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Top 60 CCNA Interview Questions and Answers (Updated for 2018)

By: S.Sundara Pandian 11 JUN 2018

Top 60 CCNA Interview

Questions and Answers
(Updated for 2018)

Introduction 
"Get certi ed internationally and work anywhere in the
world" is the latest mantra in software industries. Microsoft,
Cisco, Oracle are some of the leading IT companies which
provide international certi cations online. The most
preferred certi cations in networking are CCNA, CCNP from
Cisco Systems, USA.

Cisco Systems located in San Jose, California, USA is one

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certi cations within the networking domain- routing and

switching, security, wireless, datacenter are some of the
areas.

CCNA stands for Cisco Certi ed Network Associate.

Exam code: 200-125 

Duration: 90mins

Number of questions: 50-60 questions.

Sample logos of various Cisco Certi cations

Image Source : www.cisco.com

 
 Image Source : www.cisco.com

Why is CCNA needed?

All major companies, which are looking for networking
engineers prefer CCNA certi cation. CCNA (Cisco Certi ed
Network Associate) is an online exam which deals with
networking concepts like IPv4, IPv6, routers and switches.
There is good news for all Indians, especially the youth, who
are searching for jobs. CCNA will help you in getting the
desired job in topmost IT companies.

Apart from getting jobs in networking, CCNA Certi cation

will help you in mastering routing protocols like RIP, EIGRP
and OSPF. The most important fact is that, the certi cation
program is not restricted to a particular stream. All students
and working professionals from various backgrounds like
B.E, B.Tech, B.Sc, MCA, dIPloma can undergo training for
CCNA and look for a career in networking.

Many companies which are into new technologies like Big

Data, Cloud Computing need network engineers for
implementing these high end technologies. The likes of
Cisco, Google, Amazon have already initiated e orts in cloud
computing.

The best part in getting CCNA certi cation is that, students

get certi cation directly from Cisco systems, USA. The major
advantage is that any student pursuing a basic course in
networking will get certi ed from local training institute;
whereas, CCNA certi cation is received directly from Cisco
systems, USA.

Major topics covered in CCNA:

 Basics of networking

OSI layers

TCP/IP layers

Cabling

Cisco iOS

Routing and Switching

RIP/EIGRP/OSPF

VLAN

VTP

Redundancy protocols

WAN

NTP/SYSLOG

ACL

IP routing

IPv6

IPv4

Sample Routers and Switches

 Cisco Router model-2500 series

Cisco Switch 1900 series model

What is the exam duration?

CCNA can be done in di erent tracks like routing and
switching, security, voice and data center, etc. Students and
professionals can choose their own area and go for the
online exam. There are many online exam centers in India.

CCNA exam duration is 90 minutes and the number of

questions varies from around 50 to 60 questions comprising
of multiple choice and simulations. In the simulation
section the student has to con gure routers. It tests your
skills in routing and switching con guration and
troubleshooting skills.

Discover 5 Tips For Acing Your CCNA Exam

What is the eligibility criteria?

Freshers or experienced candidates with little or no
networking knowledge can appear for CCNA online exam.
B.E, B.Tech, MCA, B.Sc, diploma's are all eligible to appear
for CCNA exam.

Avinash R.Maharaj, a young boy from Tirunelveli who had

passed CCNA at a young age of 10 has got direct admission
to B.Tech in a top reputed engineering college in India, and
further got to pursue his Master’s in the USA. Now, he is
working in the USA because of international certi cations
like CCNA. This young genius from India is an inspiration to
many young students. We see that age is no bar for
achievement, he is a great example.

Top 60 CCNA Interview Questions

and Answers
1) What are the two types of IP addresses available?
There are two types, namely IPv4 and IPv6

IPv4- 32 bit address and IPv6-128 bit address.

2) Which IP address is used for loopback address and for

what purpose?

127.0.0.1 is used for loopback address and also for local

testing purposes.

Loopback means looping to our own systems, checking our

own systems. It is used to test whether TCP/IP stack is
correctly installed.

3) What do you mean by OSI layers?

Open System Interconnection (OSI)layers.

It is a set of rules used to describe how to make

networks.

Whenever we design new network or hardware device,

we have to follow OSI reference model.

There are seven layers, which means seven set of rules;

they are designed by ISO (international standard
organization).

It tells what are the services/ports/applications used.

4) What are the major functions of transport layer?

Segment fragmentation

Numbering segmenting

Reliable and unreliable data delivery

Error detection & error correction

Flow control
 Multi tasking

Windowing

 5) What is data encapsulation and data de-

encapsulation?

When data is sent from a higher layer to a lower layer,

each layer adds some information to the original data;
this is called as encapsulation. The information added
is called as header.

When data is sent from lower layer to higher layer,

each layer will remove information from the other
layer. This is called as de-encapsulation.

6) What are the major functions of routers?

A) Packet switching- all incoming data is switched to

packets. It deals only with packets (data with IP address)

B) Packet ltering- router sends and receives only packets. It

is used in WAN, so all incoming packets are ltered mainly
for security.

C) Internetwork communication- joining of two or more

networks.

D) Path selection- router is used to select the shortest and

best path from source to destination.

E) QoS- Quality of Service: QoS is the ability of the n/w to

provide better or special service to a set of users or
applications.

7) What is the main purpose of DHCP?

DHCP is dynamic host con guration protocol.

 DHCP allows devices to acquire their addressing
information dynamically.

DHCP is actually based on bootstrap protocol (bootp).

It is built on a client/server model and de nes two

components.

1. Server- delivering host con guration information

2. Client- requesting and acquiring host con guration
information

8) What are the two types of cables available?

Straight through cable

Crossover cable

9) Which registry key is used in normal mode of router

and what registry key is used to recover password?

The registry key used in normal mode is 0x2102  to

0x210f.

To recover password we have to use the registry key

0x2142.

10) De ne CDP and its functions?

CDP is Cisco discovery protocol

It is a layer 2 protocol

It works based on mac addresses.(h/w addresses)

It is used to nd adjacent Cisco devices.

It is a Cisco proprietary protocol means used to nd

only the neighbouring Cisco devices.

It is used to nd out
 1. IP addresses

2. Port numbers

3. iOS details

4. Router models

5. Switch models

6. Interface details

7. Device ID- hostname

11) What are the two types of routes available in

routers?

A) Static or Static default

Static, if one route is xed for transmission it will stay xed.

If that link is down it cannot connect and reach the
destination even if there are alternate paths. Static route is
used for smaller networks. Symbol of static is s.
Static default– it sends data to unknown destination +
speci ed n/w.ex in isp we can have di erent connections. It
uses 0.0.0.0 as the address for connection. Symbol of static
default is s*.

B) Dynamic route

It will choose the path by itself. Paths are found by the

routing protocols.
Chooses the best or main path. If that path fails, it will nd
out the next alternate path. Routing protocols like
RIP/EIGRP/OSPF decide the paths.

12) What is distance vector? Explain with example.

Distance Vector Protocols send periodic updates every 30
secs or at some time interval to the adjacent routers.In case
if there is a link failure immediately,they inform to update
only after 30 secs. For example, RIP routing information
protocol is a distance vector protocol. Here distance
indicates length between two routers and vector means in
which link direction the link is connected between them.

13) What is the administrative distance of RIP, EIGRP

and OSPF?

The administrative distance for:

RIP: 120. 

EIGRP: 90

OSPF: 110

14) What is switching?

Switching is the process of using the hardware address/mac

address of devices on a LAN to segment a n/w. Switches
break up large collision domains into smaller ones and that
a collision domain is a n/w segment with two or more
devices sharing the same bandwidth.

Switch is a layer device and deals with frames (data with

mac address).

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15) What is meant by VLAN and what is its purpose?

A VLAN is a logical and orderly alignment of network users

and resources. These are connected to ports on a switch
which are administratively de ned.
It is used to segment big networks and connect with routers
for security purposes.

For joining two di erent networks or virtual VLANs, we need

routers.

16) What happens if there is no VLAN in switch ports?

If there is no VLAN in switches, it can lead to a broadcast

storm; as all ports will start broadcasting. By default all
ports in switches are in VLAN1 and they can send and
receive data within VLAN1. We can also create multiple
VLANs and join them using routers.

17) What are the two ports of switches?

1. Access port 
2. Trunk port

An Access port belongs to and carries the tra c of only

one VLAN. We can pass only single VLAN information. It
is used to connect switch ports with computers with
minimum speed of 10Mbps.

A Trunk port is used for multiple connections between

switch to routers and switch to switch.

Switch to router- minimum speed:100mbps. It is used for

inter VLAN communications, when connected with the
router.

18) What is VTP?

VTP is VLAN trunking protocol. It is used to allow VLAN

information to be automatically propagated throughout the
switching environment.

19) What are the various of modes in VTP?

There are three modes in VTP :

Server mode 

Client mode

Transparent mode

Default mode is server.

Server mode- Full control over VLAN creations and

modi cations for their domains.

Client mode- VTP clients do not allow the

administrator to create, change or delete any VLAN’s;
instead they listen to the VTP’s advertisements from
other switches and modify their VLAN con guration
accordingly.

Transparent mode- VTP transparent mode switches

will not participate in VTP advertisements. It can create
and delete VLAN’s that are local only to itself. It will not
propagate to other switches, and will not advertise its
own VLAN con guration.

20) De ne STP. Why is it used?

STP (Spanning Tree Protocol) was created by digital

equipment corporation. The new version was created by
IEEE which is 802.1d. STP is a bridge-to-bridge protocol used
to maintain a loop free n/w. Redundant links between
switches are a good idea because they help prevent
complete network failures in the event one link stops
working.

21) How many bits are available in IPv6?

 IPv6 contains 128 bits with 8 groups. It has n/w part
and host part. Each group has 16 bits.

So 8*16=128, it is in hexadecimal format (00 ). There

are 32 hexadecimal numbers.

Each groups(4 hex digits) are separated by colon.

22) What are the multicast addresses used in IPv4 and

IPv6 by di erent protocols?

OSPF (IPv4)=224.0.0.5,224.0.0.6

OSPF(IPv6)= 02::5/ 02::6

RIP (IPv4)=224.0.0.9

RIPng(IPv6)= 02::9

EIGRP(IPv4)=224.0.0.10

EIGRP(IPv6)= 02::10

23) What is EUI in IPv6?

EUI is Extended Unique Identifier 64. It is an interface ID, which is typically composed of mac

addresses. We can create a EUI-64 interface in a 48 bit mac address by inserting the “0xfffe”

between the upper three bytes and lower three bytes of the mac address.

24) What do you mean by global unicast address in IPv6?

Global unicast addresses are IPv6 public addresses,

which can be used globally as public addresses and are
unique in nature; e.g. 2000::1, 3001::1

Any address which begins with hex 2 or 3.

25) What are the major di erences between IPv4 and

IPv6 addressing?
IPv4 address is 32 bit address and IPv6 is 128 bit address. In
IPv4 only 232   addresses are available which is 4.3 billion
addresses out of which only 3.7 billion are actually usable
(many are reserved like class d,e and private). In IPv6 many
millions of addresses are there, it has 3.4*1038 addresses.

26) What is ACL and what are the major types available?

ACL (Access Control List) is a list of commands/statements

used in routers to lter packets.
There are three types of ACL:

1. Standard 
2. Extended 
3. Named

27) What is WAN and what is the main purpose?

WAN (Wide Area Network); used to connect between

two cities.

WANs connect remote sites over large geographic area.

Connection requirements vary depending on user

requirements, cost, and availability.

28) What are the major protocols used in WAN?

Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP)

Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP)

High-level Data Link Control Protocol (HDLC)- The

default protocol.

29) What is frame relay?

Frame relay is a packet switching technology, it is used to

join two or more routers with a single interface. It is cheaper
in cost and belongs to ISP.

Read through 10 Reasons To Get A CCNA Certi cation

30) What is LMI?

LMI (Local Management Interface) is a signaling standard

that is used between the routers and frame relay switches. It
allows for passing information about the operation and
status of the virtual circuit between the provider’s n/w and
the DTE (Data Circuit-terminating equipment).

31) De ne PAP and CHAP.

PAP- Password Authentication Protocol

CHAP- Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol

PAP sends username and password checks and

validates users.

CHAP- challenge message passes and replies with

username and password so no other router can come
inside.

32) How many collision domains and broadcast domains

are available in router, switch and hub?

Router- Each port has one separate collision domain and

one separate broadcast domain.

Switch- Each port has one separate collision domain but all
ports have one single broadcast domain.

Hub- All ports have one collision domain and one broadcast
domain.

33) Which router command is used to display RAM

contents?
Show run/show running-con g

34) Which router command is used to display NVRAM

(Non-volatile random-access memory) contents?

Show start/show start-con g.

35) What does the command "show version" do?

It displays iOS version, RAM space availability, process

speed.

36) What is the subnet  mask of the following IP

addresses- 10.0.0.1, 160.1.1.1 and 200.2..2.2?

10.0.0.1- 255.0.0.0

160.1.1.1- 255.255.0.0

200.2.2.2- 255.255.255.0

37) What is broadcasting and which addresses are used

for broadcasting?

Broadcasting means passing data to all devices in the

n/w. In a n/w if there are 5 systems, and we send data
to all 5 systems; it is broadcasting.

Both receiving and sending by all devices.

Broadcasting IP address: 255.255.255.255 or

255.255.255.255/32

Broadcasting  MAC address: : : or : : : : :

38) What is multicasting and which addresses are used

for multicasting?

In a Network if there are 10 Machines and if we send datas

to more than one machine  but not all 10 Machines it is
called Multicasting.For example sending datas to some 5
machines instead of all 10 Machines.Class D IP address is
used for Multicasting  ranging from from  224.x.x.x to
239.x.x.x and the MAC address starting from 0100:5EXX:XXXX
series where 0100:5E is the Organizationally Unique
Identi er Address.

39) Which IP addresses can be given as private

addresses?

Class a- 10.0.0.0  to 10.255.255.255

Class b- 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255

Class c- 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255

40) What is APIPA?

APIPA is Automatic Private IP Addressing.

Ranges= 169.254.0.1 to 169.255.255.254 (class b)
Autocon guration enabled, this means APIPA is set in the
system.
It is used to automatically assign private IP addresses for
home/small business n/ws that contains a single subnet,
has no DHCP server and is not using static IP address.

41) What is Syslog and why is it used?

Syslog server is a popular server used to store log

information- port no: 514. It can be con gured easily. It can
store a large volume of data. By default logging, messages
are sent to the router’s console port. It can also be sent to
Syslog.

Explore Everything You Wanted To Know About CCNA

42) What is NTP and what is its purpose?

NTP- Network Time Protocol
It is an open standard that allows you to synchronize your
router’s time with a centralized time server. It is
implemented mostly while using Syslog on the networks. Its
port no is 123, it uses the UDP (User Datagram Protocol). 

43) What is SNMP and what are its main functions?

SNMP is used for network tra c management- port

 no: 161.

SNMP contains three elements-

1. Network management application (SNMP manager)

2. SNMP agents (running inside a managed device)

3. MIB (Management Information Base), database object

that describes the information in a predetermined
format; that the agent can use to populate the data.

44) On what algorithm does OSPF work?

OSPF works on Dijkstra Algorithm. 

First a shortest path tree is constructed.

Secondly Routing table is populated with the resulting

best paths.

45) What are the major functions of SNMPv3?

1. Authentication

2. Encryption

3. Message integrity

It uses HMAC-SHA for security.

46) What is EIGRP?

EIGRP- Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol
It is a balanced hybrid protocol, a Cisco proprietary
protocol.
The symbol of EIGRP is D.
DUAL (Di using Update Algorithm). If primary route fails,
EIGRP can use backup or feasible routes.

47) What is OSPF?

OSPF (Open Shortest Path First). It is an open standard

routing protocol that has been implemented by a wide
range of network vendors, including Cisco. It supports multi
vendors like Cisco, Alcatel, Juniper, 3Com routers.
Administrative distance of OSPF is 110, symbol is O.

48) In what ways can we choose DR in OSPF?

1. Highest priority

2. Highest router ID

3. Highest IP address

49) What do you mean by BPDU Guard in switch?

BPDU Guard is used to protect the integrity of switch ports

that have portfast enabled. By default, BPDU guard is
disabled; it is mainly used to shut the port in an error
condition.

50) What are the major states in switch?

1. Disabled

2. Blocking

3. Listening

4. Learning