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N10-009 · Question #264

A network administrator is trying to locate the switch interface a PC is connected to. The administrator accesses the local switch, pings the PC IP address, and then uses the command show arp. Which…

The correct answer is B. show mac-address-table. To locate a PC's switch interface, the administrator first pings the PC and then uses 'show arp' to find its MAC address.

Submitted by chen.hong· Mar 6, 2026Network Troubleshooting

Question

A network administrator is trying to locate the switch interface a PC is connected to. The administrator accesses the local switch, pings the PC IP address, and then uses the command show arp. Which of the following commands should the administrator use next?

Options

  • Ashow route
  • Bshow mac-address-table
  • Cshow vlan
  • Dshow interface

How the community answered

(65 responses)
  • A
    5% (3)
  • B
    83% (54)
  • C
    3% (2)
  • D
    9% (6)

Why each option

To locate a PC's switch interface, the administrator first pings the PC and then uses 'show arp' to find its MAC address.

Ashow route

`show route` displays the routing table, which is used for forwarding packets between networks and does not help locate a device's physical connection on a local switch.

Bshow mac-address-tableCorrect

After obtaining the PC's MAC address from the `show arp` command, the `show mac-address-table` (or `show mac address-table`) command on the switch is used to query the switch's MAC address table. This table maps MAC addresses to the specific physical port where the switch learned that MAC address, thereby pinpointing the PC's connection point.

Cshow vlan

`show vlan` displays VLAN information, which is relevant for logical segmentation but does not directly map a MAC address to a specific physical port.

Dshow interface

`show interface` displays details about all interfaces, but without knowing the specific interface, it is not an efficient way to locate a PC among many ports on a switch.

Concept tested: Locating a device by MAC address on a switch

Source: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_40_se/configuration/guide/scg/sweth.html

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