300-445 Question 31
Single answerYou are tasked with designing a network assurance strategy for a large enterprise. The team needs to measure end-to-end latency and packet loss on specific application flows while avoiding any noticeable impact on live traffic. Which monitoring approach aligns best with this requirement?
- A
Active monitoring using synthetic traffic
- B
Passive monitoring by analyzing mirrored traffic
- C
Active monitoring using real application traffic
- D
Passive monitoring using SNMP polling
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
Active monitoring with synthetic traffic is the best approach when you need to test specific network conditions, such as latency and packet loss, without impacting live traffic. It allows for controlled measurements and detailed analysis, as described in RFC 7276 and RFC 7799, while passive monitoring methods are limited to analyzing existing traffic or device statistics and may lack the precision needed for such tasks.
- A. Correct.
Active monitoring using synthetic traffic involves generating test packets specifically designed for performance evaluation, such as measuring latency and packet loss. This approach does not rely on live traffic, making it ideal for controlled and accurate measurements.
- B. Incorrect.
Passive monitoring by analyzing mirrored traffic relies on observing live traffic for insights. While it provides real-world data, it cannot measure specific conditions like synthetic traffic without impacting live traffic.
- C. Incorrect.
Active monitoring using real application traffic would involve modifying or interacting with live traffic, which could impact the production environment and is not suitable for controlled testing.
- D. Incorrect.
Passive monitoring using SNMP polling collects general network device statistics and is not flow-specific or focused on metrics like latency or packet loss for specific application flows.