Static Routing Practice Questions

Answers and explanations appear when you work through the set above.

1. A router interface has the correct address but shows down/down. The cable is connected, and the peer interface is administratively shut down. Why is its connected subnet absent from the routing table?

   • The router does not support connected routes on that interface type
   • The interface on the far end of the link is administratively down, so the link never comes up
   • Static routes always take priority over connected routes
   • The subnet mask on the interface is too small

2. What is the purpose of a summary static route such as ip route 10.1.0.0 255.255.0.0 10.0.0.2 instead of configuring separate /24 routes for every subnet in 10.1.0.0/16?

   • It forces traffic to load balance across two paths automatically
   • It replaces multiple specific routes with one route, reducing the size of the routing table
   • It is required whenever more than two routers are used in a topology
   • It disables longest prefix match for that network range

3. A router has both a summary static route to 10.1.0.0/16 and a more specific static route to 10.1.3.0/24, both learned via static configuration. Which route does the router use to forward a packet destined for 10.1.3.5?

   • The summary route, because it was configured first
   • Both routes equally, load balancing between them
   • The more specific 10.1.3.0/24 route, because it has the longest prefix match
   • Neither route, since having two matches makes the destination unreachable

4. Which command configures a default static route that sends any traffic without a more specific match out toward a next hop of 203.0.113.2?

   • ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 203.0.113.2
   • ip default-route 203.0.113.2
   • ip route default 203.0.113.2
   • ip route 255.255.255.255 0.0.0.0 203.0.113.2

5. In show ip route output, what does the entry 'Gateway of last resort is 10.0.0.2 to network 0.0.0.0' indicate?

   • The router has no working routes at all
   • A default route pointing to 10.0.0.2 is installed and will be used for otherwise unmatched destinations
   • The router is configured as a DHCP relay agent
   • 10.0.0.2 is unreachable and traffic will be dropped

6. A Cisco IOS router has two resolvable default static routes with the same administrative distance, and its maximum-paths setting permits both. What appears in the routing and forwarding tables?

   • Only the first route configured is ever used
   • The router rejects the second command as a duplicate
   • Both equal-cost defaults can be installed, and CEF can distribute traffic across their next hops
   • The second route silently overwrites the first

7. PC1 can successfully ping PC3 across several router hops, but tracert shows the return path from PC3 to PC1 does not retrace the same hops in reverse. Why can this happen?

   • This always indicates a routing loop and must be fixed immediately
   • Each router makes an independent forwarding decision based on its own routing table, so return traffic can legitimately take a different path
   • Static routes never support asymmetric routing
   • It means one of the routers is using RIP instead of static routes

8. An administrator wants to remove a previously configured static route ip route 10.1.1.0 255.255.255.0 10.0.0.2. Which command does this correctly?

   • delete ip route 10.1.1.0 255.255.255.0 10.0.0.2
   • no ip route 10.1.1.0 255.255.255.0 10.0.0.2
   • ip route 10.1.1.0 255.255.255.0 10.0.0.2 disable
   • clear ip route 10.1.1.0 255.255.255.0

9. A recursive static route's next hop no longer resolves to any valid output interface. What happens to the route?

   • It stays installed and continues attempting to forward traffic to the dead next hop
   • It is automatically converted into a default route
   • It is removed from the routing table until the next hop becomes reachable again
   • It is installed but marked with a permanently higher administrative distance

10. Two resolvable static routes have the same destination prefix but different next hops. The configuration shows distances 1 and 200. Why is only the distance-1 route normally installed?

    • One route has a higher administrative distance configured at the end of the ip route command
    • The two routes are for different destination subnets and just look similar
    • Static routes can never coexist for the same network
    • One route uses a next-hop IP and the other uses an exit interface, which always disables load balancing

11. Why would a network engineer configure a floating static route with a higher administrative distance alongside a route learned from a dynamic routing protocol like OSPF?

    • To make the static route always take priority over OSPF
    • To provide a backup path that is only used if the OSPF route disappears from the table
    • Floating static routes are required for OSPF to function at all
    • To reduce the OSPF router ID election priority

12. R1 learns its default route from OSPF (AD 110). For a backup through ISP2, an AI assistant recommends ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 203.0.113.1 5. What is the correct evaluation?

    • Correct, because a floating static route must have an AD lower than the primary route
    • Correct, because static routes are always preferred over OSPF regardless of the AD
    • Wrong, because a default route cannot be configured with an administrative distance
    • Wrong, because AD 5 beats OSPF's 110, so the backup replaces the primary: use a value above 110