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CompTIA Network+ (N10-009) · chapter 12 of 29

Week 12: Old gear, new rules

In this chapter Objectives 3.1

  1. Life-cycle management
  2. Change and configuration management
  3. Practice questions
  4. Chapter recap

Objective 3.1

Life-cycle management

EOL vs. EOS

End-of-life (EOL): the vendor stops selling the product. End-of-support (EOS): the vendor stops patches, bug fixes and technical support. EOL usually comes first; EOS is the date that really hurts, because new vulnerabilities will never be fixed.

Exam tip Exam trap: EOL does not always mean 'unsafe today'. EOS means no more security updates: plan replacement before it.

Software management

Life-cycle management includes keeping software current on every device:

  • Patches and bug fixes: vendor updates for flaws and security holes
  • Operating system (OS): the network OS image on switches, routers, firewalls
  • Firmware: low-level code on APs, NICs, transceivers, UPS cards

Exam tip Test updates first, schedule a maintenance window, and keep the old image so you can roll back.

Decommissioning

Retiring gear is a process, not a dumpster. Back up and archive the config, remove it from monitoring, DNS, IPAM and the asset inventory, wipe or destroy storage that holds configs and keys, and keep records of disposal. An old firewall config in a recycling bin can leak passwords and VPN keys.

Objective 3.1

Change and configuration management

Change management

Change management controls how changes reach production. A request (service request or change request) describes what, why, risk, rollback plan and timing. It is reviewed and approved (often by a change advisory board), scheduled, done, and closed. Request process tracking keeps a record of every step.

CHG-2291  Replace WH-SW2 (EOS)
Risk: Medium   Window: Sun 02:00-04:00
Backout: re-cable to old WH-SW2
Approved: M. Ortiz  Status: Scheduled

Exam tip If a scenario says users were surprised by an outage after an 'easy' change, the missing piece is change management.

Configuration management

Know three kinds of config:

  • Production configuration: what is running live right now
  • Backup configuration: a saved copy you can restore after failure or a bad change
  • Baseline/golden configuration: the approved standard every device of that type should match

Exam tip Compare a device to its golden config to spot drift: a rogue change, a missed setting, or tampering.

Check yourself 1A vendor announces it will stop releasing security patches for Kibble's AP model next June. What is this date called?

  1. End-of-life
  2. End-of-support
  3. Decommissioning date
  4. Baseline expiration
Show the answer

Answer: B. End-of-support

End-of-support is when patches and technical help stop. End-of-life is when the vendor stops selling the product.

Practice questions

Answer in your head, then open the answer. Ranger's Packet Trail has 483 questions like these for Network+, with mock exams.

Question 1Two help desk techs gave the same static IP to two printers, causing a conflict. Which tool would BEST prevent this by tracking which addresses are used, free or reserved in every subnet?

  1. SIEM
  2. LLDP
  3. NetFlow
  4. IPAM
Show the answer

Answer: D. IPAM

IP address management (IPAM) tracks address allocations across subnets and often integrates with DHCP and DNS, preventing double assignments.

Question 2An ISP contract promises 99.9% availability per year for a circuit. About how much total downtime per year does the SLA allow?

  1. 8.76 hours
  2. 43.8 minutes
  3. 52.6 minutes
  4. 3.65 days
Show the answer

Answer: A. 8.76 hours

A year has 8,760 hours; 0.1% of that is 8.76 hours. 52.6 minutes per year is 99.99%, and about 43.8 minutes is 0.1% of an average month.

Question 3Before installing access points in a new warehouse, a consultant walks the floor with a laptop and produces a color map of signal strength and interference. What is this called?

  1. Cable map
  2. Baseline metrics
  3. Wireless survey (heat map)
  4. Rack diagram
Show the answer

Answer: C. Wireless survey (heat map)

A wireless site survey produces heat maps that show coverage, signal strength and interference, guiding AP placement and channel planning.

Question 4A vendor announces that after March 31 it will no longer release firmware updates or security patches for a firewall model the company still uses. Which life-cycle milestone is this?

  1. End of life (EOL)
  2. End of support (EOS)
  3. Baseline configuration
  4. Decommissioning
Show the answer

Answer: B. End of support (EOS)

End of support means the vendor stops patches, updates and technical support. End of life usually means the product is no longer sold or made; support may continue for a while after.

Question 5A switch is being retired after six years. Which step is MOST important before it is sent to a recycler?

  1. Upgrade it to the latest firmware release
  2. Remove it from the SLA
  3. Wipe its config and storage; update inventory
  4. Run a final wireless survey
Show the answer

Answer: C. Wipe its config and storage; update inventory

Decommissioning should remove sensitive data (configs can hold passwords, keys and SNMP strings) and update records so the inventory stays accurate.

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