All exams/CompTIA Network+ (N10-009)/Free questions
CompTIA Network+ (N10-009) practice questions and answers
20 free questions from our 300-question CompTIA Network+ (N10-009) bank, each with the correct answer, explanation, and source note. Official format: N10-009 · maximum of 90 items · 90-minute limit · 720/900 to pass.
Concepts
1. A network technician is configuring a device that operates at Layer 3 of the OSI model and makes forwarding decisions based on IP addresses. Which device is the technician most likely configuring?
Answer: B. The keyed answer is "Router". Routers operate at Layer 3 (Network) of the OSI model and use IP addresses to make forwarding decisions. Switches work at Layer 2 using MAC addresses, hubs repeat signals at Layer 1, and bridges filter traffic at Layer 2. This item tests concepts in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Networking Concepts: OSI Model, 23%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Networking Concepts: OSI Model, 23%
Concepts
2. A network administrator needs to assign a private IP address to a workstation on a LAN. Which of the following addresses falls within the RFC 1918 private range for Class B networks?
Answer: C. The keyed answer is "172.16.4.92". RFC 1918 defines private Class B ranges as 172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255. The 192.168.x.x range is Class C private, 10.x.x.x is Class A private, and 128.0.0.1 is a public address. This item tests concepts in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Networking Concepts: IPv4 Addressing, 23%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Networking Concepts: IPv4 Addressing, 23%
Concepts
3. A user reports they can reach internal servers but not external websites. Which default gateway issue would cause this symptom?
Answer: C. The keyed answer is "Gateway firewall blocks all outbound". If the default gateway firewall blocks all outbound traffic, internal communication works (same subnet) but external traffic is dropped. A wrong subnet gateway or DNS failure would affect all resolution or routing. This item tests concepts in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Networking Concepts: IPv4 Addressing, 23%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Networking Concepts: IPv4 Addressing, 23%
Concepts
4. A company deploys a cloud environment where the network administrator manages virtual switches and subnets but not the underlying physical hosts. Which cloud service model is being used?
Answer: D. The keyed answer is "Infrastructure as a Service". IaaS provides virtualized networking, compute, and storage where the customer manages OS and network configuration but not the physical hardware. SaaS delivers applications, PaaS provides a development platform, and FaaS is serverless compute. This item tests concepts in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Networking Concepts: Cloud Computing, 23%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Networking Concepts: Cloud Computing, 23%
Concepts
5. An administrator is troubleshooting a host that received an IP address of 169.254.12.8. What does this indicate?
Answer: C. The keyed answer is "The host could not reach a DHCP server". APIPA (Automatic Private IP Addressing) assigns a 169.254.x.x address when a DHCP server is unreachable. This allows local-link communication only and indicates a DHCP failure. This item tests concepts in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Networking Concepts: IPv4 Addressing, 23%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Networking Concepts: IPv4 Addressing, 23%
Concepts
6. A network engineer needs to connect two buildings 300 meters apart using fiber. Which fiber type is the most cost-effective choice for this distance?
Answer: B. The keyed answer is "Multimode fiber". Multimode fiber supports distances up to about 550 meters and is cheaper than single-mode for short-to-medium runs. Single-mode supports longer distances but requires more expensive transceivers. This item tests concepts in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Networking Concepts: Transmission Media, 23%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Networking Concepts: Transmission Media, 23%
Concepts
7. A technician runs a command that shows a default route of 0.0.0.0/0 pointing to 10.0.0.1. What is the purpose of this route?
Answer: A. The keyed answer is "Sends all unmatched traffic to the specified gateway". A default route (0.0.0.0/0) matches any destination not explicitly in the routing table and forwards packets to the next-hop gateway. It acts as a catch-all for all outbound traffic. This item tests concepts in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Infrastructure: Routing Technologies, 20%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Infrastructure: Routing Technologies, 20%
Infrastructure
8. A network administrator configures a switch port so that devices on VLAN 10 and VLAN 20 can communicate through a single router interface. What is this configuration called?
Answer: B. The keyed answer is "Router on a stick". Router on a stick uses subinterfaces on a single router port to route between VLANs. The trunk link carries tagged frames, and each subinterface handles one VLAN's traffic. This item tests infrastructure in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Infrastructure: Switching Technologies, 20%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Infrastructure: Switching Technologies, 20%
Infrastructure
9. A company needs to ensure that if one uplink fails, the remaining links still carry traffic between two switches. Which technology should the administrator implement?
Answer: D. The keyed answer is "Link Aggregation Control Protocol". LACP bundles multiple physical links into a logical channel, providing increased bandwidth and failover. If one link fails, traffic redistributes across remaining members. This item tests infrastructure in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Infrastructure: Switching Technologies, 20%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Infrastructure: Switching Technologies, 20%
Operations
10. A network administrator wants to capture all traffic passing through a switch port for forensic analysis without interrupting production traffic. Which feature should be enabled?
Answer: C. The keyed answer is "Port mirroring". Port mirroring (SPAN) copies traffic from one port to another for monitoring. A connected analysis tool captures packets passively without disrupting the original traffic flow. This item tests operations in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Network Operations: Network Monitoring, 19%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Network Operations: Network Monitoring, 19%
Operations
11. A disaster recovery plan requires that after a failure, the network must be restored within four hours with data no more than one hour old. Which metrics define these requirements?
Answer: B. The keyed answer is "RTO of 4 hours and RPO of 1 hour". RTO (Recovery Time Objective) specifies the maximum acceptable downtime, and RPO (Recovery Point Objective) defines the maximum tolerable data loss in time. MTBF is mean time between failures. This item tests operations in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Network Operations: Disaster Recovery, 19%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Network Operations: Disaster Recovery, 19%
Operations
12. A technician needs to verify that all network device clocks are synchronized to within a few milliseconds for log correlation and security event analysis. Which protocol should be configured?
Answer: B. The keyed answer is "PTP (Precision Time Protocol)". PTP provides sub-millisecond clock synchronization, far more precise than NTP which typically achieves millisecond accuracy. SNMP monitors devices, TFTP transfers files, and Syslog collects logs. This item tests operations in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Network Operations: Network Services, 19%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Network Operations: Network Services, 19%
Security
13. A security analyst notices that a user is attempting to access resources by repeatedly trying different username and password combinations. Which attack type is this?
Answer: D. The keyed answer is "Brute force". A brute force attack systematically tries numerous credential combinations to gain unauthorized access. Phishing uses deceptive emails, VLAN hopping exploits trunk configurations, and ARP spoofing redirects traffic. This item tests security in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Network Security: Common Attack Types, 14%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Network Security: Common Attack Types, 14%
Security
14. A network administrator deploys a device that analyzes traffic patterns and alerts when it detects potential intrusions but does not actively block them. What type of device was deployed?
Answer: A. The keyed answer is "Intrusion Detection System". An IDS monitors traffic and generates alerts for suspicious activity but does not take action to block it. An IPS sits inline and can actively prevent threats. Firewalls filter based on rules. This item tests security in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Networking Concepts: Networking Appliances, 23%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Networking Concepts: Networking Appliances, 23%
Security
15. A company wants to ensure that only authorized devices can connect to the corporate network, regardless of whether they connect via wired or wireless. Which security framework should be implemented?
Answer: D. The keyed answer is "Network Access Control". NAC enforces security policies by verifying device compliance before granting network access. It works across wired and wireless connections, checking posture, credentials, and device health. This item tests security in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Network Security: Security Features and Defense, 14%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Network Security: Security Features and Defense, 14%
Troubleshooting
16. Users on VLAN 10 report intermittent connectivity while users on VLAN 20 are unaffected. The switch log shows frequent MAC address table changes on ports assigned to VLAN 10. What is the most likely cause?
Answer: B. The keyed answer is "Spanning tree topology change". Frequent MAC table changes suggest STP topology reconvergence, which causes temporary connectivity loss. Broadcast storms affect all VLANs, DHCP exhaustion produces no-connectivity, and duplicate IPs cause specific host conflicts. This item tests troubleshooting in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Troubleshooting: Network Services Issues, 24%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Troubleshooting: Network Services Issues, 24%
Troubleshooting
17. A technician uses the ping command and receives replies with a TTL value of 254. The destination is five hops away. What does the TTL value indicate about the packets?
Answer: A. The keyed answer is "The packets have traversed one router". TTL starts at 255 (or 128 on Windows) and decrements by one at each router hop. A TTL of 254 from a 255 starting point means one hop was traversed. TTL 0 would indicate the limit was exceeded. This item tests troubleshooting in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Troubleshooting: Command Line Tools, 24%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Troubleshooting: Command Line Tools, 24%
Concepts
18. A company needs to load balance incoming web traffic across three servers. Which device or technology is best suited for this task?
Answer: D. The keyed answer is "Load balancer". A load balancer distributes incoming connections across multiple servers, monitoring health and maintaining session persistence. DNS round-robin distributes queries but cannot monitor server health or manage sessions. This item tests concepts in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Networking Concepts: Networking Appliances, 23%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Networking Concepts: Networking Appliances, 23%
Infrastructure
19. A network administrator needs to configure a wireless access point for a high-density conference hall. Which band should be primarily used to minimize interference from Bluetooth devices?
Answer: A. The keyed answer is "5 GHz". The 5 GHz band offers more channels and is less congested than 2.4 GHz, which shares spectrum with Bluetooth, microwaves, and other devices. 60 GHz is mmWave with very limited range. This item tests infrastructure in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Infrastructure: Wireless Devices, 20%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Infrastructure: Wireless Devices, 20%
Operations
20. A company is decommissioning an aging switch. Which step should be completed first before removing it from the rack?
Answer: B. The keyed answer is "Document current configuration and connections". Documentation of current configuration, VLANs, port assignments, and connections is critical before decommissioning. This preserves institutional knowledge and assists with troubleshooting if issues arise later. This item tests operations in the context of CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Network Operations: Life-cycle Management, 19%. Apply the rule only under the conditions stated in the stem, and compare the distractors with the keyed answer before using the rule in a different situation.
Source: CompTIA Network+ N10-009 — Network Operations: Life-cycle Management, 19%
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