CompTIA Network+ Practice Test

What type of analysis can packet captures provide on a network?

1. Only IP address identification

2. Detailed analysis of latency

3. Simple connectivity checks

4. Basic port status updates

The correct answer is: Detailed analysis of latency

Packet captures are a powerful tool for network analysis, allowing for a detailed examination of network traffic. Among the various insights they provide, identifying latency is particularly significant. Latency refers to the time it takes for a packet of data to travel from the source to the destination and back again, which is critical for assessing network performance. Through packet captures, network administrators can analyze timestamps associated with each packet as it traverses the network. By measuring the time taken for each packet to travel across different segments and calculating round-trip times, administrators can pinpoint areas where delays occur. This analysis can reveal bottlenecks, identify slow links, or highlight devices that may be contributing to a lag in response times. Conversely, the other options provided are less comprehensive in terms of analysis. While packet captures can help in understanding some aspects of connectivity and status updates, they do not inherently focus on detailed latency analysis like they do with overall traffic assessment and performance monitoring. Therefore, the ability to perform detailed analyses of latency is a key strength of packet captures in network assessments.