Objectives in this domain

Use appropriate statistics and sensors to ensure network availability, including SNMP, flow data, logs, and baseline performance metrics.
Section 3.1medium
Explain the purpose of organisational documents and policies, including diagrams, baselines, change management, and standard procedures.
Section 3.2easy
Explain high availability and disaster recovery concepts, including redundancy, failover, backups, and the RPO/RTO recovery metrics.
Section 3.3medium

Sample question from this domain

Free sampleNetwork Operationsmedium

A network administrator must poll performance counters from routers across a shared provider link and requires that both the login credentials and the payload of every SNMP message be encrypted in transit. Which SNMP configuration meets this requirement?

ASNMPv2c using a non-default, read-only community string.
BSNMPv3 operating in authPriv mode with SHA authentication and AES privacy. Correct
CSNMPv1 with a read-write community restricted by an access list.
DSNMPv3 operating in authNoPriv mode with SHA authentication only.

SNMPv3 in authPriv mode both authenticates the user and encrypts the payload, whereas SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c rely on cleartext community strings with no encryption. SNMPv3's User-based Security Model defines three security levels, and authPriv adds a privacy protocol such as AES on top of authentication, so both the credentials and the payload are encrypted. SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c community strings traverse the network in cleartext.

Why A is wrong: A non-default community string is safer than the default 'public', but SNMPv2c carries the community string and the message payload in cleartext, so nothing is encrypted in transit.

Why B is correct: authPriv authenticates the user and applies a privacy protocol such as AES to the payload, so both the credentials and the data are protected in transit as required.

Why C is wrong: An access list limits which hosts may connect, yet SNMPv1 offers no encryption at all and sends the community string and data as cleartext, failing the requirement.

Why D is wrong: SNMPv3 can encrypt, but authNoPriv authenticates the user without applying privacy, so the payload travels unencrypted and only half the requirement is met.

Other domains in this exam

Networking Concepts23% of the exam
Network Implementation20% of the exam
Network Security14% of the exam
Network Troubleshooting24% of the exam

See also the N10-009 cert hub, the study guide, and the cheat sheet.