CompTIA N10-007 Network+ Exam Objectives

All of the new or modified objectives since the N10-006 Network+ exam are highlighted.

CompTIA N10-007 Network+ Exam Domains

Domain 1.0 – Networking Concepts
Domain 2.0 – Infrastructure
Domain 3.0 – Network Operations
Domain 4.0 – Network Security
Domain 5.0 – Network Troubleshooting and Tools

• 1.1 – Explain the purposes and uses of ports and protocols.
• Protocols and ports
• SSH 22
• DNS 53
• SMTP 25
• SFTP 22
• FTP 20,21
• TFTP 69
• TELNET 23
• DHCP 67, 68
• HTTP 80
• HTTPS 443
• SNMP 161
• RDP 3389
• NTP 123
• SIP 5060, 5061
• SMB 445
• POP 110
• IMAP 143
• LDAP 389
• LDAPS 636
• H.323 1720
• Protocol types
• ICMP
• UDP
• TCP
• IP
• Connection-oriented vs. connectionless

• 1.2 – Explain devices, applications, protocols, and services at their appropriate OSI layers.
• Layer 1 – Physical
• Layer 2 – Data link
• Layer 3 – Network
• Layer 4 – Transport
• Layer 5 – Session
• Layer 6 – Presentation
• Layer 7 – Application

• 1.3 – Explain the concepts and characteristics of routing and switching.
• Properties of network traffic
• Broadcast domains
• CSMA/CD
• CSMA/CA
• Collision domains
• Protocol data units
• MTU
• Broadcast
• Multicast
• Unicast
• Segmentation and interface properites
• VLANs
• Trunking (802.1Q)
• Tagging and untagging ports
• Port mirroring
• Switching loops/spanning tree
• PoE and PoE+ (802.3af, 802.3at)
• DMZ
• MAC address table
• ARP table
• Routing
• Routing protocols (IPv4 and IPv6)
• Distance-vector routing protocols
• RIP
• EIGRP
• Link-state routing protocols
• OSPF
• Hybrid
• BGP
• Routing types
• Static
• Dynamic
• Default
• IPv6 concepts
• Addressing
• Tunneling
• Dual stack
• Router advertisement
• Neighbor discovery
• Performance concepts
• Traffic shaping
• QoS
• Diffserv
• CoS
• NAT/PAT
• Port forwarding
• Access control list
• Distributed switching
• Packet-switched vs. circuit-switched network
• Software-defined networking

• 1.4 – Given a scenario, configure the appropriate IP addressing components.
• Private vs. public
• Loopback and reserved
• Default gateway
• Virtual IP
• Subnet mask
• Subnetting
• Classful
• Classes A, B, C, D, and E
• Classless
• VLSM
• CIDR notation (IPv4 vs. IPv6)
• Address assignments
• DHCP
• DHCPv6
• Static
• APIPA
• EUI64
• IP reservations

• 1.5 – Compare and contrast the characteristics of network topologies, types, and technologies.
• Wired topologies
• Logical vs. physical
• Star
• Ring
• Mesh
• Bus
• Wireless topologies
• Mesh
• Ad hoc
• Infrastructure
• Types
• LAN
• WLAN
• MAN
• WAN
• CAN
• SAN
• PAN
• Technologies that facilitate the Internet of Things (IoT)
• Z-Wave
• Ant+
• Bluetooth
• NFC
• IR
• RFID
• 802.11

• 1.6 – Given a scenario, implement the appropriate wireless technologies and configurations.
• 802.11 standards
• a
• b
• g
• n
• ac
• Cellular
• GSM
• TDMA
• CDMA
• Frequencies
• 2.4 GHz
• 5.0 GHz
• Speed and distance requirements
• Channel bandwidth
• Channel bonding
• MIMO/MU-MIMO
• Unidirectional/omnidirectional
• Site surveys

• 1.7 – Summarize cloud concepts and their purposes
• Types of services
• SaaS
• PaaS
• IaaS
• Cloud delivery models
• Private
• Public
• Hybrid
• Connectivity methods
• Security implications/considerations
• Relationship between local and cloud resources

• 1.8 – Explain the functions of network services
• DNS service
• Record types
• A, AAAA
• TXT (SPF, DKIM)
• SRV
• MX
• CNAME
• NS
• PTR
• Internal vs. external DNS
• Third-party/cloud-hosted DNS
• Hierarchy
• Forward vs. reverse zone
• DHCP service
• MAC reservations
• Pools
• IP exclusions
• Scope options
• Lease time
• TTL
• DHCP relay/IP helper
• NTP
• IPAM

• 2.1 – Given a scenario, deploy the appropriate cabling solution.
• Media types
• Copper
• UTP
• STP
• Coaxial
• Fiber
• Single-mode
• Multimode
• Plenum vs. PVC
• Connector types
• Copper
• RJ-45
• RJ-11
• BNC
• DB-9
• DB-25
• F-type
• Fiber
• LC
• ST
• SC
• APC
• UPC
• MTRJ
• Transceivers
• SFP
• GBIC
• SFP+
• QSFP
• Characteristics of fiber transceivers
• Bidirectional
• Duplex
• Termination points
  • 66 block
  • 110 block
  • Patch panel
  • Fiber distribution panel
• Copper cable standards
• Cat 3
• Cat 5
• Cat 5e
• Cat 6
• Cat 6a
• Cat 7
• RG-6
• RG-59
• Copper termination standards
• TIA/EIA 568a
• TIA/EIA 568b
• Crossover
• Straight-through
• Ethernet deployment standards
• 100BASE-T
• 1000BASE-T
• 1000BASE-LX
• 1000BASE-SX
• 10GBASE-T
• 2.2 – Given a scenario, determine the appropriate placement of networking devices on a network and install/configure them.
• Firewall
• Router
• Switch
• Hub
• Bridge
• Modems
• Wireless access point
• Media converter
• Wireless range extender
• VoIP endpoint

• 2.3 – Explain the purposes and use cases for advanced networking devices.
• Multilayer switch
• Wireless controller
• Load balancer
• IDS/IPS
• Proxy server
• VPN concentrator
• AAA/RADIUS server
• UTM appliance
• NGFW/Layer 7 firewall
• VoIP PBX
• VoIP gateway
• Content filter

• 2.4 – Explain the purposes of virtualization and network storage technologies.
• Virtual networking components
• Virtual switch
• Virtual firewall
• Virtual NIC
• Virtual router
• Hypervisor
• Network storage types
• NAS
• SAN
• Connection type
• FCoE
• Fibre Channel
• iSCSI
• InfiniBand
• Jumbo frame

• 2.5 – Compare and contrast WAN technologies.
• Service type
• ISDN
• T1/T3
• E1/E3
• OC-3 – OC-192
• DSL
• Metropolitan Ethernet
• Cable broadband
• Dial-up
• PRI
• Transmission mediums
• Satellite
• Copper
• Fiber
• Wireless
• Characteristics of service
• MPLS
• ATM
• Frame relay
• PPPoE
• PPP
• DMVPN
• SIP trunk
• Termination
• Demarcation point
• CSU/DSU
• Smart jack

• 3.1 – Given a scenario, use appropriate documentation and diagrams to manage the network.
• Diagram symbols
• Standard operating procedures/work instructions
• Logical vs. physical diagrams
• Rack diagrams
• Change management documentation
• Wiring and port locations
• IDF/MDF documentation
• Labeling
• Network configuration and performance baselines
• Inventory management

• 3.2 – Compare and contrast business continuity and disaster recovery concepts.
• Availability concepts
• Fault tolerance
• High availability
• Load balancing
• NIC teaming
• Port aggregation
• Clustering
• Power management
• Battery backup/UPS
• Power generators
• Dual power supplies
• Redundant circuits
• Recovery
• Cold sites
• Warm sites
• Hot sites
• Backups
• Full
• Differential
• Incremental
• Snapshots
• MTTR
• MTBF
• SLA requirments

• 3.3 – Explain common scanning, monitoring and patching processes and summarize their expected outputs.
• Processes
• Log reviewing
• Port scanning
• Vulnerability scanning
• Patch management
• Rollback
• Reviewing baselines
• Packet/traffic analysis
• Event management
• Notifications
• Alerts
• SIEM
• SNMP monitors
• MIB
• Metrics
• Error rate
• Utilization
• Packet drops
• Bandwidth/throughput

• 3.4 – Given a scenario, use remote access methods.
• VPN
• IPsec
• SSL/TLS/DTLS
• Site-to-site
• Client-to-site
• RDP
• SSH
• VNC
• Telnet
• HTTPS/management URL
• Remote file access
• FTP/FTPS
• SFTP
• TFTP
• Out-of-band management
• Modem
• Console router

• 3.5 – Identify policies and best practices.
• Privileged user agreement
• Password policy
• On-boarding/off-boarding procedures
• Licensing restrictions
• International export controls
• Data loss prevention
• Remote access policies
• Incident response policies
• BYOD
• AUP
• NDA
• System life cycle
• Asset disposal
• Safety procedures and policies

• 4.1 – Summarize the purposes of physical security devices.
• Detection
• Motion detection
• Video surveillance
• Asset tracking tags
• Tamper detection
• Prevention
• Badges
• Biometrics
• Smart cards
• Key fob
• Locks

• 4.2 – Explain authentication and access controls.
• Authorization, authentication, and accounting
• RADIUS
• TACACS+
• Kerberos
• Single sign-on
• Local authentication
• LDAP
• Certificates
• Auditing and logging
• Multifactor authentication
• Something you know
• Something you have
• Something you are
• Somewhere you are
• Something you do
• Access control
• 802.1X
• NAC
• Port security
• Captive portal
• Access control lists

• 4.3 – Given a scenario, secure a basic wireless network.
• WPA
• WPA2
• TKIP/RC4
• CCMP/AES
• Authentication and Authorization
• EAP
• PEAP
• EAP-FAST
• EAP-TLS
• Shared or open
• Preshared key
• MAC filtering
• Geofencing

• 4.4 – Summarize common networking attacks.
• DoS
• Reflective
• Amplified
• Distributed
• Social engineering
• Insider threat
• Logic bomb
• Rogue access point
• Evil twin
• War-driving
• Phishing
• Ransomware
• DNS poisoning
• ARP poisoning
• Spoofing
• Deauthentication
• Brute force
• VLAN hopping
• Man-in-the-middle
• Exploits vs. vulnerabilities

• 4.5 – Given a scenario, implement network device hardening.
• Changing default credentials
• Avoiding common passwords
• Upgrading firmware
• Patching and updates
• File hashing
• Disabling unnecessary services
• Using secure protocols
• Generating new keys
• Disabling unused ports
• IP ports
• Device ports (physical and virtual)

• 4.6 – Explain common mitigation techniques and their purposes
• Signature management
• Device hardening
• Change native VLAN
• Switch port protection
• Spanning tree
• Flood guard
• BPDU guard
• Root guard
• DHCP snooping
• Network segmentation
• DMZ
• VLAN
• Privileged user account
• File integrity monitoring
• Role separation
• Restricting access via ACLs
• Honeypot/honeynet
• Penetration testing

• 5.1 – Explain the network troubleshooting methodology.
• Identify the problem
• Gather information
• Duplicate the problem, if possible
• Question users
• Identify symptoms
• Determine if anything has changed
• Approach multiple problems individually
• Establish a theory of probable cause
• Question the obvious
• Consider multiple approaches
• Top-to-bottom/bottom-to-top
• OSI model
• Divide and conquer
• Test the theory to determine the cause
• Once the theory is confirmed, determine the next steps to resolve the problem
• If the theory is not confirmed, reestablish a new theory or escalate
• Establish a plan of action to resolve the problem and identify potential effects
• Implement the solution or escalate as necessary
• Verify full system functionality and, if applicable, implement preventive measures
• Document findings, actions, and outcomes

• 5.2 – Given a scenario, use the appropriate tool.
• Hardware tools
• Crimper
• Cable tester
• Punchdown tool
• OTDR
• Light meter
• Tone generator
• Loopback adapter
• Multimeter
• Spectrum analyzer
• Software tools
• Packet sniffer
• Port scanner
• Protocol analyzer
• WiFi analyzer
• Bandwidth speed tester
• Command line
• ping
• tracert, traceroute
• nslookup
• ipconfig
• ifconfig
• iptables
• netstat
• tcpdump
• pathping
• nmap
• route
• arp
• dig

• 5.3 – Given a scenario, troubleshoot common wired connectivity and performance issues.
• Attenuation
• Latency
• Jitter
• Crosstalk
• EMI
• Open/short
• Incorrect pin-out
• Incorrect cable type
• Bad port
• Transceiver mismatch
• TX/RX reverse
• Duplex/speed mismatch
• Damaged cables
• Bent pins
• Bottlenecks
• VLAN mismatch
• Network connection LED status indicators

• 5.4 – Given a scenario, troubleshoot common wireless connectivity and performance issues.
• Reflection
• Refraction
• Absorption
• Latency
• Jitter
• Attenuation
• Incorrect antenna type
• Interference
• Incorrect antenna placement
• Channel overlap
• Overcapacity
• Distance limitations
• Frequency mismatch
• Wrong SSID
• Wrong passphrase
• Security type mismatch
• Power levels
• Signal-to-noise ratio

• 5.5 – Given a scenario, troubleshoot common network service issues.
• Names not resolving
• Incorrect gateway
• Incorrect netmask
• Duplicate IP addresses
• Duplicate MAC addresses
• Expired IP address
• Rogue DHCP server
• Untrusted SSL certificate
• Incorrect time
• Exhausted DHCP scope
• Blocked TCP/UDP ports
• Incorrect host-based firewall settings
• Incorrect ACL settings
• Unresponsive service
• Hardware failure

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