Reducing Maintenance Costs on a Traditional Network
In what way does a network supervisor reduce maintenance costs while maintaining network integrity on a traditionally managed network?
Community Insight
The question tests how automation benefits a traditionally managed network; the common trap is picking centralized management automation (C), which implies a controller-based model rather than a traditional one.
On a traditionally managed network, a supervisor reduces maintenance costs by deploying automated network-monitoring systems that provide early warning of issues, enabling proactive fixes before costly outages occur. This page explains why early-warning monitoring best fits the traditional (non-controller-based) management model while other options either increase cost or drift toward SDN.
Option C is the most popular wrong choice because automation-to-centralize sounds broadly correct, but centralizing management tasks describes a controller-based/SDN paradigm, not a traditionally managed network where devices are managed individually.
Community Discussion (15 comments)
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Expert Analysis
Why the Answer Is Correct
Option A installs an automated network-monitoring system (e.g., SNMP-based polling, syslog alerting) that gives early warning of problems, letting the supervisor fix issues proactively instead of reactively. Early detection directly reduces maintenance costs—fewer emergency tickets, less unplanned downtime—while continuous monitoring preserves network integrity. Crucially, this approach layers on top of a traditionally managed network without changing its device-by-device management model. As Tompoo observed, "The key phrase is 'traditionally managed network.'" Automated monitoring is the classic way to lower costs under that constraint.Why the Other Options Are Wrong
Option B adds staff, which raises rather than reduces maintenance costs, as several commenters noted. Option C's "centralize network-management tasks" describes a controller-based or SDN approach—moving away from the traditional distributed model the question stipulates; as TommyCisco noted, C "does not maintaining network integrity on a traditionally managed network." Option D's automated change-management verification is a broader process-automation concept more aligned with modern/SDN workflows and does not directly target maintenance cost reduction on a traditional network.Community Comment Notes
The comments split between A and C. Pro-C voices like 16BitRun argue centralization "streamline[s] operations" and lmmujsi calls C "the umbrella term for A and D as well." Pro-A voices like Tompoo emphasize "The key phrase is 'traditionally managed network'" and dorian81 observes that automated monitoring "like SNMP controler" is what traditional networks use, noting B and D lean toward SDN. The traditional-network qualifier is the decisive discriminator.Official Reference
Exam Strategy
When a question pins the scenario to a 'traditionally managed network,' avoid answers implying centralized control or controller-based automation; look for monitoring/probing tools that augment the existing device-by-device model without replacing it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why isn't centralizing network-management tasks (C) correct on a traditionally managed network?
Centralizing management tasks implies a controller-based or SDN architecture. A traditionally managed network is administered device-by-device, so centralized automation would change its management model rather than reduce costs within it.
Why is hiring more administrators (B) never the right answer?
Adding staff increases labor costs directly, which contradicts the goal of reducing maintenance costs. Cost-reduction answers on this exam virtually always involve automation or tooling, not more headcount.
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