CCNA Interview Questions and Answers

Question:1
What is Routing?
Answer:
Routing is the process of finding a path on which data can pass from source to destination.
Routing is done by a device called routers, which are network layer devices.

Question:2
What is routing on a network?
Answer:
This might seem like a basic question, but the interviewer might ask it just to see if you know
the basics. Routing is done by routers. Routers have a routing table that send network traffic
from one location to another location or segment on the network. Routers reduce network
traffic compared to regular hubs. When a user sends network traffic across the network, a
hub broadcasts to all segments of the network. With a router, the device analyzes the TCP/IP
packet, sees the destination location, and then uses its lookup table to route the packet to
the right network segment and destination. Switches also route traffic in a similar fashion.

Question:3
What is 100BaseFX?
Answer:
This is Ethernet that makes use of fiber optic cable as the main transmission medium. The
100 stands for 100Mbps, which is the data speed.

Question:4
Is it better to add a network segment to a growing network or continue to use the same
subnet mask?
Answer:
Growing networks start to suffer from network congestion. When you segment the network,
routers are better able to route traffic to specific parts of the network without broadcasting
signals across only one segment. When you reduce broadcasting, you lower congestion,

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which speeds up your network. With a growing large network, its better to start segmenting
the network and create subnet masks for different segments.

Question:5
What is the purpose of the Data Link?
Answer:
The job of the Data Link layer is to check messages are sent to the right device. Another
function of this layer is framing.

Question:6
What is network congestion?
Answer:
With all of the streaming applications and peer to peer software, network congestion is
common on a large network. Network congestion occurs when too many people are trying
to use limited bandwidth. Most companies have a limited amount of bandwidth they can use
before they pay extra, which is why companies limit bandwidth by blocking streaming and
peer to peer applications using firewalls.

Question:7
Differentiate User Mode from Privileged Mode
Answer:
User Mode is used for regular task when using a CISCO router, such as to view system
information, connecting to remote devices, and checking the status of the router. On the
other hand, privileged mode includes all options that are available for User Mode, plus more.
You can use this mode in order to make configurations on the router, including making tests
and debugging.

Question:8
What are data packets?
Answer:
Data packets are the encapsulation units that transmit information across a network. A data
packet contains the senders information, the recipients information, and the data contained.
It also contains the numeric identification number that defines the order and packet number.
When you send data across the network, that information is segmented into data packets.
The recipient then puts these packets together to be able to read the information. Basically,

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data packets contain the information and routing configurations for your transferred
message.

Question:9
What is the key advantage of using switches?
Answer:
When a switch receives a signal, it creates a frame out of the bits that was extracted from
that signal. With this process, it gains access and reads the destination address, after which
it forwards that frame to the appropriate port. This is a very efficient means of data
transmission, instead of broadcasting it on all ports.

Question:10
What is the difference between RIP and IGRP?
Answer:
When you send traffic on a network, the router (default gateway in Windows computer
terminology) determines how to route the traffic. RIP determines where to send the traffic
by determining the shortest amount of hops. A hop is the next router in the traffics path.
Each router is considered a hop. With IGRP, several more factors are considered. IGRP
takes into consideration the bandwidth availability, MTU, reliability and the amount of hops.

Question:11
What is the function of the Application Layer in networking?
Answer:
The Application Layer supports the communication components of an application and
provides network services to application processes that span beyond the OSI reference
model specifications. It also synchronizes applications on the server and client.

Question:12
Define bandwidth in terms of network architecture
Answer:
While the term bandwidth is thrown around for most basic networking speeds and capacity,
bandwidth is technically the data capacity of a network. It measures the volume of data for
a transmission connection. Bandwidth is measured in kilobits per second or Kbps.

Question:13

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When does network congestion occur?
Answer:
Network congestion occurs when too many users are trying to use the same bandwidth. This
is especially true in big networks that do not resort to network segmentation.

Question:14
What is the Application Layer in network connectivity?
Answer:
The Application Layer is what your developers and software use to send traffic across the
network. The Application Layer is especially important for synchronizing software between
the server and the client machine.

Question:15
What is BootP?
Answer:
BootP is a protocol that is used to boot diskless workstations that are connected to the
network. It is short for Boot Program. Diskless workstations also use BootP in order to
determine its own IP address as well as the IP address of the server PC.

Question:16
What is subnetting on your network?
Answer:
Subnetting is a way to segment your network into smaller groups. Subnetting is
accomplished by manipulating the subnet mask, which is distributed to desktop computers
and routers. Subnetting allows you to create smaller networks within your network, which
then reduces congestion on larger networks.

Question:17
What is a Window in networking terms?
Answer:
A Window refers to the number of segments that is allowed to be sent from source to
destination before an acknowledgement is sent back.

Question:18
What is the difference between user mode and privileged mode on a Cisco router?

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Answer:
These two modes are somewhat self-explanatory. The user mode allows the user to view
router status and basic system information. With privileged mode access status, the router
can be configured and all status messages and errors can be viewed. User mode and
privileged mode separates standard users on the network and network administrators who
need to not only view router status but also make changes to the routers configurations.

Question:19
What are the different memories used in a CISCO router?
Answer:
NVRAM stores the startup configuration file
DRAM stores the configuration file that is being executed
Flash Memory stores the Cisco IOS.

Question:20
What is network latency?
Answer: Network latency refers to the performance of one device when it communicates
with another. Network latency is affected by bandwidth speeds, network card performance,
cabling and congestion. High latency can also mean users wont be able to properly
communication with applications, which will time out if latency is too high.

Question:21
Does a bridge divide a network into smaller segments?
Answer:
Not really. What a bridge actually does is to take the large network and filter it, without
changing the size of the network.

Question:22
What does MTU stand for?
Answer:
MTU stands for Maximum Transmission Unit. When you configure a router, a default MTU
is set. MTU determines the maximum size of a packet that is sent across the network. You
can increase MTUs across the network, but this setting generally slows down the network
compared to smaller MTU settings. Some network applications require larger MTU sizes,
and thats when you need to manually configure MTU sizes on your routers.

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Question:23
How does RIP differ from IGRP?
Answer:
RIP relies on the number of hops in order to determine the best route to a network. On the
other hand, IGRP takes consideration many factors before it decides the best route to take,
such as bandwidth, reliability, MTU and hop count.

Question:24
What is the difference between full duplex and half duplex devices?
Answer:
A full duplex device is preferable, because a full duplex device can send and receive data
packets simultaneously. However, with a half duplex device, the device must finish receiving
a message before it can then send a message. This can lead to slower transmission speeds
and increase network latency.

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