Networking
23 free questions with worked answers, and 635 more in the full bank.
Free questions
What device is commonly used to connect multiple computers within a LAN?
1 mark · Easy
Which cable type is most commonly used for Ethernet connections?
1 mark · Easy
What is the purpose of DNS?
1 mark · Easy
Which of the following tools is used to diagnose network connectivity issues?
1 mark · Easy
What does VPN stand for?
1 mark · Easy
What is the primary function of a router?
4 marks · Hard
What protocol is used to send email?
4 marks · Hard
A user reports that they are unable to access the hospital management system due to a firewall blocking the connection. What should you do to resolve this issue?
4 marks · Hard
A junior admin is looking at a packet capture and notices MAC addresses are being used to forward frames. Which OSI layer is responsible for this activity?
1 mark · Easy
While investigating a slow application, you observe TCP window size zero messages in Wireshark. At what layer of the OSI model does this flow control issue reside?
3 marks · Medium
Users report that their web browsers are failing to negotiate TLS encryption with a newly deployed internal server. Which OSI layer is failing to establish this secure connection?
4 marks · Hard
An engineer connects a spectrum analyzer to a coax cable to check for electromagnetic interference. What OSI layer is being analyzed?
1 mark · Easy
A routing loop has caused TTL values to expire, dropping IP packets. In which OSI layer does the TTL field exist?
3 marks · Medium
During a network outage, a technician finds that a fiber optic cable was accidentally severed. Which layer of the OSI model is directly impacted by this physical break?
1 mark · Easy
An application requires persistent connections and checkpointing during a large file transfer so it can resume if interrupted. Which OSI layer provides these dialog control features?
4 marks · Hard
You are troubleshooting an IPsec VPN tunnel where ESP packets are being dropped by an intermediary firewall. Which OSI layer protocols are being blocked?
3 marks · Medium
A user complains that they cannot access a specific internal webpage, receiving an HTTP 500 error. At what OSI layer is this error generated?
1 mark · Easy
A switch receives a frame with a destination MAC address of FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF. Which OSI layer is responsible for flooding this frame out all ports?
3 marks · Medium
A small office connects all their computers to a single central switch. What physical topology is in use?
1 mark · Easy
An enterprise connects its 5 branch offices directly to every other branch office using point-to-point links for maximum redundancy. What topology does this represent?
3 marks · Medium
A legacy industrial control system uses a single coaxial cable that loops through each machine on the factory floor. If a break occurs, the entire segment fails. What topology is described?
4 marks · Hard
A campus network consists of several star-topology building networks connected together via a high-speed fiber backbone ring. Which term best describes this overall design?
1 mark · Easy
To save costs, a regional ISP connects its routers in a circle, where each router only links to its two nearest neighbors. What topology is deployed?
3 marks · Medium
More Networking questions (page 10 of 11)
Answers and explanations are in the full bank.
- NIDA must connect remote sites to head office over carrier MPLS while keeping a lower-cost internet backup path. Which design lets traffic follow the cheaper available path automatically? · 3 marks
- A branch WAN link drops frequently and logs show the ISP is delivering a different error rate during business hours. Which measurement most usefully supports an SLA claim against the provider? · 4 marks
- VoIP handsets at a remote branch repeatedly lose their configuration file server address after a reboot, so calls fail to register. Which DHCP option must be configured so handsets can download their firmware and config automatically? · 3 marks
- An internal web server must be reachable by name as intranet.nida.rw from inside the campus only, without publishing it to the internet. Which DNS record type is the correct choice? · 1 mark
- NIDA must monitor device health and availability metrics against its service level agreement with partner institutions. Which SNMP version should be mandated so monitoring traffic is authenticated and encrypted? · 3 marks
- Syslog timestamps from the core switch and the firewall do not line up, making incident correlation impossible. What must be configured first to make the logs usable? · 3 marks
- Which SNMP message type is used to actively retrieve a specific set of managed objects from a device? · 3 marks
- Monitoring polls every network device, but the management station shows high CPU on the devices during business hours. Which adjustment reduces the load without losing coverage? · 4 marks
- Which transport protocol and port number does the HTTPS service use by default? · 1 mark
- Utilisation data shows the campus internet link running above 80 percent for several hours each day. Which first step best supports a capacity planning decision? · 4 marks
- Which two wiring standards for terminating RJ45 must never be mixed on opposite ends of a permanent link? · 3 marks
- A new building requires a cabling design that separates telecommunications, horizontal, backbone and work area subsystems. Which standard defines this structured cabling model? · 4 marks
- A new access switch must power IP phones and wireless access points. Which consideration determines whether the switch can support the intended devices? · 3 marks
- Which IEEE standard defines Power over Ethernet over standard Ethernet cabling? · 1 mark
- Which measure most directly prevents unauthorised physical access to network equipment in a server room? · 3 marks
- Which transport protocol and port number does the SSH service use by default? · 1 mark
- Which two statements about UDP compared with TCP are correct for a network administrator supporting real time services? · 3 marks
- Which command tests reachability to a destination one hop at a time and is the standard first tool for locating where a path fails? · 3 marks
- An administrator suspects an IP address conflict on a segment. Which command shows the local ARP cache so duplicate addresses can be identified? · 1 mark
- A user reports slow web browsing while other applications appear normal. Which tool best distinguishes whether the bottleneck is the wide area link or a single server? · 4 marks
- Which protocol is used to configure and retrieve network device configuration files securely over the network? · 3 marks
- An engineer must confirm that a configuration change did not alter the intended behaviour of a link. Which practice provides the strongest evidence? · 4 marks
- Voice traffic is congested while file transfers are not time critical. Which mechanism prioritises voice traffic over the rest of the queue at each congested device? · 3 marks
- An engineer must limit a single talker to a set bandwidth so it cannot consume the whole WAN link, while still forwarding the excess with a discard indicator. Which QoS tool performs this function? · 4 marks
- Which marking value is conventionally used to prioritise voice traffic in a DiffServ network? · 3 marks
- NIDA operates several VLANs and hosts are automatically placed into the correct one by policy. Which feature propagates VLAN information across switches without manual configuration? · 3 marks
- A switch port connected to a laptop stops passing traffic after a laptop is moved to a new port elsewhere in the building. Which feature most commonly causes this behaviour? · 4 marks
- A department needs a subnet for 100 devices and must use variable length masks rather than one uniform block. Which prefix meets that requirement with no wasted address space? · 4 marks
- Which statement about VLAN is correct? · 3 marks
- Which statement about static route is correct? · 4 marks
- Which statement about 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi is correct? · 4 marks
- Which statement about APIPA address is correct? · 4 marks
- Monitoring sample N4-U1 shows 25 Mbps average traffic on a 100 Mbps link. What average utilization is this? · 1 mark
- Users on one floor report they cannot reach the file server, while users on other floors are unaffected. Which approach most quickly isolates the scope of the problem? · 3 marks
- A fault is intermittent and only occurs during peak hours. Which documentation habit most helps diagnose this class of fault? · 4 marks
- Before replacing a suspected faulty switch, which step preserves the ability to diagnose the fault later? · 3 marks
- A change was made to a routing protocol and users now report intermittent reachability. Which method best confirms whether the change caused the fault? · 4 marks
- An organisation holds 192.168.0.0/16 and needs exactly 64 subnets. How many bits must be borrowed to achieve this? · 1 mark
- A switch management interface needs a subnet for a single host. Which prefix is the correct choice for a point-to-point link, and why? · 1 mark
- Which wildcard mask corresponds to a /21 subnet mask? · 3 marks
- Which subnet contains the address 172.16.5.200 when the network is 172.16.0.0/16? · 3 marks
- Which single summary route covers both 192.168.8.0/22 and 192.168.12.0/22? · 4 marks
- Which ranges are defined as private IPv4 address space for organisational use? · 1 mark
- A subnet engineer plans an IPv6 LAN and assigns a /64 prefix to each VLAN interface. Why is /64 the conventional choice for a single LAN? · 3 marks
- Which IPv6 prefix is reserved for link-local addressing on a single network segment? · 1 mark
- A workstation is configured with 192.168.10.130/25 and the gateway is 192.168.10.129. Which addressing statement about this host is correct? · 3 marks
- Guest wireless must be separated from internal corporate traffic while still reaching the internet. Which design achieves this isolation correctly? · 4 marks
- What is the broadcast address of 110.116.212.173/26? · 1 mark
- Addressing analysis N4-N1 uses host 10.40.20.5/24. What is the network address? · 1 mark
- Firewall review N4-F6 must permit standard NTP traffic. Which protocol and port mapping is correct? · 3 marks
- Firewall review N4-F7 must permit standard SMTP relay traffic. Which protocol and port mapping is correct? · 3 marks
- Firewall review N4-F8 must permit standard IMAP traffic. Which protocol and port mapping is correct? · 4 marks
- Which wireless standard operates only in the 2.4 GHz band and is considered obsolete for new enterprise deployments? · 3 marks
- Which wireless band generally allows more non-overlapping channels and is therefore preferred for high density deployments? · 1 mark
- An engineer plans a wireless deployment and must avoid coverage holes between access points while limiting interference. Which practice is fundamental to the design? · 3 marks
- Users in a high density auditorium report poor throughput even though signal strength is strong. Which factor most likely limits performance? · 4 marks
- NIDA must be able to revoke a lost device wireless access without affecting other users. Which wireless feature supports this? · 3 marks
- An access point is installed near a metal structure and users near it see low throughput and unstable connections. What is the most likely cause? · 3 marks
- Which feature allows a single access point to transmit on multiple streams to increase throughput? · 3 marks
- A site survey shows overlapping 2.4 GHz channels from neighbouring offices, producing intermittent slowdowns on wireless clients. Which change addresses the cause? · 1 mark