Certified Network Administrator and Engineer Free Sample Questions
Description
Covers highly available network architecture design, advanced routing and switching, managing network services and remote access, troubleshooting connectivity and performance, and network security.
12 free sample questions150 in the full practice test
Network Design · Design highly available and scalable network architectures
A multinational enterprise is designing a highly available wide area network to connect three major regional headquarters. The architecture must ensure that if the primary multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) link fails, traffic is automatically rerouted over a backup internet-based VPN with minimal convergence time. Which routing protocol and feature combination represents the optimal design for this requirement?
BGP is the standard protocol for WAN multihoming and enterprise edge routing. However, its default timers (e.g., 60-second keepalive, 180-second hold) are too slow for rapid convergence. Pairing BGP with Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) provides sub-second failure detection, allowing the router to switch to the backup VPN path almost immediately. OSPF and EIGRP are typically internal gateway protocols (IGPs) and are less suited for peering across disparate provider networks like internet VPNs and MPLS simultaneously without complex redistribution.
Q2Question 2
Intermediate
Network Design · Implement advanced routing and switching solutions
To optimize east-west traffic in a newly constructed data center, the engineering team is migrating from a traditional three-tier hierarchical model to a spine-leaf architecture. Which of the following is a primary characteristic of a properly designed spine-leaf topology?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: D
In a spine-leaf architecture, every leaf switch connects to every spine switch, creating a non-blocking fabric with equidistant endpoints. This ensures that traffic between any two leaf switches is always exactly two hops away (Leaf -> Spine -> Leaf), which provides highly predictable latency for east-west traffic. Spine switches do not connect to each other, and endpoints (servers) only connect to leaf switches.
Q3Question 3
IntermediateMultiple answers
Network Design · Design and integrate cloud and hybrid cloud network environments
When designing cloud and hybrid network environments, which TWO of the following technologies are primarily utilized to abstract network functions from proprietary hardware appliances and run them as software on standard servers? (Select TWO)
Answer and explanation
Correct answers: B, E
NFV (Network Function Virtualization) is the concept of replacing dedicated network appliances (like firewalls, load balancers, or routers) with software running on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) servers. VNF (Virtual Network Function) is the actual software instance that performs the function. Both are core to modern cloud and hybrid networking abstraction. SDN separates the control and data planes but doesn't inherently replace appliances with software instances in the same way, while VPC is a logical cloud isolation boundary.
Q4Question 4
Beginner
Network Design · Implement advanced routing and switching solutions
An architect is designing a QoS policy for a corporate network that handles heavy voice and video traffic. The design requires that Voice over IP (VoIP) packets receive strict priority queuing over all other traffic types. Which Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) value is the industry standard recommendation for marking this voice traffic?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
In the Differentiated Services (DiffServ) architecture, the Expedited Forwarding (EF) DSCP value (decimal 46) is the industry standard for voice traffic. It provides a low-loss, low-latency, low-jitter, assured bandwidth end-to-end service, which is critical for real-time VoIP. AF41 is typically used for interactive video, CS3 for call signaling, and default routing for best-effort data.
Q5Question 5
Beginner
Network Design · Design and integrate cloud and hybrid cloud network environments
True or False: In a containerized networking environment utilizing the Container Network Interface (CNI), each container is natively assigned a globally routable public IP address by default to communicate across the internet.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
False. By default, container networking models (such as those managed by CNI in Kubernetes or Docker's default bridge) assign private, internal IP addresses to containers. They rely on Network Address Translation (NAT), ingress controllers, or load balancers to communicate with or be accessed from external networks or the public internet.
Q6Question 6
Advanced
Network Design · Design and integrate cloud and hybrid cloud network environments
Background: A global financial institution is redesigning its hybrid cloud architecture. The company currently operates two on-premises data centers (DC1 and DC2) and utilizes a major public cloud provider for customer-facing web applications.
Current Situation: The web applications in the cloud Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) need to securely query backend databases located in the on-premises data centers. Traffic volume is extremely high, and latency must be minimized. The current architecture relies on standard IPsec VPNs over the public internet, which has resulted in unpredictable latency and occasional packet loss during peak trading hours.
Requirements:
Establish a dedicated, high-throughput, low-latency connection between the cloud VPC and the on-premises data centers.
Ensure that if the connection to DC1 fails, traffic automatically and seamlessly fails over to DC2.
The routing protocol must support dynamic updates and scale with thousands of routes.
Based on these requirements, which design approach is optimal?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C
Dedicated private circuits (like Direct Connect or ExpressRoute) bypass the public internet, satisfying the requirement for high-throughput, low-latency, and predictable performance. Using dual circuits to separate data centers provides the necessary redundancy. BGP is the required and optimal dynamic routing protocol for these types of hybrid connections, as it easily handles large routing tables and dynamic failover.
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