The Cisco Certified Support Technician (CCST) Networking exam (100-150) validates foundational knowledge and practical skills for support technicians working with Cisco networking infrastructure. This exam is designed for professionals who provide technical support, troubleshoot network issues, and assist in the deployment of Cisco solutions. This resource guides you through the exam syllabus, question formats, and proven preparation strategies to help you pass with confidence.
Use this topic map to guide your study for Cisco 100-150 (Cisco Certified Support Technician (CCST) Networking) within the Cisco Certified Support Technicians path.
The 100-150 exam uses a mix of question types to assess both conceptual knowledge and practical problem-solving ability. Questions progress in difficulty and emphasize real-world scenarios that support technicians encounter daily.
All formats reflect the practical demands of support roles, ensuring candidates can apply knowledge to real deployments and incident response.
An effective study plan breaks the syllabus into weekly milestones, balances concept review with hands-on practice, and builds confidence through realistic testing. Allocate 4-6 weeks for thorough preparation, adjusting based on your current networking background.
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Network fundamentals, switching, routing, and troubleshooting typically account for the largest portion of the exam. Mastering these core areas ensures you can handle the majority of questions and real-world support scenarios. Don't neglect security and IP services, as they appear regularly and test practical decision-making.
In production networks, switches handle local device communication (Layer 2), while routers direct traffic between subnets and networks (Layer 3). Support technicians must understand both to diagnose why a device can't reach a resource, is it a VLAN issue, a routing misconfiguration, or a default gateway problem? Practicing scenarios that combine both layers builds the integrated thinking required on the job.
Hands-on practice is essential for retention and confidence. Dedicate at least 10-15 hours to configuring VLANs, static routes, DHCP, and ACLs in Cisco Packet Tracer or a home lab. Simulation questions on the exam expect familiarity with IOS syntax and command navigation, so direct experience with the CLI significantly improves performance.
Candidates often confuse IP addressing concepts (subnetting, CIDR notation) and misidentify which OSI layer a protocol operates on. Another frequent error is selecting a technically correct answer that doesn't match the specific scenario, always read the question context carefully. Finally, rushing through troubleshooting questions without methodically eliminating options leads to preventable mistakes.
In your final week, take one full-length timed practice test to identify remaining weak spots, then focus review on those areas rather than re-reading entire topics. Practice pacing so you allocate time proportionally to question difficulty. Get adequate sleep the night before and arrive early to the testing center to minimize stress and maximize mental clarity.
Which command will display all the current operational settings configured on a Cisco router?
The show running-config command is used on a Cisco router to display the current operational settings that are actively configured in the router's RAM. This command outputs all the configurations that are currently being executed by the router, which includes interface configurations, routing protocols, access lists, and other settings. Unlike show startup-config, which shows the saved configuration that the router will use on the next reboot, show running-config reflects the live, current configuration in use.
show running-config: This command displays the current configuration running on the router. It includes all the operational settings and configurations applied to the router.
show protocols: This command shows the status of configured protocols on the router but not the entire configuration.
show startup-config: This command displays the configuration saved in NVRAM, which is used to initialize the router on startup, but not necessarily the current running configuration.
show version: This command provides information about the router's software version, hardware components, and uptime but does not display the running configuration.
Cisco IOS Commands: Cisco IOS Commands
A host is given the IP address 172.16.100.25 and the subnet mask 255.255.252.0.
What is the CIDR notation for this address?
The CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) notation for the subnet mask 255.255.252.0 is /22. This notation indicates that the first 22 bits of the IP address are used for network identification, and the remaining bits are used for host addresses within the network1.
* Subnet Cheat Sheet -- 24 Subnet Mask, 30, 26, 27, 29, and other IP Address CIDR Network Reference
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* Subnet Mask to CIDR Notation: The given subnet mask is 255.255.252.0. To convert this to CIDR notation:
* Convert the subnet mask to binary: 11111111.11111111.11111100.00000000
* Count the number of consecutive 1s in the binary form: There are 22 ones.
* Therefore, the CIDR notation is /22.
* Understanding Subnetting and CIDR: Cisco CIDR Guide
A support technician examines the front panel of a Cisco switch and sees 4 Ethernet cables connected in the first four ports. Ports 1, 2, and 3 have a green
LED. Port 4 has a blinking green light.
What is the state of the Port 4?
On a Cisco switch, a port with a blinking green LED typically indicates that the port is up (active) and is currently transmitting or receiving data. This is a normal state indicating active traffic on the port.
* A. Link is up with cable malfunctions: Usually indicated by an amber or blinking amber light.
* B. Link is up and not stable: Not typically indicated by a green blinking light.
* D. Link is up and there is no activity: Would be indicated by a solid green light without blinking.
Thus, the correct answer is C. Link is up and active.
* Cisco Switch LED Indicators
* Cisco Ethernet Switch LED Patterns
During the data encapsulation process, which OSI layer adds a header that contains MAC addressing information and a trailer used for error checking?
The Data Link layer ensures that messages are delivered to the proper device on a LAN using hardware addresses and translates messages from the Network layer into bits for the Physical layer to transmit. It also controls how data is placed onto the medium and is received from the medium through the physical hardware.
The OSI Model -- The 7 Layers of Networking Explained in Plain English
A user reports that a company website is not available. The help desk technician issues a tracert command to determine if the server hosting the website is reachable over the network. The output of the command is shown as follows:
What can you tell from the command output?
The tracert command output shows the path taken to reach the destination IP address, 192.168.1.10. The command output indicates:
* Hops 1 and 2 are successfully reached.
* Hop 3 times out, meaning the router at hop 3 did not respond to the tracert request. However, this does not necessarily indicate a problem with forwarding packets, as some routers may be configured to block or not respond to ICMP requests.
* Hops 4 and 5 are successfully reached, with hop 5 being the destination IP 192.168.1.10, indicating that the server is reachable.
Thus, the correct answer is C. The server with the address 192.168.1.10 is reachable over the network.
* Cisco Traceroute Command
* Understanding Traceroute
The tracert command output indicates that the server with the address 192.168.1.10 is reachable over the network. The asterisk (*) at hop 3 suggests that the probe sent to that hop did not return a response, which could be due to a variety of reasons such as a firewall blocking ICMP packets or the router at that hop being configured not to respond to ICMP requests. However, since the subsequent hops (4 and 5) are showing response times, it means that the packets are indeed getting through and the server is reachable12.
* How to Use Traceroute Command to Read Its Results
* How to Use the Tracert Command in Windows
