Core Networking Interview Questions

Here’s a list of essential fundamental core networking interview questions. Great for improving your skills and getting ready for interviews, this collection is a helpful resource for mastering networking basics.

  • Define Network?
  • What are the different types of a network? Explain each briefly.
  • What is a gateway?
  • What is a Protocol?
  • Why subnetting is required?
  • What is Routing?
  • Explain difference between Router & Switch?
  • What are the types of MAC Addresses?
  • What is the difference between Private IP and Public IP?
  • What is the range of private & public ip address?
  • What is the difference between broadcast domain and collision domain?
  • What is ping? for what purpose we use ping?
  • Define Unicasting, Multicasting and Broadcasting and Any casting?
  • What are the differences between static ip addressing and dynamic ip addressing?
  • What is the difference between the Internet, Intranet, and Extranet?
  • What is AS (Autonomous System)?
  • What is AD (Administrative Distance)?
  • Differentiate full-duplex from half-duplex?
  • List the layers of OSI?
  • Routers work at which OSI layer?
  • Switches work at which OSI layer?
  • What is the difference between TCP and UDP?
  • In which layer term “Frames” is used?
  • In which layer term “Packets” is used?
  • In which layer term “Segments” is used?
  • What is CRC?
  • What is the way to establish a TCP connection?
  • What is the difference between RIPV1 & RIPV2?
  • What is the administrative distance of RIP?
  • What is Route Poisoning & Split Horizon in RIP?
  • How do we configure RIP?
  • What is EIGRP?
  • Why EIGRP is called hybrid protocol?
  • What are the different tables in EIGRP?
  • What are the different packets in EIGRP?
  • What is meant by active and passive states in EIGRP?
  • What is the different K-values used in EIGRP?
  • What is successor?
  • What are different route types in EIGRP?
  • How do we configure EIGRP?
  • What is OSPF?
  • What are area types?
  • What Is Backbone Area?
  • Explain Area Border Router(ABR)?
  • What are LSA types?
  • What Is the Default Hello Interval?
  • What are different neighbor states in OSPF?
  • Briefly explain functioning and working of different OSPF?
  • What are the different OSPF network types?
  • Name tables which OSPF maintain?
  • How OSPF DR & BDR Is Elected?
  • What Parameters Must Match for Two Routers to Become Neighbors?
  • How Do We Configure OSPF Routing Protocol?
  • What is the layer 2 loop?
  • What is Spanning tree protocol?
  • How STP works?
  • Define selection criteria of STP root bridge?
  • How does STP maintain a loop-free network?
  • What is the basics function of BPDU?
  • What are the different types of BPDU?
  • What is the STP blocking state?
  • What is the STP Forwarding state?
  • What is Difference between STP and RSTP?
  • Which command enables RSTP on a switch?
  • What is the method of selecting a root port?
  • What are the different states of ports in STP?
  • Explain different types of STP Timers?
  • How do we configure STP?
  • Which switching technology reduces the size of a broadcast domain?
  • What are the benefits of creating VLANs?
  • What type of traffic goes through native VLAN?
  • What is difference between Trunk and Access mode?
  • What is Inter-Vlan Routing?
  • What are the different VLAN Frame tagging techniques?
  • What is QinQ?
  • Give the commands to create VLANs?
  • What is VTP?
  • What is the benefit of VTP?
  • What are the VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) Modes?
  • What is VTP Transparent Mode?
  • What is a VTP configuration revision number?
  • What is VTP Pruning?
  • What is a VPN?
  • Explain DHCP briefly?
  • Briefly describe NAT
  • What are firewalls?
  • What is traceroute?
  • What is ICMP?
  • What are IGPs and EGPs and why are they different?
  • What is the purpose of BGP?
  • Name several path attributes and their function.
  • What is the global routing table?
  • What is the Port Number of BGP?
  • What is the BGP path selection criteria?
  • What is route reflector and why it is required?
  • What is synchronization in BGP?
  • What is Finite State Machine (FSM)?
  • what is difference between access list and prefix list?
  • What is MPLS?