected to the Internet and the rest are set in repeater mode. What is true about the channels used by the APs?
All APs must use the same channel
A network cabling installer is inspecting existing cabling in an older building on behalf of a local ISP. The cabling connects several branches of 10BASE-T Ethernet to a newer 100BASE-TX trunk. What protocol does the Fast Ethernet standard use that encodes service capabilities into a 16-bit data packet broadcast that allows legacy hosts to choose the highest available connection settings, thus enabling compatibility between the 100BASE-TX and the legacy 10BASE-T?
An auto-negotiation protocol **Fast Ethernet added an auto-negotiation protocol to facilitate interoperability with hosts still equipped with 10 Mbps Ethernet interfaces. This protocol allows a host to select the maximum available connection settings (10 or 100 Mbps and half or full-duplex).
A network cable installer is installing copper cabling in an office for a new network. The installer needs to close a gap of about 150 ft. ending in an RJ-45 termination. What is the lowest possible category of cable needed to maintain 10 Gigabit Ethernet speeds?
Cat 6 **Category 6 unshielded twisted pair (UTP) copper cabling can support 10GBASE-T standard speeds at a distance of up to 180 ft. (55 m).
A systems administrator is researching an identity and access management (IAM) system to mediate the use of objects by subjects. Which of the following components determines what rights subjects should have on each resource?
Authorization **Authorization determines what rights subjects should have on each resource and enforcing those rights. In computer security, the basis of access control is usually an access control list (ACL).
A network consultant wants to configure their client's system to generate an alert when either a certain type of a given severity has been encountered, or by setting thresholds for performance counters. What is the name of this type of system?
Automated Event Management
A network engineer is configuring a local intranet for a large manufacturing company that uses a DNS server on its network to resolve internal and external queries while keeping internal IP addresses private. The engineer sets both UDP port 53 and TCP port 53 on the primary name resolution server to allow larger DNS record transfers. Select the situations that would require larger DNS record transfers over TCP. (Select all that apply.)
B .The DNS server is utilizing a security protocol such as DNSSEC. D. The network deploys IPv6 addressing. **Security protocols such as DNSSEC authenticate responses to domain name lookups in order to prevent attackers from manipulating or poisoning the responses to DNS requests. IPv6 uses a much larger address space and improved security features and thus may require larger DNS record transfers.
A network specialist is tasked with integrating a VoIP solution in an office that uses a legacy analog phone system. The office intends to discontinue its traditional analog telephone service and eliminate all outdated voice cabling. However, there is also a requirement to continue using existing analog handsets and fax machines alongside new VoIP endpoints. Which of the following methods should be implemented to support VoIP services and ensure compatibility with both legacy and new devices? (Select all that apply)
B. Install a VoIP PBX between the VoIP service provider and VoIP endpoints, and a Foreign Exchange Subscriber (FXS) voice gateway connecting legacy hardware to the new PBX D. Connect new devices to the VoIP PBX and connect that to the legacy telephone network directly through an analog Foreign Exchange Office voice gateway
While conducting an analysis, a network technician is attempting to determine the amount of information that can be transmitted in bits per second (bps). What is the technician attempting to measure?
Bandwidth
How can an IPv4 host send packets to all addresses in a particular subnet?
By sending a packet to the network or subnet's last possible IP address according to the last octet **A broadcast address is used to send packets to groups of addresses that share a broadcast domain. This groups together devices on the same switch, or on the same VLAN.
A network cabling installer is installing cable in a senior care center. A distance of about 80 meters (262 feet) must be connected with a single copper twisted-pair Ethernet cable. What is the minimum acceptable class of cable for covering the distance at 10GBASE-T without repeaters?
Cat 6a **Cat 6a can support 10GBASE-T at 100 m (328 ft), so 6a would be the lowest category that could be used to maintain 10GBASE-T at the distance given. Cat 6 can support 10 Gbps over short distances, nominally 55 m, but often less if cables are closely bundled together. 80 m is too far Cat 6. Cat 5e would still be an acceptable choice for providing network links for workstations, but cannot sustain 10GBASE-T speeds at any distance. Cat 7 is not recognized by TIA/EIA but appears in the cabling standards created by the ISO, and uses non-standard connectors. Cat 7 would maintain 10GBASE-T but is not the lowest usable category of cable that is usable.
A network technician is manually configuring speed and duplex settings in a managed switch, in order to define specific speeds for specific devices. After testing the manual configuration of a single test device, the technician notes that the LED indicator corresponding to the port the test device is connected to is blinking amber. Recommend a next step for the technician to investigate.
Check duplex settings **If a host is set to a fixed configuration and is manually configured to 100 Mbps/full-duplex, the link will fail. A speed mismatch will cause the link to fail, while a duplex mismatch will slow the link down (it will cause high packet loss and late collisions). A blinking amber light indicates a fault has been detected. Waiting won't solve the problem in this case. If there was no power to the test device or the cable was unplugged, there would be no light at all. Indicator light for a normal, healthy ethernet connection with no traffic given to the port is a solid, unblinking green. Anything else indicates some sort of problem.
A systems administrator is trying to distribute client requests across server nodes in a farm or pool based on application-level data, such as a request for a particular URL. Which of the following should they set up?
Content switch **With a Layer 7 or content switch, as web applications have become more complex, modern load balancers need to be able to make forwarding decisions based on application-level data, such as a request for a particular URL or data types like video or audio streaming.
A network security practitioner is hardening a corporate network to mitigate the risk from route processor vulnerabilities. Which quality of service (QoS) stack operational layer comprises traffic that keeps the network itself operational, including routing updates, ARP traffic, STP notifications, NTP updates, QoS classification, and link reservation requests?
Control plane
A network engineer, investigating connection issues being experienced by users, notes that the user clients are able to connect to hosts using an IP address but not using hostnames or URLs. Propose a setting the engineer should check first.
DNS server settings
A service provider has terminated a T1 link to a mid-sized company using the T-carrier system. After patching from where the service provider terminated their connection, where would the customer connect for connectivity?
DSU
A small organization is looking at cloud solutions, but does not possess the necessary number of servers to conduct operations or the appropriate number of employees to complete tasks. To support their mission, the organization attempts to provide incentives, such as working from home by using virtual desktops as a means to attract applicants and fulfill computing requirements without owning the required amount of servers. Which cloud model would probably suit the organization best?
DaaS **Desktop as a Service (DaaS) is a means of provisioning virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) as a cloud service. VDI allows a client browser to operate an OS desktop plus software.
A network engineer is creating a network diagram based on a list of media access control (MAC) addresses used in a network. At what layer of the OSI model are all hosts identified by a specific MAC address?
Data-link layer **The data link layer (layer 2) is responsible for transferring data between nodes on the same logical segment. At the Data Link layer, a segment is one where all nodes can send traffic to one another using hardware (MAC) addresses.
A network administrator is installing software that will monitor network performance metrics such as packet loss, jitter, or throughput and send notifications to the administrator if certain thresholds are met. Conclude the type of software the administrator is installing.
Event management software
How does the TCP/IP protocol suite resolve the machine hardware address of the target IP if the target IP is on a remote network?
Determine the MAC address of the default gateway using ARP cache **If the destination address is on a remote network, then the local host must use its default gateway to forward the packet. Therefore, it must determine the MAC address of the default gateway using ARP.
A network consultant is wanting to harden the server room from malicious insider attack. One of the consultant's goals is to prevent the attachment of unauthorized client devices. What can the consultant do to mitigate this risk?
Disable Unused Switch Ports
A network is segmented into separate VLANs that are assigned to ports on a managed switch. Users are reporting that network access is down in all of the VLAN segments but one. The network administrator surmises that the main server assigning IP addresses is in the working VLAN and the other VLANs are having issues accessing it, as each VLAN is in a separate broadcast domain. Prescribe an action to take that will enable the segmented VLANs to be assigned IP addresses from across broadcast domains.
Enable DHCP Relay on the switch **The DHCP Relay function needs to be enabled in the configuration or settings page of a router to forward DHCP traffic where the client and server are in different subnets.
A team of network engineers is using an interior gateway routing protocol that takes into consideration only the number of hops when calculating routes. Recommend an interior gateway routing protocol that calculates routes using a metric weighted on bandwidth cost combined with delay time, and that only sends updates to neighbors when the topology has changed.
Enhanced IGRP (EIGRP) **EIGRP is an advanced distance-vector or hybrid routing protocol similar to RIP that uses a metric composed of administrator-weighted elements, such as bandwidth and delay.
A network engineer is configuring an Internet of Things (IoT) network that uses multicasting to allow devices to communicate over a VLAN-enabled managed switch. An issue is occurring where the multicast traffic is being flooded across the network as a broadcast, resulting in reduced network performance. Recommend a potential fix for this issue.
Ensure IGMP snooping is enabled at the switch **To prevent multicast flooding, IGMP snooping can be enabled as a global option on a switch and as a per-VLAN option. IGMP snooping means the switch reads IGMP messages and can determine if the host on an access port or one or more hosts in a VLAN have joined a multicast group.
A network technician is troubleshooting a network issue. The technician has theorized that some evidence may point to a security breach, but the technician is not trained in security and thus cannot be certain. Decide the next step for the technician, according to the CompTIA® Network+® troubleshooting methodology.
Escalate the issue to security staff
A team of network engineers are refurbishing copper Ethernet cabling in a FEMA office. The federal government requires that copper twisted pair cabling be terminated according to the T568A standard. To ensure termination is being done according to standard, what color conductor will be wired to the second pin?
Green
What advantage does Collision Detection (CD) bring to the carrier-sense multiple access (CSMA) media access control method?
Instant termination upon collision **CSMA Collision Detection utilizes half-duplex transmission to detect when a signal is present on an interface's transmit and receive lines simultaneously. A jamming signal is then used to keep other nodes from transmitting for a period of time.
An enterprise network provides remote database services delivered using a commercial relational database management system (RDBMS) to employees of an architectural firm. To secure the data, TLS encryption is required by both the server and the client. Propose a method of configuring the authentication that will provide for this requirement.
Install certificates on the server and all clients **A public key infrastructure uses a Certificate Authority to issue certificates containing keys. By ensuring all clients have certificates that match the host, security can be assured.
A technician is tasked with deploying ethernet cable throughout a new wing of the organization's building. Using the various tools available to assist in achieving this requirement, what is the purpose of using a cable crimper?
It is connector specific and used to fix a plug to a cable and create patch cords
A network specialist is attempting to measure the time, in milliseconds, it takes for a transmission to reach the recipient. What is the specialist attempting to calculate?
Latency
A security analyst is looking at attacks against unencrypted Neighbor Discovery (ND) protocol. What is the attacker most likely trying to accomplish?
Layer 2 spoofing *While IPv6 does not use ARP, it is also vulnerable to layer 2 spoofing if the unencrypted Neighbor Discovery (ND) protocol is used.
A network security administrator wants to begin network hardening with the easiest possible implementations they can perform first. They found that the company only purchases laptops from a specific vendor and plans to continue doing so. What could they implement based on this?
MAC filtering
A team of network consultants is configuring an Internet of Things (IoT) network. The team is considering network topologies in the context of the IoT devices being used, which are all within 100 meters of one another, are battery-powered, and communicate via the Zigbee protocol. Recommend a network topology that will save power, scale easily to thousands of IoT sensor devices while saving power by cooperating with nearby devices.
Mesh
A network administrator working for a cloud services company is configuring an SDN that is optimized for east-west traffic. The SDN must be loop-free so that spanning tree protocol is not required, instead utilizing a protocol called Equal Cost Multipathing to distribute traffic between the links to the top-tier switches. All server resources will be on-premises, so the solution should avoid the use of the public Internet and the use of Protocol-Independent Multicast protocols, instead establishing private links with guaranteed service levels to operate as an overlay network and configure point-to-point or point-to-multipoint links between nodes without respect to the underlying physical and data link topologies (tunneling through the network layer). The SDN must also feature multipath redundancy to allow for load balancing and failover. Choose a multipath routing protocol that will best fulfill these requirements.
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) with Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) **Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) can be used together for private links, using SPB and IS-IS (a link-state IGP that uses shortest-path-first algorithm to determine routes) as a link-layer overlay and MPLS as a link-layer-independent "Layer 2.5" underlay.
An IT team responsible for a small corporate network is attempting to increase data throughput to a particular machine from 1 Gbps to 2 Gbps. The machine has two network interface cards. Recommend an Ethernet switching feature to fulfill these requirements.
NIC teaming **NIC teaming, also sometimes called port bonding or port aggregation, can be accomplished using the Link Aggregation Control protocol. This can provide redundancy and extra bandwidth when there are multiple clients, as load balancing is performed.
A virtualization specialist is configuring a host-based hypervisor so that software engineers can test their code in a variety of OS and hardware environments from right on their Mac Pro workstations, using a combination of virtualization and emulation techniques. Select a Type II hypervisor that will fulfill the specialists requirements.
Oracle® Virtual Box
A network security specialist is using Mitre's Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) list to identify processes the specialist can then use to actively demonstrate ways vulnerabilities in the network can be exploited by potential adversaries. Discern the security process the specialist is demonstrating.
Penetration testing
Which Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model layer is responsible for the transmission of bits of data?
Physical **The physical layer of the OSI model (layer 1) is responsible for the transmission and receipt of the signals that represent bits of data from one node to another node. The data link layer (layer 2) is responsible for transferring data between nodes on the same logical segment. At the Data Link layer, a segment is one where all nodes can send traffic to one another using hardware addresses. The network layer (layer 3) is responsible for moving data (routing) around a network of networks, known as an internetwork or the Internet. The transport layer is known as the end-to-end or host-to-host layer. A function of the transport layer is to identify each type of network application by assigning it a port number.
A corporate network is configured with authentication based on digitally signed certificates issued by an approved certificate authority. Select the type of authentication being used.
Public Key Infrastructure **A public key infrastructure uses a Certificate Authority to issue certificates containing keys. By ensuring all clients have certificates that match the host, security can be assured. Anyone issuing public keys under PKI must acquire a digital certificate.
A network consultant has just arrived on-premises to address a support ticket regarding several users being unable to log in. Decide which of the following courses of action the consultant should take first.
Question users
A systems administrator is setting up conferencing servers that they want to be publicly available. What should the system administrator set up for protocol-specific inbound traffic?
Reverse Proxy **A reverse proxy server provides for protocol-specific inbound traffic. Reverse proxies can publish applications from the corporate network to the Internet in this way.
A security auditor for a major company is performing a compliance audit in accordance with their companies' policy. They are currently assessing the likelihood and impact (or consequence) of a threat actor exercising a vulnerability. What is this referred to as?
Risk
A technician is installing a new file server and several printers on a small Windows office network that also contains several legacy Windows XP desktops and legacy printers that the office managers have insisted must remain. Evaluate the protocol and port required for the file share server to be available to all devices on the network, including legacy devices.
Server Message Block (SMB), TCP port 139
A network administrator is installing hundreds of Internet of Things (IoT) sensor devices at a corporate facility. While each sensor device can be accessed and configured separately, the administrator requires a centralized remote management framework that can perform regular device polling as well as configurable thresholds for triggering notifications when events like port failure occur. Suggest an agent-based framework the administrator can use to fulfill these monitoring and remote management requirements.
Simple Network Management Protocol
A manufacturing plant, that is closed on weekends, employs a full-time network administrator to oversee the network at the plant. The network administrator is testing and recording network performance baselines and notices a throughput bottleneck is occurring on the same network when a team is using analytical software to retrieve volumes of data for testing. Provide the best guess for diagnosing the bottleneck?
The bottleneck is being caused by usage patterns of an entire group of users **To identify the cause of a bottleneck, you need to identify where and when on the network overutilization or excessive errors occur. If the problem only occurs at certain times, or when a group uses a certain set of software, the pattern is reflected on the actions of the entire team (group) of users.
A network engineer has configured a network with a tiered mesh topology with multiple redundant links, causing an entire switch segment to become unusable until being reset. What layer 2 protocol packages data into bridge protocol data unit (BPDU) multicast frames and routes based on a ranked hierarchy of switches in order to prevent loops?
Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
A mid-sized company is looking at the ability for workers to work from home more often after a recent pandemic. They want the users to be able to connect back to the corporate network but don't want to overwhelm the internal network with all traffic from the remote users. Which of the following connections would be the best option?
Split tunnel VPN **In a split-tunnel VPN the client accesses the Internet directly using its "native" IP configuration and DNS servers.
A military installation is upgrading its network infrastructure. Which fiber optic connector type developed by AT&T used to be very common for multimode networks in commercial or military installations due to its quick-connecting bayonet, but is no longer considered standard when retrofitting?
Straight Tip (ST)
An internet user types a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) into the URL bar of the Google Chrome web browser. Chrome then checks its local cache for the correct mapping before querying the local name server. Evaluate the role of the Chrome web browser in this scenario.
Stub resolver **The function of a resolver is to perform recursive queries in response to requests from client systems (stub resolvers). The stub resolver acts as an intermediary between the application requiring DNS resolution and a recursive DNS resolver.
A network engineer is planning static routes through an IPv6-enabled network. The engineer has configured the network so that each device or interface is represented by a 64 bit Interface ID. Which section of how many bits of an IPv6 address can the Interface ID be found?
The last 64 bits **In IPv6, the interface identifier is always the last 64 bits. The 64-bit interface ID is commonly determined by using the interface's MAC address. The first 64 bits in IPv6 addresses are used for network addressing. Link-local addresses span a single subnet in a range of fe80::/10. Link-local addresses start with a leading fe80. In a global address, 16 bits between bits 49 and 64 identify site-specific subnet addresses. The 45 bits before that are allocated in a hierarchical manner to regional registries and from them to ISPs and end-users.
A network engineer is troubleshooting a packet loss issue on a small corporate Internet of Things (IoT) network. The issue began occurring after a legacy device was added to the network, and the engineer has noted that the MTU size on the router is less than the default 1500, at 750 MTU. Propose a likely cause of the packet loss by the legacy device.
The legacy device does not support fragmentation **An IP datagram larger than 750 bytes would have to be fragmented across more than one Ethernet frame. Since the default MTU is 1500, most clients will be configured for that. If the legacy device does not support fragmentation, packets will be lost.
A network engineer is conducting an assessment of the organization's system to look for any potential opportunity for someone or something to exploit a vulnerability and breach security. What type of assessment is being conducted?
Threat
A network technician is using traceroute on a corporate network to make use of ICMP "Time Exceeded" in order to identify routers along a delivery path. Determine the TCP/IP feature that traceroute uses to accomplish this.
Time To Live (TTL) header field
As an organization is preparing for an upcoming inclement weather season, the server team has been asked to introduce a device to their server room that will provide a temporary power source solely to the server in the event of a blackout. This protection will ensure that the server is protected from spiking electrical charges associated with the incremental current. What is the name of this device?
UPS
A magazine editor has hired a team of network consultants to install and configure a new network. The network will be a tiered switching network with several VLAN trunks. The editor owns a particular device that is able to access all employee VLANs. Decide where the editor's device should be connected in order to access multiple VLANs.
Trunk port on distribution layer switch
A public school is installing a new two-way intercom system using raspberry-pi based devices as endpoints. Because of the real-time nature of the transmitted data, some packet loss is acceptable, while latency is not. Recommend a layer 4 transport protocol that will be best suited for no-acknowledgment, low-latency broadcast, or multicast traffic that will ignore lost packets.
UDP
A security administrator receives an alert about a possible attack against the SAE protocol. Which wireless authentication mechanism uses this?
WPA3
A network technician is planning for a mesh network and is testing the hop count for a packet to get from one network device to another. Recommend a tool that can be used to measure the final hop count received from ICMP packet requests that is available on Linux.
traceroute
