Question

Difficulty: MediumUtilizing Hardware Testers and Packet Analyzers

A network administrator is isolating connectivity failures on a newly commissioned twisted-pair workstation drop. The administrator needs to verify the physical layer integrity to pinpoint cable distance faults and analyze captured broadcast traffic to identify rogue DHCP server offers on the subnet. Which TWO tools or capabilities should the administrator utilize to achieve these objectives? (Select TWO)

  1. Time-Domain Reflectometer (TDR) to measure cable continuity and locate physical impedance breaksAnswer
  2. B
    Loopback plug attached to the wall jack to filter broadcast frames and detect protocol port mismatches
  3. Packet analyzer with a display filter targeting DHCP traffic (such as bootp or udp.port == 67)Answer
  4. D
    Digital multimeter configured for DC voltage to decode Layer 7 payload headers and protocol flags

Answer

The administrator should use a Time-Domain Reflectometer (TDR) for physical copper cable fault location and a packet analyzer with DHCP protocol display filters to identify rogue DHCP server traffic.
Using a Time-Domain Reflectometer (TDR) allows precise detection and distance measurement of physical copper cable defects, while a packet analyzer equipped with DHCP protocol filters enables capture and analysis of Layer 3/4 network traffic to identify unauthorized DHCP servers.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Select the appropriate physical layer testing tool for copper media.
Identify that a Time-Domain Reflectometer (TDR) measures signal reflections to calculate cable length and locate distance to open or short circuits.
Physical layer cable testing requires specialized hardware capable of pinpointing signal degradation and wire breaks.
2
Select the appropriate protocol analysis tool for inspect network layer / application layer traffic.
Identify that a packet analyzer capturing traffic on UDP port 67/68 allows inspection of DHCP Offer packets.
Packet capture and protocol decoding are required to read upper-layer packet headers and trace rogue server IP/MAC addresses.

Key Concept

Utilizing TDR hardware for Layer 1 cable fault location and packet analyzers for protocol traffic inspection
Rate this question