Technetworkk

Scenario Based Questions and Answers

Scenario 1: DHCP Not Assigning IP Addresses

Question: Users on a network report they are not receiving IP addresses. How would you
troubleshoot and resolve this?

Answer:
- Check DHCP Server: Ensure the DHCP service is running and properly configured.
- Scope Configuration: Verify the DHCP scope has available IPs and the correct subnet mask.
- Network Connectivity: Confirm devices can reach the DHCP server (e.g., ping).
- Switch Port Settings: Ensure ports are in the correct VLAN for DHCP relay.

Scenario 2: Intermittent Wi-Fi Connectivity

Question: Users report intermittent connectivity to the corporate Wi-Fi. How do you
troubleshoot this?

Answer:
- Signal Strength: Use Wi-Fi analyzer tools to check for weak signals or interference.
- Access Point Load: Ensure no access point is overloaded with too many clients.
- Channel Overlap: Check for overlapping Wi-Fi channels and adjust to less congested ones.
- Access Point Configuration: Verify SSID, encryption settings, and firmware updates.
- Device Testing: Test connectivity using a known working device to isolate client issues.

Scenario 3: High CPU Utilization on a Router

Question: A router shows unusually high CPU usage. What steps would you take to resolve this?

Answer:
- Inspect Traffic: Use tools like `show processes` or `debug ip traffic` to identify high traffic or
unusual patterns.
- Routing Table Size: Check for excessive routing table updates or instability (e.g., routing loops).
- Firewall Rules: Verify no misconfigured rules are causing unnecessary processing.
- Software Bugs: Ensure the router is running the latest stable firmware.

Scenario 4: VLAN Cannot Access Another VLAN

Question: Devices in VLAN 30 cannot communicate with devices in VLAN 40. How would you
troubleshoot this?
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Answer:
- SVI Configuration: Ensure VLAN 30 and VLAN 40 have SVIs configured on the Layer 3 device.
- Inter-VLAN Routing: Verify inter-VLAN routing is enabled and properly configured.
- ACLs: Check if ACLs are blocking traffic between the VLANs.
- Trunk Links: Confirm trunk ports are carrying both VLANs.

Scenario 5: Internet Access Slow for a Subnet

Question: One subnet experiences slow internet speeds while others work fine. How would you
troubleshoot this?

Answer:
- Bandwidth Utilization: Monitor bandwidth usage on the subnet using traffic analysis tools.
- Switch Ports: Check switch ports for errors or high utilization.
- Routing Issues: Ensure there are no routing loops or misconfigurations for that subnet.
- QoS Policies: Verify if QoS is deprioritizing traffic for the subnet.

Scenario 6: Network Latency Issues

Question: A branch office complains about high latency when accessing the company’s central
database. What steps would you take to diagnose and resolve the issue?

Answer:
- Check latency using tools like `ping` or `traceroute`.
- Analyze traffic with monitoring tools (e.g., Wireshark).
- Inspect the WAN link for saturation, packet loss, or jitter.
- Verify routing paths and adjust configurations if needed.
- Implement QoS to prioritize critical traffic.
- Collaborate with the ISP to address link-level problems.

Scenario 7: IP Conflict

Question: Two devices on the same subnet are reporting an IP address conflict. How do you
resolve this?

Answer:
- Use `arp -a` to identify conflicting MAC addresses.
- Locate both devices using their MAC addresses.
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Technetworkk

- Check if one device uses static IP and the other gets it via DHCP.
- Assign a unique IP or reserve the IP in the DHCP server.
- Monitor the network to prevent recurrence.

Scenario 8: VPN Connectivity Problem

Question: A remote worker is unable to connect to the VPN. How would you troubleshoot this?

Answer:
- Verify user credentials and account status.
- Confirm correct client configuration (server address, protocol).
- Ensure internet access and open required ports (e.g., 443 for SSL VPN).
- Review server and client logs for errors.
- Check firewalls or IPSec parameter mismatches.
- Test connectivity using a known working VPN account.

Scenario 9: Packet Loss Detected

Question: Your monitoring tool indicates 10% packet loss between two critical servers. How do
you investigate and fix it?

Answer:
- Use `ping` and `traceroute` to locate packet loss.
- Examine network interfaces for errors or mismatched duplex settings.
- Inspect cables and test alternate switch/router ports.
- Verify intermediate device loads and redistribute traffic if needed.
- Check firewall rules to ensure packets aren’t being dropped.
- Resolve congestion using QoS or increase bandwidth.

Scenario 10: VLAN Configuration

Question: Users in a specific VLAN cannot communicate with other VLANs despite routing being
configured. What would you check?

Answer:
- Ensure correct VLAN IDs are assigned to switch ports.

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Technetworkk

- Verify inter-VLAN routing with necessary SVIs on the Layer 3 device.

- Check that trunk links carry relevant VLANs with proper encapsulation (802.1Q).
- Review ACLs to ensure inter-VLAN traffic isn’t blocked.
- Confirm switch ports are in appropriate modes (access/trunk).
- Ensure the routing table has routes for all VLANs.

Scenario 11: A user is unable to connect to the internet, but the network interface is up. What
troubleshooting steps would you take?

Answer:
 Check the user's IP configuration (ipconfig or ifconfig).

 Ensure that the IP is within the correct subnet.

 Check the default gateway configuration and ping the gateway.
 Check DNS settings and perform DNS resolution tests.
 Verify if there is an issue with the DHCP server or manually assign an IP.
 Test the network cable, switch port, and ensure the NIC is working properly.

Scenario 12: You are assigned a task to implement a new VLAN in a network. How would you
configure it?

Answer:
 Create the VLAN on the switch using the command vlan X where X is the VLAN ID.
 Assign the VLAN to the required ports using switchport access vlan X.

 Configure the router for inter-VLAN routing if necessary.

 Test connectivity between devices in the same VLAN and across VLANs.

Scenario 13: The network is slow, and users complain about intermittent disconnections. How
would you troubleshoot this issue?

Urvish Patel
Technetworkk

Answer:
 Check the network for any high traffic or broadcast storms.
 Use ping and traceroute to identify packet loss or latency.

 Check for hardware issues (bad cables, faulty switches, or routers).

 Review the network topology for potential bottlenecks.
 Monitor the network performance using SNMP or a network monitoring tool.

Scenario 14: A user is connected to the network but cannot access a specific application
server. How would you troubleshoot?

Answer:
 Check the user’s IP address and subnet to ensure it's correct.
 Verify if there are any firewall rules blocking access.
 Test connectivity with ping and telnet to the application server’s port.
 Check if the application server is up and running.

 Review network ACLs or VLANs to ensure proper routing and access.

Scenario 15: You are asked to configure redundancy for critical servers. How would you
implement it?

Answer:

 Configure HSRP, VRRP, or GLBP for router redundancy.

 Implement RAID configurations for server storage redundancy.
 Use load balancing or clustering for application-level redundancy.
 Ensure that power redundancy (UPS systems) is in place for servers.

Scenario 16: A site-to-site VPN is not connecting. How would you troubleshoot?
Answer:

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Technetworkk

 Check if the IPsec parameters (encryption, hashing, etc.) match on both ends.
 Ensure that the pre-shared key or certificates are correct.
 Verify that both firewalls allow VPN traffic (UDP 500, 4500, etc.).

 Review the routing and make sure the traffic is being directed to the correct tunnel
interface.

Scenario 17: The router is not routing traffic between two subnets. What could be the
problem?

Answer:
 Verify that routing is enabled (ip routing).

 Check if there are any static routes or dynamic routing protocols misconfigured.
 Ensure the router has the correct interfaces up and assigned to the subnets.
 Verify the routing table for the expected routes.

Scenario 18: A switch port is showing as “err-disabled.” How would you resolve it?

Answer:
 Use the command show interfaces status to identify the exact error.
 Check for issues like a loop, BPDU guard, or security violations.
 Use shutdown followed by no shutdown to bring the port back online.

 Review port security settings, and clear any security violation counters.

Scenario 19: Users in one VLAN cannot communicate with users in another VLAN. What could
be wrong?

Answer:
 Ensure the router or Layer 3 switch has inter-VLAN routing enabled.

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Technetworkk

 Check if the trunk link between switches is up and correctly configured.

 Verify that VLAN IDs are consistent across switches.
 Ensure that routing between VLANs is properly configured.

Scenario 20: You have a network with many devices and are facing ARP table issues. What
solution can you propose?

Answer:
 Implement static ARP entries for critical devices.
 Reduce ARP timeouts and use ARP rate limiting to avoid excessive ARP requests.

 Use VLANs to segment traffic and minimize broadcast traffic.

 Enable Gratuitous ARP (GARP) to quickly update ARP tables when a device changes IP.

Scenario 21: The network is facing packet loss when using VoIP, causing poor voice quality.
How would you troubleshoot?

Answer:
 Check for network congestion and high latency using ping/traceroute.
 Ensure QoS (Quality of Service) policies are configured to prioritize VoIP traffic.
 Check the switch ports for issues like duplex mismatches or errors.
 Monitor network performance with Wireshark or other packet analysis tools.

Scenario 22: You are tasked with configuring a load balancer for a web application. How
would you do it?

Answer:
 Configure the load balancer with multiple back-end server IP addresses.
 Define the load balancing method (round robin, least connections, etc.).

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Technetworkk

 Ensure the load balancer is monitoring the health of the servers.

 Configure session persistence if needed for users to stay on the same server.
 Ensure proper SSL termination if required.

Scenario 23: A user reports being unable to ping the gateway but can access resources within
the local network. What might be the issue?

Answer:
 The gateway might be down or unreachable due to a routing issue.
 There might be a firewall blocking ICMP traffic (ping).

 Ensure the correct subnet mask is configured, as a misconfiguration could prevent access
to the gateway.

Scenario 24: A router is not accepting any new routing entries. What could be causing this?

Answer:

 The router’s routing table may be full, and you might need to add more memory.
 Check for a misconfigured maximum number of routes in the routing protocol.
 Verify that the router has enough processing power to handle the number of routes.

Scenario 25: There is high CPU usage on a switch. What steps would you take to investigate?

Answer:
 Use show processes to identify the process causing high CPU usage.
 Check for network loops or broadcast storms that might be overloading the switch.
 Verify if there are any software bugs or issues with the switch firmware.

 Monitor the network for unusual traffic patterns.

Urvish Patel
Technetworkk

Scenario 26: A server connected to the network is showing high latency. How would you
troubleshoot this?

Answer:
 Check the server’s CPU and memory usage for resource exhaustion.

 Use ping and traceroute to identify any network delays.

 Test connectivity to the server using different protocols (e.g., FTP, HTTP).
 Investigate the switch or router the server is connected to for congestion or errors.

Scenario 27: A network is experiencing frequent broadcast storms. How would you address
this issue?

Answer:
 Check for faulty devices (like hubs or misconfigured network cards) generating excessive
broadcasts.
 Implement VLANs to segment broadcast traffic.
 Enable storm control on switches to limit broadcast traffic.
 Review spanning tree settings to ensure there is no network loop.

Scenario 28: You need to secure your network from unauthorized access. What measures
would you implement?

Answer:
 Use strong passwords and enable authentication protocols (RADIUS, TACACS).
 Implement network segmentation using VLANs and ACLs.

 Enable port security on switches to restrict unauthorized devices.

 Use firewalls and VPNs to protect the perimeter.
 Regularly update device firmware and software for security patches.

Urvish Patel
Technetworkk

Scenario 29: A branch office needs to connect to the headquarters over the internet securely.
What solution would you recommend?

Answer:

 Configure a site-to-site VPN using IPsec for secure communication over the internet.
 Implement an MPLS solution if high availability and dedicated bandwidth are required.
 Ensure the VPN uses strong encryption and authentication methods (e.g., AES, pre-
shared keys).

Scenario 30: A network is facing high traffic congestion. How would you mitigate this?

Answer:
 Implement QoS policies to prioritize important traffic.
 Use traffic shaping to control the rate of data flow.
 Add additional links or upgrade existing bandwidth to handle more traffic.
 Segment the network using VLANs to reduce broadcast traffic.

Urvish Patel