CompTIA Network+ practice questions

Question 1

An engineer is troubleshooting a Windows host that lost connectivity after a firmware update on its NIC. Per Microsoft Learn, which command most directly verifies basic IP-level reachability to another TCP/IP computer first?

Accepted Answer

ping, which is the primary TCP/IP command used to troubleshoot connectivity, reachability, and name resolution by sending ICMP Echo Request messages and reporting Echo Replies.

Answer

tracert, which determines the routed path to a destination using ICMP Echo Request messages; it is the Microsoft-recommended Windows command for verifying basic IP-level reachability to another TCP/IP computer first.

Answer

arp, which displays and modifies entries in the Address Resolution Protocol cache; it is the Microsoft-recommended Windows command for verifying basic IP-level reachability to another TCP/IP computer first.

Answer

netstat, which displays active TCP connections, listening ports, Ethernet statistics, and the IP routing table; it is the Microsoft-recommended Windows command for verifying basic IP-level reachability to another computer first.

Question 2

An engineer is debugging why an Ethernet host cannot send IP traffic to a peer on the same segment even though the destination IP is correct. Per RFC 826, which protocol step has not yet completed?

Accepted Answer

Resolution of the destination IP into the corresponding 48-bit Ethernet hardware address has not yet completed, so the host cannot build a valid frame.

Answer

DNS resolution of the destination's hostname into an IP record has not yet completed, so the host has no destination MAC for the outgoing frame.

Answer

DHCP renewal of the host's own IP lease has not yet completed, so the kernel refuses to construct any outbound frame against the local NIC's queue.

Answer

TCP three-way handshake with the destination has not yet completed, so the link layer cannot encapsulate the IP datagram into an Ethernet frame.

Question 3

An organization is migrating a wireless network off WEP after confirming its encryption is fundamentally broken, and wants the standards-based replacement that establishes a robust security network. Which approach matches that goal?

Accepted Answer

Adopt IEEE 802.11i, which replaces the inherently flawed WEP with a two-step interim and long-term robust wireless security model

Answer

Re-key WEP on a daily rotation schedule, which closes the WEP weaknesses by preventing reuse of the initialization-vector keystream

Answer

Disable SSID broadcast and add MAC filtering, which substitutes for the broken WEP cipher by hiding and gating the wireless clients

Answer

Tunnel all WEP traffic inside IPsec transport mode, which offsets the flawed cipher by re-encrypting each frame at the network layer

Question 4

A team is building a log-management infrastructure for a multi-site enterprise and asks for the NIST primer that gives practical guidance on developing, implementing, and maintaining sound log practices. Per SP 800-92, which choice fits?

Accepted Answer

SP 800-92 helps organizations understand sound computer-security log management and gives practical guidance on developing, implementing, and maintaining log-management practices throughout an enterprise.

Answer

SP 800-92 is a Layer-3 routing-protocol specification that the NIST Computer Security Division publishes as the federal-equivalent of OSPFv3 across federal information systems.

Answer

SP 800-92 is the Federal-Risk Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) baseline that lists the controls a cloud provider must implement before storing federal log data of any kind.

Answer

SP 800-92 is a syslog wire-format specification that the NIST Computer Security Division publishes as the canonical federal replacement for RFC 5424 in any federal log-management infrastructure.

Question 5

An organization is rolling out a TLS 1.3 deployment and asks the architect what RFCs 8446 explicitly obsoletes and updates so the migration plan can include retirement of older RFC numbers. Per RFC 8446, which statement is correct?

Accepted Answer

RFC 8446 obsoletes RFCs 5077, 5246, and 6961 and updates RFCs 5705 and 6066; it also specifies new requirements for TLS 1.2 implementations interacting with TLS 1.3 endpoints.

Answer

RFC 8446 obsoletes RFC 4271 (BGP-4) and RFC 8200 (IPv6) for TLS use; the migration plan should remove those RFC references when adopting TLS 1.3 across the organization.

Answer

RFC 8446 obsoletes only TLS 1.0 (RFC 2246) and leaves TLS 1.1, TLS 1.2, and earlier session-resumption RFCs in force for any greenfield TLS 1.3 deployment in modern networks.

Answer

RFC 8446 obsoletes nothing and merely supplements every prior TLS specification; existing TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 RFCs remain normative for any deployment that adopts TLS 1.3 alongside them.

Question 6

An engineer is troubleshooting which TCP connections a Windows host has open and which ports are being listened on. Per Microsoft Learn, which command is positioned for that task?

Accepted Answer

netstat, which displays active TCP connections, ports on which the computer is listening, Ethernet statistics, the IP routing table, IPv4 statistics, and IPv6 statistics.

Answer

ipconfig, which displays current TCP/IP network-configuration values and refreshes DHCP and DNS settings; it is the Microsoft-recommended command to list active TCP connections.

Answer

tracert, which determines the path taken to a destination by sending ICMP messages with increasing TTL; it is the canonical tool for inspecting active TCP connections on a Windows host.

Answer

arp, which displays and modifies entries in the Address Resolution Protocol cache; it is the canonical Windows tool for listing active TCP connections and listening ports.

Question 7

An engineer is choosing a clock-synchronization protocol for a fleet that includes both IPv4 and IPv6 servers and needs sub-millisecond accuracy on modern LAN hardware. Per RFC 5905, which protocol is the standards-track choice?

Accepted Answer

NTP version 4, which is backwards compatible with NTPv3 and includes a modified header for IPv6 along with improved mitigation/discipline algorithms.

Answer

NTP version 3, which is the only standards-track NTP version that has dynamic server discovery and is suitable for sub-millisecond synchronization.

Answer

PTP (Precision Time Protocol), as RFC 5905 declares NTP obsolete for any sub-millisecond synchronization requirement on modern LAN hardware.

Answer

DAYTIME (RFC 867), which RFC 5905 endorses as the recommended high-accuracy clock-synchronization protocol for IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack networks.

Question 8

An organization is rolling out multi-tenant overlays in a virtualized data center that needs Layer-2 segments to span Layer-3 underlays. Per RFC 7348, which technology meets that need?

Accepted Answer

VXLAN, a deployed protocol that addresses overlay-network needs in virtualized data centers accommodating multiple tenants by overlaying Layer-2 networks over Layer-3.

Answer

STP, the IEEE Spanning Tree Protocol, which is the IETF's documented multi-tenant Layer-2-over-Layer-3 overlay scheme for virtualized data centers at scale.

Answer

GRE, a stateless tunneling protocol that the IETF documents as the canonical multi-tenant Layer-2-over-Layer-3 overlay scheme for cloud and enterprise data centers.

Answer

MPLS L3VPN, a per-VRF Layer-3 control-plane construct that the IETF documents as the canonical Layer-2-over-Layer-3 overlay scheme for multi-tenant data centers.

Question 9

An organization is rolling out a continuous-monitoring strategy and needs to provide visibility into organizational assets, threats and vulnerabilities, and the effectiveness of deployed security controls. Per SP 800-137, what does an Information Security Continuous Monitoring (ISCM) program provide?

Accepted Answer

ISCM provides ongoing assurance that planned and implemented security controls are aligned with organizational risk tolerance and the information needed to respond to risk in a timely manner.

Answer

ISCM is a one-time annual assessment that proves a federal information system meets all baseline controls; no ongoing collection of monitoring data is required after the audit window closes.

Answer

ISCM is a procurement program for purchasing intrusion-detection products from approved vendors and does not provide visibility into assets, threats, vulnerabilities, or control effectiveness.

Answer

ISCM is a routing-protocol specification used to monitor the operational state of border routers between autonomous systems on the public Internet under federal continuous-monitoring guidance.

Question 10

An organization is rolling out network firewalls and asks for the NIST primer that gives an overview of firewall technologies along with recommendations for policies and selection. Per SP 800-41 Rev. 1, which characterization fits?

Accepted Answer

SP 800-41 Rev. 1 provides an overview of firewall technologies, discusses their security capabilities and trade-offs, and recommends approaches for establishing firewall policies and selecting solutions.

Answer

SP 800-41 Rev. 1 is a logging-only document that defines the syslog message format and is the IETF replacement for RFC 5424 in firewall log-management contexts on federal information systems.

Answer

SP 800-41 Rev. 1 is a routing-protocol specification that the NIST Computer Security Division publishes as the federal-equivalent of OSPFv3 in firewall-aware path-selection deployments.

Answer

SP 800-41 Rev. 1 is the IPsec architecture document that describes the base requirements for IPsec-compliant firewalls in both IPv4 and IPv6 environments on the public Internet.

Question 11

An engineer is troubleshooting NetBIOS-over-TCP/IP on a Windows host and asks for the command that displays NBT protocol statistics, NetBIOS name tables, and the NetBIOS name cache. Per Microsoft Learn, which command fits?

Accepted Answer

nbtstat, which displays NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) protocol statistics, NetBIOS name tables for both the local computer and remote computers, and the NetBIOS name cache.

Answer

ipconfig, which displays all current TCP/IP network-configuration values and refreshes DHCP/DNS settings; it is the Microsoft-recommended Windows tool for inspecting NetBIOS-over-TCP/IP statistics and the NetBIOS name cache.

Answer

arp, which displays and modifies entries in the Address Resolution Protocol cache; it is the Microsoft-recommended Windows command for displaying NBT protocol statistics and NetBIOS name tables on a TCP/IP host.

Answer

route, which displays and modifies entries in the local IP routing table; it is the Microsoft-recommended Windows command-line tool for displaying NBT protocol statistics and NetBIOS name tables on a TCP/IP host.

Question 12

An engineer is debugging a host that has the destination IP address but cannot send a frame because it does not yet know the matching MAC address on a 10 Mbit Ethernet link. Per RFC 826, which protocol resolves the address translation?

Accepted Answer

An Ethernet Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) that allows dynamic distribution of the information needed to translate a protocol-P address into a 48-bit Ethernet address.

Answer

Reverse ARP (RARP), which dynamically maps the 48-bit Ethernet hardware address into a known higher-layer protocol address using broadcast queries on the local link.

Answer

DNS, which translates a known IPv4 address into the corresponding 48-bit Ethernet hardware address by consulting authoritative AAAA records on the local link.

Answer

DHCP, which is the IETF-standard mechanism for performing all IP-to-MAC translations within an Ethernet broadcast domain whenever a host has only the destination IP.

Question 13

An organization is extending a RIPv2 network and finds that destinations more than fifteen router hops away are consistently unreachable while closer destinations work normally. Which protocol limitation best explains the symptom the team is seeing?

Accepted Answer

RIP treats any network whose longest path exceeds 15 hops as unreachable, because its diameter is capped at 15 hops by design

Answer

RIP drops far routes only while split horizon is disabled, so simply re-enabling split horizon will restore those distant destinations

Answer

RIP caps the routing table at 15 learned entries per interface, so the sixteenth and any later networks are silently discarded

Answer

RIP limits each update packet to 15 route entries, so any destination listed after the fifteenth entry never propagates outward

Question 14

An organization is rolling out SNMP-based device management and asks the architect what is described by RFC 3411. Which statement is correct?

Accepted Answer

RFC 3411 describes an architecture for describing SNMP management frameworks, with major components being an SNMP engine (Message Processing, Security, Access Control) and SNMP applications.

Answer

RFC 3411 is the SNMP MIB-II specification, listing the management variables every TCP/IP device must expose, and is the only SNMP architecture document the IETF currently maintains.

Answer

RFC 3411 is the IPFIX flow-export protocol, defining how device counters are streamed from an exporting process to a collecting process across the management network.

Answer

RFC 3411 is a logging-only document that defines the syslog message format and transport that SNMP relies on for centralized event-notification handling across a multi-vendor fleet.

Question 15

A wireless administrator is rolling out 802.1X port-based access control and needs an authentication framework that supports multiple authentication methods and runs directly over IEEE 802 data link layers without requiring IP. Per RFC 3748, which choice fits?

Accepted Answer

EAP, an authentication framework supporting multiple methods that runs over data link layers such as IEEE 802 without requiring IP.

Answer

DNSSEC, a framework that authenticates multiple methods at the data link layer and adds origin authentication before an IP address is assigned.

Answer

IPsec, a network-layer framework that supports multiple authentication methods and operates beneath IEEE 802 without requiring IP.

Answer

RADIUS, a data link framework that supports multiple authentication methods directly over IEEE 802 without requiring an IP stack.

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