Practice Free 300-445 Designing and Implementing Enterprise Network Assurance(300-445 ENNA) Exam Questions Answers With Explanation

In theDesigning and Implementing Enterprise Network Assurance (300-445 ENNA)curriculum, selecting the appropriate test type is essential for isolating performance bottlenecks in complex web applications. When users report issues with specific multi-step workflows—such as logging into a portal or interacting with a shopping cart—theTransaction test type(Option C) is the most effective tool.

A Transaction test is a specialized Web-layer test that utilizes a script (typically written in JavaScript/TypeScript) to mimic real user interactions with a website. Unlike a simpleHTTP Server test(Option A) that only checks for a 200 OK response from a single URL, or aPage Load test(Option B) that measures the rendering of a single page, a Transaction test follows a predefined user journey. For this retail scenario, the test can be configured to navigate to the homepage, enter credentials, click the login button, search for a product, and add it to the cart.

The primary advantage of this approach is that it provides granular, step-specific timing. It allows the engineer to identify precisely where the latency or failure occurs—for example, if the backend database takes too long to process the login or if an API call fails during the "add to cart" action. WhileAgent-to-server(Option D) andDNS Server(Option E) tests provide valuable network and infrastructure data, they cannot validate the functional logic of a web application.Agent-to-agent(Option F) is used for measuring throughput between two managed points and is irrelevant for public-facing website testing. Therefore, for troubleshooting interactive web processes, theTransaction test typeis the definitive choice for pinpointing the source of the issue.

According to theDesigning and Implementing Enterprise Network Assurance (300-445 ENNA)data analysis guidelines, identifying the underlying test type is the first step in interpreting a dashboard. By observing the metrics displayed across both the Executive and IT Operations dashboards, we can definitively identify the test type asPage Load(Option B).

A Page Load test is a Web-layer test that uses a browser engine (Chromium) to fully render a page and collect advanced metrics beyond simple availability. Evidence for this test type in the dashboards includes:

Page Completion Time:Displayed on the Executive dashboard map, this metric is specific to how much of the page successfully rendered.

DOM Load Time:Found in the IT Operations dashboard, the Document Object Model (DOM) time is a browser-centric metric that measures when the page structure has finished loading.

Waterfall Charts:While not a specific answer option, these are the foundation of Page Load tests, allowing for the timing of individual web components.

SimpleHTTP Servertests (Option A) only measure availability and response codes, missing the rendering metrics seen here.Agent to server(Option C) is a network-layer test that provides path visualization but no browser-level data.FTP(Option D) is a protocol-specific test not used for web application monitoring. Therefore, the presence of DOM and Page Completion metrics confirms thePage Loadtest type.

In the ThousandEyes platform, alert rules are the primary mechanism for notifying operations teams when performance thresholds are breached. When configuring alerts forEndpoint Agent HTTP Server tests, the available metrics are limited to those that the Endpoint Agent captures during its synthetic browser-based or network-layer probes.

The two correct metrics for this test type areResponse Time(Option A) andError Type(Option C).

Response Time:This metric measures the time-to-first-byte. It is essential for detecting degradations in web application performance as seen from the user's specific machine.

Error Type:This allows administrators to trigger alerts based on specific HTTP response codes or protocol errors (e.g., DNS failures or SSL handshake issues).

Other options are incorrect because they apply to different agent types or monitoring layers:

BGP Reachability (Option B):BGP metrics are not applicable to Endpoint Agent tests. These metrics require the BGP route visualization layer, which is typically associated with Cloud or Enterprise Agents monitoring public internet paths.

Interface Throughput (Option D):This is an infrastructure-level metric rather than a synthetic application metric. While ThousandEyes can monitor device health via SNMP, it is not a metric used in a synthetic HTTP Server test.

By utilizing Response Time and Error Type, an architect can ensure that the operations team is alerted as soon as users experience slow loading or actual failures when accessing critical internal or SaaS-based web applications.

The architecture forDesigning and Implementing Enterprise Network Assurance (300-445 ENNA)specifies that ThousandEyes WAN Insights relies on deep integration with the Cisco SD-WAN management stack. To generate its predictive path recommendations, the platform must ingest specific telemetry data that reflects both the network's behavior and the applications traversing it.

The first essential data source ishistorical network performance metrics collected by vAnalytics(Option B). Before WAN Insights can be activated, vAnalytics must be enabled to collect and enrich raw network telemetry from the edge routers.34This data includes granular metrics for every SD-WAN tunnel, such as packet loss, latency, and jitter.35WAN Insights analyzes these historical trends to forecast future path quality and determine which transport circuits are most likely to meet application SLAs over a long-term period.

The second essential data source isapplication traffic flow data(Option D). WAN Insights must understand which applications are currently active in the fabric to prioritize recommendations for "business-critical" services like Office 365, Webex, or custom internal apps.38This information is ingested as flow records from the SD-WAN data plane and categorized based on theApplication Listsdefined inCisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager (vManage).

Options A and E are configuration or logging data that, while useful for general management, are not the raw telemetry inputs used by the WAN Insights predictive engine. Option C is incorrect because WAN Insights explicitly uses infrastructure telemetry rather than ThousandEyes agent-based synthetic data for its SD-WAN fabric calculations. By combiningvAnalytics performance metricsandapplication flow data, WAN Insights can provide the "Predictive Path Recommendatio41ns" that are a hallmark of modern network assurance.

In the context ofDesigning and Implementing Enterprise Network Assurance (300-445 ENNA), capacity planning requires accurate baselining of interface bandwidth against its theoretical and provisioned limits. AnalyzingExhibit 4.5 Question 4(image_79d4fc.jpg) reveals a significant discrepancy between the physical reality of the link and its configuration within the monitoring tool.

The exhibit displays a capacity planning dashboard with a calendar heatmap and traffic graphs. The heatmap for February through May shows a high frequency of "Severe" (red) utilization blocks. Looking at theEgressgraph forTue May 07 2024, the traffic spikes clearly exceed 40.0 Mbps. Crucially, the dashboard indicates an "Egress Capacity" of49.5 Mbpsand reports that the "Highest consumption" was 48.0 Mbps, representing97%of the available bandwidth.

However, the question states that the ISP provides a1 Gbps (1000 Mbps) connection. Since the actual traffic being sent is less than 50 Mbps, the link is nowhere near physical saturation. The "Severe" alerts and high utilization percentages are occurring only because the monitoring software (likely ThousandEyes or a similar NMS) is configured with aMaximum Capacityof only 49.5 Mbps for this interface. This misconfiguration causes the tool to calculate utilization based on a much smaller "pipe" than what actually exists, leading to false-positive alerts.

Therefore, the most likely action to fix this observed behavior is toreconfigure maximum capacity for the interface(Option B) to match the 1 Gbps specification.

Option Ais unnecessary because the current link is only being utilized at ~5% of its 1 Gbps potential.

Option Cis a restrictive policy change that is not justified given the actual available headroom.

Option Dmight shift how data is displayed but will not fix the underlying mathematical error in utilization calculations.

In theDesigning and Implementing Enterprise Network Assurance (300-445 ENNA)architecture, secure administrative access via Single Sign-On (SSO) is a critical component of platform governance. The exhibit illustrates the ThousandEyes SSO configuration panel being integrated withMicrosoft Entra ID(formerly Azure AD). When configuring SAML-based authentication, the "Identity Provider Issuer" (Option D) is a unique identifier provided by the IdP (Microsoft) that must match exactly between the two systems.

According to ENNA implementation guidelines, ThousandEyes populates default fields based on standard SAML metadata. However, Microsoft Entra ID often utilizes a specific GUID-based format for the Issuer URL (e.g., https://sts.windows.net/tenant-id/) that may differ from the generic URL format expected by the platform's initial auto-fill. To ensure a successful SAML handshake, the engineer must select the "Override"checkbox next to theIdentity Provider Issuerfield. This action unlocks the field, allowing the engineer to manually paste the exact string provided in the Entra ID Federation Metadata document. If this value is not overridden and matched precisely, the SAML assertion will be rejected, resulting in a failed authentication attempt.

While the Login and Logout URLs (Options B and C) are also critical, they are typically correctly identified during the initial setup or metadata import; theIdentity Provider Issueris the most frequent point of mismatch requiring an manual override in Entra ID environments due to its strict "Audience Restriction" requirements. TheService Provider Issuer(Option A) is generally a fixed value (https://app.thousandeyes.com) that rarely requires overriding as it defines ThousandEyes' own identity to the IdP.

Therefore, selecting the override for theIdentity Provider Issueris the necessary step to complete the integration and allow enterprise users to authenticate securely using their corporate credentials.

For theDesigning and Implementing Enterprise Network Assurance (300-445 ENNA)exam, understanding enterprise-scale deployment of the Endpoint Agent (EPA) is vital for ensuring comprehensive user-centric visibility. When an organization utilizes aMicrosoft Domain Controllerto manage its internal domain, the standard mechanism for automated software distribution isGroup Policy Objects (GPOs)(Option B).

Deploying the ThousandEyes Endpoint Agent via GPO allows a network administrator to push the .msi installer package to all Windows-based workstations joined to the domain. This method is highly effective for large-scale environments because it ensures that the agent is installed automatically upon machine startup or user login, without requiring manual intervention from the end-user or the IT staff at each individual machine. The GPO can be configured to perform a "silent installation," which runs in the background, ensuring a seamless experience for the employees while providing the IT team with the necessary performance metrics.

WhileMicrosoft Intune (Option A)is a modern cloud-based endpoint management solution, the question specifically references aMicrosoft Domain Controller, making GPO the most direct and traditional choice for that specific infrastructure.JAMF (Option C)is specifically for Apple (macOS/iOS) device management and would not be used for a Windows domain deployment.8PowerShell (Option D)can be used for scripting, but it lacks the centralized policy enforcement and automatic compliance checking provided by GPOs in an Active Directory environment. Therefore,Group Policy Objectsis the verified deployment method for this scenario.

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In theDesigning and Implement7ing Enterpr8ise Network Assurance (300-445 ENNA)framework, configuring effective alert rules is critical for distinguishing between standard network noise and actionable application-layer failures. ForWeb - HTTP Servertests, ThousandEyes allows engineers to monitor both network-level metrics (like Connect time) and application-level indicators (like HTTP response codes).

The requirement is to trigger an alert specifically when the HTTP server responds with aserver error. In the HTTP protocol, server errors are categorized as the5XXseries of status codes (e.g., 500 Internal Server Error, 503 Service Unavailable, 504 Gateway Timeout). To meet this requirement, the engineer must configure a location alert condition where theMetricis set toResponse Codeand the condition value isserver error(5XX)(Option D).

Reviewing the other options:

Error type is any (Option A):While this would capture server errors, it would also trigger for 4XX client errors (like 404 Not Found) and network-layer timeouts, making it too broad for a specific "server error" requirement.

Wait Time is Dynamic (Option B):This monitors the time-to-first-byte using statistical baselining. While high wait times oftenprecede5XX errors, this condition only alerts on latency, not on the actual error code itself.

Response Time (Option C):Similar to wait time, this monitors performance speed rather than the logical success or failure of the server's response.

By specifically selectingResponse Code: server error(5XX), the engineer ensures that the operations team is only notified when the application backend is experiencing a functional failure, rather than just a slow response or a client-side misconfiguration.

TheDesigning and Implementing Enterprise Network Assurance (300-445 ENNA)certification emphasizes that the primary value proposition of the Cisco "Assurance Stack" is the reduction ofMean Time to Identification (MTTI)andMean Time to Resolution (MTTR). The integration of ThousandEyes across Cisco's portfolio—including Catalyst, Meraki, and SD-WAN—allows for quick identification and resolution of performance issues(Option D).12

By embedding ThousandEyes agents into the existing network infrastructure, Cisco enables "end-to-end visibility" that spans domains the enterprise traditionally does not control, such as the public internet and SaaS environments.13During troubleshooting, this cross-platform visibility allows network engineers to immediately correlate internal network health (from Catalyst Center or Meraki Dashboard) with external path visualization (from ThousandEyes). For example, when a user experiences poor video quality in a Webex meeting, the integration allows the engineer to "cross-launch" from the Webex Control Hub directly into a ThousandEyes path view.14This pinpoint accuracy avoids the "blame game" between network, application, and ISP teams by providing a "single source of truth" regarding where the packet loss or latency is occurring.

While some automation exists (Option C), the core benefit isn't automatic configuration changes based on feedback, but rather providing theactionable insightsrequired for manual or policy-based remediation. Similarly, while it streamlines data gathering, its ultimate purpose is thespeed of resolutionin complex, hybrid environments.

In theDesigning and Implementing Enterprise Network Assurance (300-445 ENNA)curriculum, understanding the visibility gap between the SD-WAN overlay and the transport underlay is a core competency. The provided exhibit illustrates a ThousandEyes Enterprise Agent deployed on aBranch Edge Routerperforming tests across two distinct paths:Internet(reaching a destination at 64.100.249.90) andMPLS(reaching a destination at 172.29.0.2).

According to the ENNA architecture guidelines, ThousandEyes is primarily utilized to provide hop-by-hop visibility into theunderlaynetwork. While SD-WAN controllers like vManage provide native monitoring for the overlay—the logical IPsec tunnels (Option B) that form the SD-WAN fabric—they often lack granular visibility into the physical service provider paths (the underlay) that carry those tunnels. The exhibit specifically highlights the agent probing the transport networks (Transport VPN0) directly, bypassing the overlay tunnels to measure the raw performance of the ISP and MPLS circuits.

By monitoring theunderlay(Option A), the engineer can identify if high latency or packet loss is caused by a specific hop within the service provider's infrastructure or at a peering point. This "underlay visibility" is critical for troubleshooting SD-WAN performance issues where the overlay may report a tunnel down, but the root cause lies in a BGP routing change or physical fiber cut in the provider network. ThousandEyes Enterprise Agents, natively integrated into Catalyst 8000 and ISR 4000 platforms, allow for this persistent underlay monitoring without additional hardware.

Overlay (Option C):While ThousandEyes can monitor overlay performance, the exhibit's focus on the raw IP addresses (Internet and MPLS) in the transport VPN indicates an underlay test.

IPsec/GRE Tunnels (Options B & D):These represent the transport mechanisms of the overlay. ThousandEyes probes the pathunderthese tunnels to ensure the transport health is sufficient to support the fabric.

According to theDesigning and Implementing Enterprise Network Assurance (300-445 ENNA)guidelines, troubleshooting widespread performance issues for a public or data center-hosted app17lication requires an "outside-in" perspective. When reports are widespread,18the goal is to determine if the issue is global, regional, or specific to certain ISP paths leading to the data center.

TheCloud Agent(Option D) is the most effective tool for this task because these agents are maintained by Cisco ThousandEyes in over 240+ locations worldwide within Tier 1, 2, and 3 ISPs and cloud provider regions.19Because they arepre-deployed and immediately available, a network engineer can instantly run tests from multiple global locations toward the data center-hosted application without having to install any software or manage any infrastructure. This allows the engineer to quickly compare performance metrics (latency, loss, and page load times) across different geographies. If Cloud Agents in London report no issues while those in New York report high packet loss, the engineer can immediately pinpoint the root cause as a regional ISP or peering issue rather than a failure within the data center itself.

Enterprise Agent (Option B):While these could be used if they were already installed in various branch offices, they require ownership of the infrastructure and deployment time. They are better suited for "inside-out" monitoring.

Endpoint Agent (Option C):These are useful for troubleshooting individual user experience but are not the "quickest" way to baseline global performance against a data center application during a widespread event.

Synthetic Agent (Option A):As noted previously, this is a generic term describing the underlying technology used by all ThousandEyes agent types.

Therefore,Cloud Agentsprovide the necessary breadth and immediate availability to perform rapid root cause analysis for widespread application performance issues.

As shown inExhibit 4.1-1(image_6e19fb.png), the alert rule is configured for the BGP layer with the name "AS origin AS 1234". The critical logic is defined in theAlert Conditionssection, which specifies: BGP Origin meets all of: ASN not in 1234.

This specific configuration is the standard method used in ThousandEyes to detectBGP hijacking(Option C). BGP hijacking occurs when an unauthorized Autonomous System (AS) announces a network prefix that it does not own, effectively stealing the traffic meant for the legitimate owner. By setting an alert that triggers when a monitored prefix is seen originating from an Autonomous System Number (ASN) that isnotthe expected authorized ASN (in this case, AS 1234), ThousandEyes provides immediate notification of a routing takeover.

Identifying this via BGP Origin alerts is superior to simple connectivity checks because it catches the issue at the routing control plane.

DNS Issues (Options B and D):These involve the translation of names to IPs and would be detected via DNS-specific tests rather than BGP Origin checks.

Route Poisoning (Option A):This is a generic term often referring to the manipulation of distance-vector protocol metrics to make a route unreachable; while related to routing, BGP Origin checks are the specific tool for detecting external prefix hijacks.

By monitoring the ASN origin, network engineers can quickly distinguish between a local ISP outage and a global security event where their traffic is being misdirected to an illegitimate network.

For theDesigning and Implementing Enterprise Network Assurance (300-445 ENNA)exam, monitoring remote workforces requires a strategy that captures both the user's local environment and the regional internet health. In a scenario involving Cisco AnyConnect VPN, the "last mile" connectivity of the employee is often the most significant variable in application performance.

Utilizing the ThousandEyes Endpoint Agent(Option D) is the most effective way to monitor this environment. Because the agent resides directly on the remote employee's machine, it can monitor the performance of the web application both "inside" and "outside" the VPN tunnel. It provides visibility into the local Wi-Fi signal strength, the health of the AnyConnect client, and the latency experienced as traffic traverses the VPN headend. This allows engineers to differentiate between a slow home internet connection and an issue with the VPN concentrator.

Deploying ThousandEyes Cloud Agents(Option A) serves as a critical baseline. By running tests from Cloud Agents in the same regions as the remote employees, the engineer can determine if the "internet" in that region is healthy. If a Cloud Agent in London shows a perfect response time while an Endpoint Agent in London shows high latency, the engineer can immediately isolate the problem to the user's specific setup or the VPN path, rather than a regional ISP outage.

Other options are less suitable for monitoring theremote employee's experience:

AppDynamics (Option B)provides server-side code visibility but cannot see the user's home Wi-Fi or local network path.

Enterprise Agents on the VPN concentrator (Option C)can monitor the pathfromthe data center to the app, but they cannot see the path from theuserto the concentrator.

Enterprise Agents in the data center (Option E)provide an "inside-out" view of the app's health but miss the entire remote access experience.