Which Traffic Flow Should Be Isolated Inside an Internal Firewall?
A technician is working on a solution to isolate traffic between specific types of devices, servers, and users on the internal firewall. Which of the following traffic flows should be isolated?
Community Votes
77% of anonymous learners picked answer A. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.
Community Insight
The exam tests whether you understand that east-west traffic is internal between systems, and the common trap is choosing north-south because it involves servers, but those servers are within the same internal trust zone.
East-west traffic must be isolated when segmenting internal network traffic between devices, servers, and users. Most candidates correctly identify A (east-west), since north-south traffic refers to flows that enter or leave the network perimeter.
D. North-south – this is the popular wrong answer because candidates associate server communication with inbound/outbound traffic; however, the question specifies an internal firewall and traffic between internal roles, which is east-west.
Community Discussion (7 comments)
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Expert Analysis
Why the Answer Is Correct
East-west traffic refers to data moving between devices, servers, and users within the same data center or internal network — exactly what the question describes. Isolating this lateral traffic with an internal firewall prevents an attacker who compromises one internal asset from freely moving to others. This is a core zero-trust concept: the internal firewall is used to segment east-west communication, not just filter external boundary traffic.Why the Other Options Are Wrong
North-south traffic (D) is ingress/egress traffic between the internal network and external networks, such as data entering from or leaving to the internet — not the internal flows described. Access/edge (B) and core/distribution (C) refer to hierarchical network layers (Cisco-style architecture), not to traffic-flow directions. Therefore, A is the only option that matches the scenario of isolating internal east-west traffic.Community Comment Notes
Community commenters overwhelmingly supported A, with one simply stating, "If it's internal it's east west guys" and another explaining that north-south is only for external networks and servers. A few voters chose D, with one arguing that "servers usually exist one level up from users," but this confuses logical hierarchy with traffic-flow terminology. Another commenter noted that server-to-client communication is north-south, but that applies to traffic crossing the datacenter boundary, not to segmentation among internal systems.Official Reference
Exam Strategy
Memorize the two traffic-flow terms: east-west = internal/lateral traffic between servers, devices, and internal users; north-south = traffic entering or leaving the network/data center. When the question stresses "internal firewall" or "inside the network," always choose east-west — even if servers or clients are mentioned.