Free Practice Questions for CompTIA N10-009 Exam

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation (paraphrased, aligned to N10-009):

In a spine–leaf architecture, endpoints (including servers, firewalls, and WAN/edge routers) connect to leaf switches. Leaf switches then uplink to spine switches; spine switches do not have endpoints connected directly to them. Therefore, a WAN router (an external/edge device) should connect to the leaf layer—often specifically to a “border leaf” that handles external connectivity.

Why not B. Core or D. Spine? In spine–leaf, “core” isn’t a formal layer, and spines are designed only to interconnect leafs, not to terminate endpoints.

Why not A. Access? “Access” is a term from the traditional three-tier model (access–distribution–core). In modern spine–leaf language, the analogous layer for endpoint attachment is the leaf.

References (CompTIA Network+ N10-009):

Domain: Network Infrastructure — Data center and campus architectures (spine–leaf vs. three-tier), roles of leaf/spine, WAN/edge connectivity points.

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If a workstation can access the internet and printers (likely in another VLAN) but not internal servers, the port was likely placed into the wrong VLAN after the move. VLAN assignment controls Layer 2 segmentation, restricting access to resources on different VLANs.

A. A wrong default gateway would prevent internet access.

C. An error-disabled port would block all connectivity.

D. A duplicate IP would cause general network issues, not just missing server access.

References (CompTIA Network+ N10-009):

Domain: Network Troubleshooting — VLAN misconfiguration, connectivity issues.