102-500 · Question #245
Which of the following details is NOT provided in any output from the netstat utility?
The correct answer is A. broadcast services. See the full explanation below for the reasoning.
Question
Options
- Abroadcast services
- Binterface statistics
- Cmasquerading connections
- Dnetwork connections
- Erouting tables
How the community answered
(23 responses)- A83% (19)
- B4% (1)
- C9% (2)
- E4% (1)
Community Discussion
8
Mateus R.Jun 4, 2026The answer is A, broadcast services, because netstat is like a traffic reporter who covers highways (network connections), on-ramps (interface statistics), detours (routing tables), and even the sneaky back-road tunnels (masquerading connections), but it has never once reported on what the radio stations are broadcasting, and broadcast services fall completely outside what netstat was built to observe or display.
Anjali D.Jun 7, 2026Mateus nailed the analogy, though I would add that some implementations like netstat -g do surface multicast group memberships, so the line between "broadcast-adjacent" and truly invisible is worth keeping in mind when you hit that on the exam.
Hiroshi T.Jun 14, 2026The official netstat man page documents output for network connections, interface statistics (netstat -i), masquerading connections (netstat -M), and routing tables (netstat -r), but broadcast services are not among the listed display modes at any flag or option. Broadcast service enumeration is outside the scope of what netstat reports, which is why A is the only valid pick here.
Mateus R.Jun 15, 2026Hiroshi is right that netstat skips broadcast service enumeration, but worth flagging that netstat -i does surface broadcast packet counts on the interface statistics side, so while you cannot enumerate broadcast services you can at least see broadcast traffic volume, which catches some folks off guard on the exam when they expect a clean separation.
Prof. SaraMay 31, 2026Netstat is a solid multi-tool for network diagnostics, giving you routing tables with -r, interface statistics with -i, masquerading connections with -M, and active network connections by default, but there is one category of information it simply was never designed to surface. Think about what "broadcast services" actually means in context, and ask yourself whether netstat operates at that layer of abstraction or whether you would reach for a different command entirely to discover what services are being advertised on a broadcast domain.
Mateus R.Jun 2, 2026Netstat lives down in the socket and routing layer, so yeah, broadcast service advertisements like what you would find with Avahi or mDNS are a whole different animal, and you would grab something like avahi-browse or dig with multicast DNS queries to actually see what is being announced on that domain.
Anjali D.Jun 25, 2026Anyone confirm netstat skips broadcast entirely, or did I miss a flag?
Mateus R.Jun 25, 2026Netstat does skip broadcast, but the more interesting gap is that it also misses multicast traffic, so if you are hunting for IGMP group memberships you will want ip maddr or ss with a filter instead.