Exam 2 Flashcards
Your company’s network has 33 computers that are directly connected to two switches using CAT 5e cables. The two switches are interconnected using a fiber cable with MTRJ connectors at the end of the cables. All 33 computers and the 2 switches are located within the same office building. Which of the following types of networks would best describe this network configuration?
OBJ-2.7: Since all of the computers and switches are located in the same building, it is best described as a Local Area Network (LAN) configuration. A local area network (LAN) is a network where all the nodes or hosts participating in the network are directly connected with cables or short-range wireless media. A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a computer network that interconnects users with computer resources in a geographic region of the size of a metropolitan or city area. A wide area network (WAN) is a network that spans multiple geographic locations such as the internet. Wide area networks are often established with leased telecommunication circuits. A personal area network (PAN) is a close-range network that is usually based on Bluetooth or NFC for communications between personal devices, such as smartphones, laptops, printers, and other peripheral devices.
Which of the following requires the use of a physical printer to print a document?
OBJ-3.11: Printing to a network printer still requires access to a physical device connected to the network. The other options (Print to Image, Print to PDF, Print to XPS, and similarly Print to File) are all virtual printing methods. These methods will create a file of a specific type with the contents of the printed information. These methods allow a user the ability to print to a file, a PDF (Portable Document Format), XPS (XML Paper Specification - a Microsoft alternative to PDF), or an image (photo).
Your company has decided to move all of its data into the cloud. Your company is concerned about the privacy of its data due to some recent data breaches that have been in the news. Therefore, they have decided to purchase cloud storage resources that will be dedicated solely for their use. Which of the following types of clouds is your company using?
OBJ-4.1: A private cloud contains services offered either over the Internet or a private internal network and only to select users instead of the general public. A private cloud is usually managed via internal resources. The terms private cloud and virtual private cloud (VPC) are often used interchangeably. A public cloud contains services offered by third-party providers over the public Internet and is available to anyone who wants to use or purchase them. They may be free or sold on-demand, allowing customers to pay only per usage for the CPU cycles, storage, or bandwidth they consume. A community cloud is a collaborative effort in which infrastructure is shared between several organizations from a specific community with common concerns (security, compliance, jurisdiction, etc.), whether managed internally or by a third party and hosted internally or externally. A community cloud is a collaborative effort in which infrastructure is shared between several organizations from a specific community with common concerns (security, compliance, jurisdiction, etc.), whether managed internally or by a third party and hosted internally or externally.
Which of the following form factors provides a mini card interface used to connect a laptop’s SSD at higher bus speeds than SATA?
OBJ-1.1: M.2 s a new set of form factors for mini card interfaces. An M.2 SSD provides a direct interface with the PCI Express bus to provide higher bus speeds than a SATA connection. M.2 adapters come in four different sizes based on their length. The one chosen depends on your model of laptop and the space available within the case. The 80mm variety is the most common one used in modern laptops. A traditional laptop hard drive usually comes in either the 2.5” form factor or the 1.8” form factor. When a 1.8” form factor is used, the drive is connected to the laptop using a Micro SATA connector since a regular SATA connector will not fit due to the connector’s larger size. A 3.5” drive is only used in desktops and some networked file servers.
You are building a virtualization server that runs on Windows Server 2016. The server will host multiple virtual machines, each with a different operating system. Which type of hypervisor should you select for this environment?
OBJ-4.2: A Type 2 hypervisor runs on top of an existing operating system. In this case, the scenario states that the virtualization server is already running Windows 2016, so you must install your hypervisor on Windows 2016. A Type 1 hypervisor, also known as bare metal, uses a specialized hypervisor OS to run the virtual machines (such as VM Ware’s ESXi). Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a cloud computing service that enables a consumer to outsource computing equipment purchases and running their own data center.
You are troubleshooting an issue on a client’s computer and need to make some computer changes to test your theory of probable cause. What should you do BEFORE you make any changes to the computer to test your theory?
OBJ-5.1: You should always ensure that a recent backup of all of the client’s important and critical files has been created before making any changes to the computer. After all, it is easy to replace hardware if you break the computer, but the client’s personal files may be irreplaceable. For example, if you accidentally delete or remove the customer’s pictures of their baby, you can’t just take new baby pictures to replace them!
You are attempting to install a full-sized PCIe network interface card into a 1U server, but it is too tall to fit into the machine. Which of the following do you need to install first to install the full-sized PCIe network interface card into the server?
OBJ-3.5: A riser card is a right-angle expansion card used to extend a slot for a card in a computer to make room to plug it in. They are most commonly used in low-profile, 1U and 2U rackmount chassis or embedded systems. Riser cards plug into their respective bus (they are available for PCI, PCI-X, AGP, AGP Pro, PCI Express, ISA, or other busses) and rotate the peripheral cards plugged into the riser card so that they are parallel with the motherboard. Riser cards are available in 1-slot passive risers up to 3-slot passive riser cards for 2U rackmounts. An AGP, SCSI, or PCIe x16 expansion card is a fixed size and shape that cannot be reduced to fit in a 1U server.
You are trying to install Hyper-V on a new laptop, but you keep receiving an error during installation that the software cannot be installed. Which of the following characteristics of the laptop’s processor should you investigate as the MOST likely issue?
OBJ-4.2: CPU Virtualization is a hardware feature found in all current AMD & Intel CPUs that allows a single processor to act as if it was multiple individual CPUs. This allows an operating system to more effectively & efficiently utilize the computer’s CPU power to run faster. This is enabled or disabled on supported processors within your system’s BIOS. HyperThreading (HT) is an Intel CPU architecture implemented to expose two or more logical processors to the OS to deliver performance benefits. The cache is an extremely fast internal memory located in the CPU. The number of cores is defined by the processor’s multicore capability such as dual-core, quad-core, or octo-core.
Which of the following devices could be used to extend transmissions of a signal over longer distances by receiving and retransmitting a given signal at the lowest cost?
OBJ-2.2: A repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it. Repeaters are used to extend transmissions so that the signal can cover longer distances or be received on the other side of an obstruction. Repeaters may be wired or wireless, and they rebroadcast whatever signal is received through their transmitter. A firewall is a network security system that monitors and controls the incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules. A firewall typically establishes a barrier between a trusted internal network and an untrusted external network, such as the internet. A switch is a network device that receives incoming data into a buffer, then the destination MAC address is compared with an address table so that data is only sent out to the port with the corresponding MAC address. In a switched network, each port is in a separate collision domain. A router is a network device that links dissimilar networks and can support multiple alternate paths between locations based upon the parameters of speed, traffic loads, and cost. Routers are used to logically divide networks into subnets.
Which of the following ports should you block at the firewall if you want to prevent a remote login to a server from occurring?
OBJ-2.1: Secure shell (SSH) is the protocol used for remote administration and file copying using TCP port 22. SSH is considered secure since it uses authenticated and encrypted sessions for communication. The file transfer protocol (FTP) is the protocol used to transfer files across the internet over ports 20 and 21. The hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) is a protocol used to provide web content to browsers using port 80. The internet message access protocol (IMAP) is a TCP/IP application protocol that provides a means for a client to access email messages stored in a mailbox on a remote server using TCP port number 143. Unlike POP3, messages persist on the server after the client has downloaded them. IMAP also supports mailbox management functions, such as creating subfolders and access to the same mailbox by more than one client at the same time.
Which of the following components would require you to de-solder the old part from the laptop to install and solder in a new one?
OBJ-1.1: It is relatively common for the DC jack to fail over time. The DC jack can become loose over time, or the jack itself can become separated from the motherboard. Replacing a DC jack requires disassembling the laptop, de-soldering and removing the old jack, then soldering the new jack into place. Most laptop DC jacks are specific to the manufacturer and the laptop model. Cellular cards are usually installed in a Mini PCIe expansion card slot and are not soldered to the motherboard. The screen and the battery are not soldered in most laptops and can be replaced by removing and replacing screws. Some manufacturers have begun soldering screens and batteries in some of their models, but this is still not considered common practice. A DC jack is always solder to the motherboard in a laptop, therefore it is the best answer to this question.
Which of the following ports is used by the Service Location Protocol when organizing and locating printers, databases, and other resources in a network?
OBJ-2.1: The Service Location Protocol (SLP) is a protocol or method of organizing and locating the resources (such as printers, disk drives, databases, e-mail directories, and schedulers) in a network. This is an alternative protocol to LDAP in newer networks. SLP uses port 427. The hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) is a secure protocol used to provide web content to browsers using SSL/TLS encryption over port 443. The lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) is a protocol used to access and update information in an X.500-style network resource directory. LDAP uses port 389. The server message block (SMB)/common internet file system (CIFS) is a protocol used for requesting files from Windows servers and delivering them to clients. SMB allows machines to share files and printers, thereby making them available for other machines to use. Samba software allows UNIX and Linux servers or NAS appliances to run SMB services for Windows clients. SMB operates on port 445.
Jason is teaching a CompTIA course at a large company, but they do not allow non-employees to connect to their network. Since Jason needs the Internet for an in-class demonstration, he connects his laptop to his iPhone over Wi-Fi and essentially connects to the Internet using the smartphone as a modem. Which of the following terms best describes this configuration?
OBJ-1.5: A portable hotspot is a dedicated mobile device that connects to a cellular network and provides a wireless (Wi-Fi) network for a small number of users. Most smartphones can conduct wireless tethering as a form of creating a hotspot. Tethering uses the cellular data plan of a mobile device to provide Internet access to a laptop or PC. The PC can be tethered to the mobile by USB, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi (a mobile hotspot). One method of doing this is to connect the laptop to the device using a Wi-Fi connection and routing all of your data from your laptop to the phone over Wi-Fi and then from the phone to the Internet using the phone’s built-in cellular modem. A tunneling (or encapsulation) protocol wraps up data from one protocol for transfer over a different type of network. For example, PPP can carry TCP/IP data over a dial-up line, enabling a remote computer to communicate with the LAN. A baseband update is the modification of the firmware of a cellular modem.
A customer called the service desk and complained that they could not reach the internet on their computer. You ask the customer to open their command prompt, type in ipconfig, and read you the IP address. The customer reads the IP as 169.254.12.45. What is the root cause of the customer’s issue based on what you know so far?
OBJ-5.7: Since the customer’s IP address is 169.254.12.45, it is an APIPA address. Since the workstation has an APIPA address, it means the DHCP server was unreachable. Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) is a feature of Windows-based operating systems that enables a computer to automatically assign itself an IP address when there is no Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server available to perform that function. APIPA serves as a DHCP server failover mechanism and makes it easier to configure and support small local area networks (LANs). If no DHCP server is currently available, either because the server is temporarily down or because none exists on the network, the computer selects an IP address from a range of addresses (from 169.254.0.0 - 169.254.255.255) reserved for that purpose.
You work as a PC Technician for a real estate company. The company has decided to use laptops instead of desktops in the office so that the real estate agents can easily take their laptops with them when they leave to show properties for sale. You want to create an easy solution for the agents to quickly connect an external monitor, keyboard, mouse, a wired network connection, and an additional hard drive for storage to the laptop whenever they come back into the office. Unfortunately, the laptops used by the agents don’t have a built-in wired network connection. Which type of device should you choose to provide all the functionality above?
OBJ-1.3: A docking station is a sophisticated type of port replicator designed to provide additional ports (such as network or USB) and functionality (such as expansion slots and drives) to a portable computer when used at a desk. A port replicator is a simple device to extend the range of ports (for example, USB, DVI, HDMI, Thunderbolt, network, and so on) available for a laptop computer when it is used at a desk. The difference between a docking station and a port replicator is that a docking station can add additional capabilities beyond what is already integrated into the laptop whereas a port replicator can only reproduce the same ports that already exist on the laptop. Thunderbolt is a connector type that can be used either as a display interface (like DisplayPort) or as a general peripheral interface (like USB 3). Thunderbolt 3 uses USB-C connectors. A USB hub is a device that connects to a USB port to allow additional USB devices to be connected to the PC, essentially increasing the number of USB ports available.
You have been asked to replace the processor in a workstation. You remove the old processor, install the new processor into the motherboard slot, attach the heat sink, and attempt to power on the workstation. The workstation boots up but after a minute the computer shuts itself down. Which of the following steps did you MOST likely forget to perform?
OBJ-3.5: When you install a processor, you need to ensure you install it in the processor socket on the motherboard, apply thermal paste to the backside of the processor, attach the heat sink, attach the processor fan to the heat sink, and then connect the power cable to the processor fan. If you neglect to apply the thermal paste between the processor and the heat sink, the heat sink cannot effectively dissipate all the heat from the processor, and the computer will shut itself down to protect the processor from becoming overheated. Thermal paste is a paste used to connect a heat sink to a CPU that provides a liquid thermally conductive compound gel to fill any gaps between the CPU and the heat sink to transfer heat more efficiently to the heat sink from the CPU.
Which of the following types of encryption is considered the most secure to utilize in a SOHO network?
OBJ-2.3: Wi-Fi protected access version 3 (WPA3) has replaced WPA2 as the most secure wireless encryption method. WPA3 uses the simultaneous authentication of equals (SAE) to increase the security of preshared keys. WPA3 provides the enhanced open mode that encrypts transmissions from a client to the access point when using an open network. WPA3 Enterprise mode supports the use of AES with the Galois/counter mode protocol (GCMP-256) for the highest levels of encryption. Wi-Fi protected access version 2 (WPA2) replaced the original version of WPA after the completion of the 802.11i security standard. WPA2 features an improved method of key distribution and authentication for enterprise networks, though the pre-shared key method is still available for home and small office networks. WPA2 uses the improved AES cipher with counter mode with cipher-block chaining message authentication protocol (CCMP) for encryption. Wired equivalent privacy (WEP) is an older mechanism for encrypting data sent over a wireless connection. WEP is considered vulnerable to attacks that can break its encryption. WEP relies on the use of a 24-bit initialization vector to secure its preshared key. The Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) is a mechanism for auto-configuring a WLAN securely for home users. On compatible equipment, users push a button on the access point and connect adapters to associate them securely. WPS is subject to brute force attacks against the PIN used to secure them, making them vulnerable to attack.
A customer is complaining that their printer has begun to fade. While questioning the customer, you found out that they bought the laser printer about 11 months ago, have never performed any maintenance, and have only added more paper to it when it runs out. When checking the page counter, you identified that they had printed over 3,000 pages. Which of the following is MOST likely the cause of the fading?
OBJ-5.6: In general, fading occurs when the ink or toner is running low. Based on the customer’s questioning, it appears they have not done any maintenance, including replacing the toner cartridge. It would be best if you first replaced the toner and then attempt to print a test page. In general, drums and corona wires do not need maintenance until closer to 7,500 to 10,000 printed pages with most laser printers.
You connected your laptop to a new wireless network and received an IP address automatically. Which of the following servers allowed this to occur?
OBJ-2.5: A dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) serve is a server configured with a range of addresses to lease. Hosts can be allocated an IP address dynamically or be assigned a reserved IP address based on the host’s MAC address. The server can also provide other configuration information, such as the location of DNS servers. A domain name system (DNS) server is a server that hosts the database of domain names and the IP addresses mapped to those names. Each DNS server is authoritative for certain domain names that their organization owns. An authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server is a server use to identify (authenticate), approve (authorize), and keep track of (account for) users and their actions. AAA servers can also be classified based on the protocol they use, such as a RADIUS server or TACACS+ server. A proxy server is a server that acts as an intermediary between a client requesting a resource and the server that provides that resource. A proxy server can be used to filter content and websites from reaching an end user.
Tom, a system administrator, has installed and configured a new domain server for a corporate network. What is the next step that he should perform to allow the company’s employees to access the server on the corporate domain?
OBJ-3.9: A system administrator must create and configure each user’s account to access the domain via their local PC after the server is installed, configured, and set up. Each account should be configured using the concept of least privilege to maximize the security of the domain server and the network. After configuring the user’s account, the administrator can install the antivirus, applications, and configure access to the file server.
Which port is used to connect to an SMTP server?
OBJ-1.6: The simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) is the protocol used to send mail between hosts on the Internet using TCP port 25. The post office protocol (POP3) is a TCP/IP application protocol providing a means for a client to access email messages stored in a mailbox on a remote server over port 110. The server usually deletes messages once the client has downloaded them. The internet message access protocol (IMAP) is a TCP/IP application protocol that provides a means for a client to access email messages stored in a mailbox on a remote server using TCP port number 143. Unlike POP3, messages persist on the server after the client has downloaded them. IMAP also supports mailbox management functions, such as creating subfolders and access to the same mailbox by more than one client at the same time. The hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) is a secure protocol used to provide web content to browsers using SSL/TLS encryption over port 443.
Which of the following is a proprietary wireless communication protocol operating in the 800 MHz to 900 MHz frequency band and is primarily used for home automation?
OBJ-2.4: Z-Wave is a wireless communications protocol used primarily for home automation. Z-Wave creates a mesh network topology, using low-energy radio waves to communicate from one appliance to another. Devices can be configured to work as repeaters to extend the network but there is a limit of four hops between a controller device and an endpoint. This allows for wireless control of residential appliances and other devices, such as lighting control, security systems, thermostats, windows, locks, swimming pools, and garage door openers. Zigbee is a low-power wireless communications open-source protocol used primarily for home automation. Zigbee uses radio frequencies in the 2.4 GHz band and a mesh topology. Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols that enable two electronic devices, one of which is usually a portable device such as a smartphone, to establish communication by bringing them within 4 cm of each other. This is commonly used for contactless payment systems, transferring contacts, or transferring a file from one device to another. Bluetooth is a wireless technology standard used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances using UHF radio waves in the industrial, scientific, and medical radio bands from 2.402 GHz to 2.480 GHz and building a personal area network (PAN). Bluetooth is commonly used when connecting wireless devices like mice, trackpads, headphones, and other devices.
You have been asked to install a new wireless network for your company’s new branch office. Your boss wants the network to be high-speed and is willing to buy new hardware and network adapters to ensure all the devices can communicate on the new network. Which of the following wireless standards should you install for the fastest data transfer speeds?
OBJ-2.4: 802.11ac is the fastest of the four standards listed in this question. The 802.11ac (Wireless AC or Wi-Fi 5) standard utilizes a 5 GHz frequency to provide wireless networking at theoretical speeds up to 3.5 Gbps. Wireless AC uses channel bonding to create a single channel of up to 160 MHz to provide additional bandwidth. Wireless AC uses multi-user multiple-input-multiple-output (MU-MIMO) technology to use multiple antennas to transmit and receive data at higher speeds. The 802.11b (Wireless B) standard utilizes a 2.4 GHz frequency to provide wireless networking at speeds up to 11 Mbps. The 802.11g (Wireless G) standard utilizes a 2.4 GHz frequency to provide wireless networking at speeds up to 54 Mbps. The 802.11n (Wireless N) standard utilizes a 2.4 GHz frequency to provide wireless networking at speeds up to 108 Mbps or a 5.0 GHz frequency to provide wireless networking at speeds up to 600 Mbps. Wireless N supports the use of multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) technology to use multiple antennas to transmit and receive data at higher speeds. Wireless N supports channel bonding by combining two 20 MHz channels into a single 40 MHz channel to provide additional bandwidth.
You are configuring a SOHO network that will contain 7 devices, but you only have a single public IP address. Which of the following concepts should be configured to allow the 7 devices to share that single IP when connecting to the internet?
OBJ-2.3: Network address translation (NAT) is a network service provided by a router or proxy server to map private local addresses to one or more publicly accessible IP addresses. NAT can use static mappings but is commonly implemented as network port address translation (PAT) or NAT overloading, where a few public IP addresses are mapped to multiple LAN hosts using port allocations. The dynamic host control protocol (DHCP) is a protocol used to allocate IP addresses to a host when it joins a network. Universal plug-and-play (UPnP) is a protocol framework allowing network devices to autoconfigure services, such as allowing a games console to request appropriate settings from a firewall. A perimeter network (formerly called a Demilitarized Zone or DMZ) is a portion of a private network connected to the Internet and protected against intrusion. Certain services may need to be made publicly accessible from the Internet (such as a web, email, or Minecraft server) and they should be installed in the perimeter network instead of in your intranet. If communication is required between hosts on either side of a perimeter network, then a host within the perimeter network will act as a proxy to take the request.
You are troubleshooting a computer, and your supervisor believes that the issue is with the workstation’s RAM. Which of the following symptoms did your supervisor likely observe?
OBJ-5.2: Hardware failure or system instability can cause the computer to reboot continuously. The problem could be the RAM, hard drive, power supply, graphics card, or external devices. Based on the symptoms of a continuous reboot, the supervisor likely suspected the RAM as the cause of the issue. A burning smell is indicative of a bad power supply. A foul odor is indicative of a distended capacitor. The incorrect date/time on the workstation is indicative of a dead CMOS battery.
Jason is attending the CompTIA Partner’s Summit convention this year. While at the conference, Jason will need to ensure his smartphone has enough battery power to last the entire day without having to recharge it since it is hard to find an available electrical outlet in the conference rooms. Jason needs to ensure his smartphone is always available for use to receive updates from his team back home, as well. Which of the following would you recommend Jason use to ensure he can use the phone all day without his smartphone running out of power?
OBJ-1.5: To extend the device’s battery life and enable Jason to use it continuously throughout the day, it is recommended that he use a smartphone case with a built-in battery. These cases can provide enough battery power for an additional 8-12 hours of use. A wireless charging pad is a bad choice since you cannot easily use the phone while it is on the charger, and the charger still needs a power source (like an outlet). A power strip would also be a poor choice because it assumes there is a wall outlet available. Airplane mode is a bad choice because it may reduce the power needed (and therefore extend the battery life), but it also will prevent any connectivity over the cellular network.
What is the lowest layer (bottom layer) of a bare-metal virtualization environment?
OBJ-4.2: The bottom layer is physical hardware in this environment. It is what sits beneath the hypervisor and controls access to guest operating systems. The bare-metal approach doesn’t have a host operating system. A hypervisor is a program used to run and manage one or more virtual machines on a computer. A host operating system is an operating system that is running the hypervisor. A host operating system is an operating system that is running the hypervisor.
(This is a simulated PBQ. If you had this question on the real exam, you would be asked to drag-and-drop a label with the component’s name onto the proper location on the port cluster.) Using the image above, which of the following correctly indicates the port labeled as A?
OBJ-3.2: This port is the PS/2 connection. It is used for legacy keyboards and mice before the widespread use of USB ports. For the exam, it is important that you can identify the different parts of a motherboard’s rear port cluster by sight.
Which of the following types of networks would be created if a wireless access point, a microwave link, and a satellite link were combined in a mesh?
OBJ-2.7: The 802.11s standard defines a Wireless Mesh Network (WMN). Unlike an ad hoc network, nodes in a WMN (called Mesh Stations) can discover one another and peer, forming a Mesh Basic Service Set (MBSS). The mesh stations can perform path discovery and forwarding between peers, using a routing protocol, such as the Hybrid Wireless Mesh Protocol (HWMP). A wireless mesh network (WMN) is a wireless network topology where all nodes, including client stations, can provide forwarding and path discovery to improve coverage and throughput compared to using just fixed access points and extenders. A wide area network (WAN) is a network that spans multiple geographic locations such as the internet. A local area network (LAN) is a network where all the nodes or hosts participating in the network are directly connected with cables or short-range wireless media. A personal area network (PAN) is a close-range network that is usually based on Bluetooth or NFC for communications between personal devices, such as smartphones, laptops, printers, and other peripheral devices.
(This is a simulated PBQ. If you had this question on the real exam, you would be asked to drag-and-drop a label with the component’s name onto the proper location on the motherboard.) Using the image of the motherboard above, which of the following correctly indicates the circled area?
OBJ-3.7: The area circled indicates the fan power connectors. The power supply is connected to the motherboard using the mainboard power (24-pin connector at the top of the board), and the case fans connect using these 4-pin connectors to power the fans. For the exam, it is important that you can identify the different parts of the motherboard by sight.
(This is a simulated PBQ. If you had this question on the real exam, you would be asked to drag-and-drop a label with the component’s name onto the proper location on the port cluster.) Using the image above, which of the following correctly indicates the port labeled as G?
OBJ-3.2: These ports are the USB 3.0 connections. The red coloring notates this. USB 3.0 ports are always shown as a different color to differentiate them from the older and slower USB 2.0 ports. Universal serial bus (USB) is the main type of connection interface used on desktops and laptops. A larger Type A connector attaches to a port on the host; Type B and Mini- or Micro-Type B connectors are used for devices. USB 1.1 supports 12 Mbps while USB 2.0 supports 480 Mbps and is backward compatible with 1.1 devices which run at a slower speed. USB devices are considered hot-swappable and each device can draw up to 2.5 W of power over a USB port. USB 3.0 and 3.1 define 5 Gbps (SuperSpeed) and 10 Gbps (SuperSpeed+) rates and can deliver up to 4.5 W of power. For the exam, it is important that you can identify the different parts of a motherboard’s rear port cluster by sight.
What is the first step of the CompTIA troubleshooting methodology?
OBJ-5.1: For the exam, it is important that you can list and identify the 6 steps of the CompTIA troubleshooting methodology in order. (1) Identify the problem. (2) Establish a theory of probable cause (question the obvious). (3) Test the theory to determine the cause. (4) Establish a plan of action to resolve the problem and then implement the solution. (5) Verify full system functionality and, if applicable, implement preventative measures. (6) Document findings, actions, and outcomes.
You are configuring a SOHO network for a small coffee shop. They have found that certain customers will buy a single coffee cup and then sit at the coffee shop all day to use the WiFi. The owner has asked you to block this customer’s laptop from connecting by placing it on a blocklist. Which of the following configurations would you use to blocklist this customer’s device based on its unique hardware identifier?
OBJ-2.3: MAC filtering is the application of an access control list to a switch or access point so that only clients with approved MAC addresses connect. Port forwarding allows a router to take requests from the Internet for a particular application and send them to a designated host on the LAN. An allow list is a form of protection where only the items identified specifically on the list are allowed, whereas all others are denied. For example, if you create an access control list that relies on an allow list, it would block every IP address that is not found in the allow list. A blocklist contains every address or port that is blocked from accessing the network.
Which network technology is used to prioritize certain types of network traffic over others?
OBJ-5.7: Quality of Service (QoS) means using a network protocol to prioritize certain traffic types over others. Enterprise networks can use QoS protocols to make sure traffic such as Voice over IP calling or video conferencing is given higher priority than traffic where packets’ timing is less important, such as ordinary file downloads. MAC filtering, allow lists, and ACLs are used to block traffic, not prioritize it.