NE NE WAN Technologies 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which WAN technology uses labels rather than IP addresses to forward packets, improving speed and enabling traffic engineering?
- Frame Relay
- ATM
- MPLS (Correct answer)
- SD-WAN
Correct answer: MPLS
MPLS uses short fixed-length labels attached to packets to make forwarding decisions at high speed along Label Switched Paths (LSPs).
Question 2: What is a site-to-site VPN primarily used for in WAN connectivity?
- Providing remote employees access to corporate resources
- Connecting two geographically separate networks over a public internet connection with encryption (Correct answer)
- Accelerating application delivery across WAN links
- Replacing MPLS with BGP routing
Correct answer: Connecting two geographically separate networks over a public internet connection with encryption
Site-to-site VPNs create encrypted tunnels between gateway devices at two sites, allowing branch and headquarters to communicate securely over the internet.
Question 3: What is the primary advantage of SD-WAN over traditional WAN technologies?
- It eliminates the need for encryption
- It provides centralized management and dynamic path selection across multiple WAN links (Correct answer)
- It requires dedicated MPLS circuits
- It uses proprietary protocols for routing
Correct answer: It provides centralized management and dynamic path selection across multiple WAN links
SD-WAN decouples network control from hardware, enabling centralized policy management and intelligent traffic routing across broadband, MPLS, and LTE links.
Question 4: Which WAN circuit type provides a dedicated point-to-point connection with guaranteed bandwidth between two locations?
- DSL
- Cable broadband
- Leased line (T1/E1) (Correct answer)
- Satellite internet
Correct answer: Leased line (T1/E1)
Leased lines like T1 (1.544 Mbps) or E1 (2.048 Mbps) are dedicated circuits providing constant guaranteed bandwidth and low latency for enterprise WAN links.
Question 5: What is the purpose of QoS (Quality of Service) in WAN environments?
- To encrypt traffic across WAN links
- To prioritize critical traffic like voice and video over less time-sensitive data (Correct answer)
- To compress packets for faster transmission
- To authenticate users connecting to the WAN
Correct answer: To prioritize critical traffic like voice and video over less time-sensitive data
QoS classifies and prioritizes network traffic, ensuring latency-sensitive applications like VoIP and video conferencing receive guaranteed bandwidth and low delay.
Question 6: Which protocol is used at the WAN data link layer to encapsulate IP traffic over serial point-to-point connections?
- Ethernet
- HDLC or PPP (Correct answer)
- 802.1Q
- Frame Relay
Correct answer: HDLC or PPP
HDLC (Cisco default) and PPP are common Layer 2 encapsulation protocols for serial WAN links; PPP adds authentication (CHAP/PAP) and multilink capabilities.
Which WAN technology uses labels rather than IP addresses to forward packets, improving speed and enabling traffic engineering?