CompTIA Updated N10-009 Exam Questions and Answers by raiden

The correct answer is A. ESSID . An ESSID (Extended Service Set Identifier) is used when multiple wireless access points are configured to present the same wireless network name (SSID) across a larger coverage area, such as an entire building or campus floor. This allows users to move from one location to another while remaining connected to what appears to be a single wireless network. In practice, this supports seamless roaming between APs when they are properly configured with the same SSID, compatible security settings, and coordinated channel planning.

The other options do not fit the requirement. Wireless mesh is a topology that allows APs to connect to one another wirelessly, but it does not by itself describe using one common WLAN name across all APs. Band steering pushes dual-band clients toward the 5 GHz or 6 GHz band for better performance; it is not about creating one building-wide WLAN name. WPA3 is a wireless security standard and relates to encryption and authentication, not SSID design.

The key phrase in the question is “a single wireless LAN name across the entire building” , which points directly to an ESSID deployment.

Shoulder surfing is a social engineering attack where attackers observe someone’s private information by looking over their shoulder or using tools like cameras to capture input.

From Andrew Ramdayal’s guide:

“Shoulder surfing is the act of watching someone enter confidential information, such as PINs or passwords, often using direct line-of-sight or surveillance equipment.”

The correct answer is traceroute, which is the diagnostic command specifically designed to determine the path a packet takes across a network. According to the CompTIA Network+ N10-009 objectives, traceroute is a key network troubleshooting tool used to identify routing paths, hop counts, and points of latency or failure between a source and a destination.

Traceroute works by sending packets with incrementally increasing Time to Live (TTL) values. Each router along the path decrements the TTL by one, and when it reaches zero, the router returns an ICMP Time Exceeded message. This process allows the administrator to see each intermediate hop, its response time, and where packets may be delayed or dropped.

The other options do not fulfill this purpose. Ping only verifies basic connectivity and round-trip time but does not show the route taken. Netstat displays active connections, ports, and routing tables but does not trace packet paths. Nslookup is used to resolve DNS names to IP addresses, and ipconfig displays local network configuration information.

The Network+ objectives emphasize traceroute (or tracert on Windows systems) as the primary tool for diagnosing routing issues, asymmetric paths, and network congestion, making it the correct and most appropriate choice in this scenario.