212-82 Question #109: Real Exam Question with Answer & Explanation

Question

As the senior network analyst for a leading fintech organization, you have been tasked with ensuring seamless communication between the firm's global offices. Your network has been built with redundancy in mind, leveraging multiple service providers and a mixture of MPLS and public internet connections. One week after deploying a state-of-the-art Network Performance Monitoring & Diagnostics (NPMD) tool, you notice unusual traffic patterns originating from your European data center and targeting the corporate headquarters in New York. The traffic spikes periodically, heavily utilizing the MPLS link and sometimes saturating the public internet connection, resulting in significant data packet losses and application failures. Your task is to identify the root cause of these traffic anomalies and ensure optimal network performance for all critical business operations. Given this scenario, what could be the primary cause for these traffic spikes, and what should your Immediate course of action be?

Options

• AMPLS Link Flapping - The MPLS link might be experiencing flapping, leading to inconsistent traffic
• BUnauthorized Application Usage - The European data center staff might be using unauthorized
• CData Backup and Replication - The European data center might be running data backup or
• DFaulty Network Hardware - The network hardware in the European data center, such as routers or

Explanation

Explanation

Faulty network hardware (Option D) is the primary cause because defective routers or switches can generate erratic, periodic traffic bursts, cause routing loops, and produce broadcast storms that simultaneously saturate both MPLS and public internet links - precisely matching the described symptoms of periodic spikes, packet loss, and application failures appearing shortly after a new NPMD tool deployment. Option A (MPLS Link Flapping) is incorrect because flapping would cause instability on the MPLS link specifically, not simultaneous saturation of both the MPLS and public internet connections. Option B (Unauthorized Application Usage) is a plausible distraction but unlikely to consistently produce the periodic, dual-link-saturating pattern described, and would typically show more user-behavior-correlated timing. Option C (Data Backup/Replication) is tempting but would present as scheduled, predictable traffic windows rather than anomalous spikes detected by an NPMD tool as unusual patterns.

Memory Tip: Think "Hardware = Havoc on ALL paths" - faulty hardware is the one culprit that can simultaneously disrupt multiple network paths (MPLS + internet) with unpredictable, periodic bursts, unlike software or configuration issues which tend to affect specific, identifiable traffic flows. When you see multi-link saturation with no clear schedule, suspect the physical layer first.

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