CompTIA Network+
Validates IT infrastructure skills to troubleshoot, configure, and manage wired and wireless enterprise networks. Covers networking concepts, network implementation, network operations, network security, and network troubleshooting. The only industry certification covering both wired and wireless networks with a vendor-neutral approach.
Exam domains
- Network Troubleshooting24%
Explain the network troubleshooting methodology (identify the problem, gather information, question users, identify symptoms, determine if anything has changed, duplicate the problem if possible, approach multiple problems individually; establish theory of probable cause, question the obvious, consider multiple approaches; test theory; establish plan of action and identify potential effects; implement solution or escalate; verify full system functionality, implement preventive measures; document findings, actions, and outcomes), troubleshoot common cabling/physical-interface issues (cable issues — incorrect cable type, copper attenuation/crosstalk/shorts, fiber dirty optical cables/optical-fiber multimode-vs-single-mode mismatch, interface configuration issues — half/full duplex, port status, speed, mismatched MTU, physical issues — bad ports/bad cabling/bad transceivers/bad SFPs/EMI), tools (cable crimper, cable tester, wire map tester, tone generator/probe (toner probe), TDR/OTDR, multimeter, optical light meter, fiber tester, terminator/loopback adapter, network tap, PoE injector/tester, packet analyzer/Wireshark, port scanner, NetFlow analyzer, bandwidth analyzer, iperf, console connection, networking software — terminal emulators/Wi-Fi analyzer/network monitor/NMS/protocol analyzer/network discovery, basic Linux/Unix command-line tools — ip/ifconfig, ping, tracert/traceroute/pathping, hostname, netstat, route, arp, dig, nslookup, telnet, tcpdump, nmap), troubleshoot common issues with network services (DHCP — exhausted scope, IP conflicts, rogue server, DHCP scope size, DHCP exhaustion, network gateway/default gateway issues, DNS — incorrect record, server unreachable, problem with name resolution/recursive lookup/iterative lookup, NTP — time skew, server unreachable), and troubleshoot common performance issues (latency/jitter, low throughput/bandwidth saturation/network congestion, blocked services/firewall configuration mismatch, MTU mismatch causing fragmentation, packet loss, suboptimal/asymmetric routing causing missing routes/route flaps, missing/incorrect VLANs, broadcast storms — STP issues, runaway processes, runaway loops including network and routing loops).
- Networking Concepts23%
Sources
Questions are grounded in 100 references from official and authoritative materials.