220-1102 Question 613
Single answerHigh network trafficA technician is troubleshooting reports that the office network becomes very slow every weekday around 2:00 PM. Users can still access local resources, but cloud applications and web browsing become sluggish. The technician checks a Windows workstation that is powered on all day and notices the network utilization spikes at the same time daily. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the high network traffic?
- A
A scheduled backup job is copying large amounts of data to an offsite destination during business hours
- B
The workstation has an invalid IP address and is repeatedly failing to renew its DHCP lease
- C
The default gateway is offline, causing the NIC to retransmit every packet continuously
- D
A local printer driver is corrupt and generating excessive print spooler traffic on the LAN
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The key clues are the consistent timing, the measurable increase in network utilization, and the fact that internet and cloud services are primarily affected while local resources remain available. This points to bandwidth saturation rather than a total connectivity failure. In real environments, scheduled backups, cloud synchronization, large software deployments, and patch downloads are common sources of high network traffic. Best practice is to review scheduled tasks, backup windows, and endpoint management jobs, then move large transfers to off-hours or apply bandwidth throttling/QoS where appropriate. This aligns with standard troubleshooting methodology used in CompTIA A+ Core 2: identify patterns, verify symptoms, and correlate them with scheduled processes before making changes.
- A. Correct.
Correct. A recurring spike at the same time each day that mainly affects internet and cloud-based services strongly suggests a scheduled task consuming significant bandwidth. Offsite backups, cloud sync jobs, and large data replication tasks are common causes of predictable high network traffic during business hours.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. An invalid IP address or DHCP renewal issue would more likely cause intermittent or complete connectivity problems for that device rather than a predictable, network-wide slowdown at the same time every day. It also would not typically create sustained high traffic across the network.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. If the default gateway were offline, users would usually lose access to off-network resources rather than experience a daily bandwidth spike. While retransmissions can occur under some failure conditions, this does not fit the pattern of a scheduled daily increase in utilization.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. A corrupt printer driver can cause printing issues, stuck print jobs, or repeated attempts to communicate with a printer, but it is unlikely to create a consistent daily spike large enough to noticeably degrade cloud applications and web browsing for many users.