CompTIA Network+ Study Guide (N10-009): 5 Domains
A domain-by-domain CompTIA Network+ N10-009 study guide: the five domains, exam weights, and what to practice in each, from subnetting to troubleshooting.
By CompCertQuiz Editorial · Published · Last reviewed · 9 min read
CompTIA Network+ N10-009 tests whether you can design, configure, secure and troubleshoot networks. It has a maximum of 90 questions in 90 minutes, a passing score of 720 on a 100 to 900 scale, and five domains. The fastest way to study is to let the domain weights decide how your hours are split, then go deep on the topics CompTIA lists in its official objectives. This guide walks through each domain, what the exam tends to test, and what to practice.
Exam details come from the official Network+ page on comptia.org and the N10-009 objectives (version 6.0). The US voucher price is $399, last verified October 9, 2026. Confirm current details on comptia.org before you book.
Network+ N10-009 at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Exam code | N10-009 (V9) |
| Launch date | June 20, 2024 |
| Number of questions | Maximum of 90 |
| Question types | Multiple choice and performance-based (PBQs) |
| Time limit | 90 minutes |
| Passing score | 720 on a scale of 100 to 900 |
| Recommended experience | A+ and 9 to 12 months of hands-on networking experience (not required) |
The five N10-009 domains and their weights
| Domain | Name | Weight | Suggested hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Networking Concepts | 23% | 14 of 60 |
| 2 | Network Implementation | 20% | 12 of 60 |
| 3 | Network Operations | 19% | 11 of 60 |
| 4 | Network Security | 14% | 8 of 60 |
| 5 | Network Troubleshooting | 24% | 14 of 60 |
The suggested hours assume 10 weeks at about 6 hours a week and simply split the time by weight. Add hours to whichever domain your practice scores show is weakest. Network Troubleshooting (24%) and Networking Concepts (23%) are the largest, but Network Implementation (20%) and Network Operations (19%) together make up 39% of the exam, so they deserve real study time too.
Domain 1: Networking Concepts (23%)
This domain is the vocabulary for everything else, so learn it first.
What to study
- The OSI model (1.1). All seven layers in order, and which device or protocol sits at each one. A switch works at Layer 2, a router at Layer 3, TCP and UDP at Layer 4.
- Appliances and functions (1.2). Routers, switches, firewalls, IDS/IPS, load balancers, proxies, NAS and SAN, access points and controllers, plus VPN, QoS and TTL.
- Cloud (1.3). VPC, network security groups and lists, internet and NAT gateways, VPN versus Direct Connect, public/private/hybrid, and SaaS/IaaS/PaaS.
- Ports and protocols (1.4). A fixed list of about twenty protocols with port numbers, plus the IP types (ICMP, TCP, UDP, GRE, IPsec) and traffic types (unicast, multicast, anycast, broadcast). Use the Network+ ports and protocols cheat sheet.
- Media, topologies and addressing (1.5 to 1.7). Copper and fiber types, connectors, three-tier and spine-and-leaf designs, and IPv4 addressing: private ranges, APIPA, CIDR, VLSM and address classes.
- Modern networks (1.8). SDN and SD-WAN, VXLAN, zero trust, SASE/SSE, infrastructure as code, and IPv6 addressing (address exhaustion, tunneling, dual stack and NAT64).
Practice tip: subnetting is a skill many candidates find hard. Drill it daily with the free subnetting practice tool until you can find the network address, broadcast address and usable range without a calculator.
Domain 2: Network Implementation (20%)
What to study
- Routing (2.1). Static versus dynamic routing, and the roles of OSPF, EIGRP and BGP. Route selection order matters: the router picks the most specific match (longest prefix length) first, then the lowest administrative distance, then the lowest metric. Also NAT and PAT, FHRP, virtual IPs and subinterfaces.
- Switching (2.2). VLANs, SVIs, 802.1Q tagging, native and voice VLANs, link aggregation, speed and duplex, spanning tree, and MTU with jumbo frames.
- Wireless (2.3). 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz bands, channel width and non-overlapping channels, SSID types, mesh and infrastructure modes, WPA2 versus WPA3, PSK versus enterprise authentication, captive portals, antenna types and autonomous versus lightweight APs.
- Physical installation (2.4). MDF and IDF, rack and airflow, patch panels, UPS and PDU, and environmental factors such as temperature, humidity and fire suppression.
Practice tip: be able to read a small network diagram and say which VLAN, subnet and gateway a host should use. Questions often give you a misconfigured diagram and ask what to change.
Domain 3: Network Operations (19%)
What to study
- Documentation and processes (3.1). Physical and logical diagrams, rack diagrams, asset inventory, IPAM, SLAs, life-cycle management, change management and baseline (golden) configurations.
- Monitoring (3.2). SNMP (traps, MIBs, v2c versus v3), flow data, packet capture, baselines, syslog, SIEM and port mirroring.
- Disaster recovery (3.3). RPO, RTO, MTTR and MTBF, cold/warm/hot sites, active-active versus active-passive high availability, and tabletop exercises.
- Network services (3.4). DHCP (scope, reservations, lease time, relay/IP helper, exclusions), IPv6 SLAAC, DNS record types (A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, NS, PTR), forward versus reverse zones, DNSSEC, DoH and DoT, and NTP, PTP and NTS.
- Access and management (3.5). Site-to-site and client-to-site VPNs, split versus full tunnel, SSH, console, jump hosts, and in-band versus out-of-band management.
Practice tip: RPO versus RTO is a classic trap. RPO is how much data you can afford to lose, measured back in time from the failure. RTO is how long the service can be down.
Domain 4: Network Security (14%)
This is the smallest domain, but its concepts overlap with Security+, so the work pays off twice if that is your next exam.
What to study
- Concepts (4.1). Encryption of data in transit and at rest, PKI and certificates, IAM (MFA, SSO, RADIUS, LDAP, SAML, TACACS+), least privilege and RBAC, deception technologies, the CIA triad, compliance (PCI DSS, GDPR, data locality) and segmentation for IoT, OT and guest networks.
- Attacks (4.2). DoS and DDoS, VLAN hopping, MAC flooding, ARP and DNS poisoning or spoofing, rogue DHCP servers and access points, evil twin, on-path attacks and social engineering.
- Defenses (4.3). Device hardening, network access control (port security, 802.1X, MAC filtering), ACLs, URL and content filtering, and trusted versus untrusted zones including the screened subnet.
Practice tip: for each attack, learn the control that stops it. For example, port security limits MAC flooding, DHCP snooping (not itself an exam term) helps against a rogue DHCP server, and 802.1X controls who can join the network at all.
Domain 5: Network Troubleshooting (24%)
The largest domain tests whether you can work a problem in order. Learn the troubleshooting methodology first, because the other four objectives in this domain are the symptoms and tools you apply with it.
What to study
- The methodology (5.1). Identify the problem; establish a theory of probable cause; test the theory; establish a plan of action and identify potential effects; implement the solution or escalate; verify full functionality and implement preventive measures; document findings, actions, outcomes and lessons learned.
- Cabling and interfaces (5.2). Wrong cable type or category, crosstalk, attenuation, interference, improper termination, TX/RX transposed, interface counters (CRC errors, runts, giants, drops), port states such as error-disabled, and PoE power budget problems.
- Network services (5.3). Spanning tree loops and root bridge selection, wrong VLAN assignment, ACLs, routing table and default route problems, DHCP pool exhaustion, wrong gateway, wrong or duplicate IP address, and wrong subnet mask.
- Performance (5.4). Congestion, bottlenecks, latency, packet loss and jitter, plus wireless interference, channel overlap, coverage gaps and roaming misconfiguration.
- Tools (5.5). ping, traceroute/tracert, nslookup, dig, tcpdump, netstat, ip/ifconfig/ipconfig, arp, Nmap, LLDP/CDP, protocol analyzers, and hardware tools such as toner, cable testers, taps, Wi-Fi analyzers and visual fault locators, plus switch and router show commands.
Practice tip: for every tool, know what output it produces and which problem it answers. A performance-based question may show you command output and ask which of these problems it reveals.
How to use this guide
- Read the objectives once. Download the N10-009 objectives from comptia.org and tick off each line as you can explain it out loud.
- Study by weight. Spend the most hours on Domains 5 and 1, and do not skip Domains 2 and 3.
- Practice subnetting and ports every day. They are small, memorizable and tested often. Use the subnetting tool and the ports cheat sheet.
- Do practice questions by domain, then mixed. Try the Network+ N10-009 practice questions: 40 are free with no credit card, each with an explanation.
- Rehearse the clock. 90 questions in 90 minutes is about a minute each, so flag a hard question or performance-based item and come back to it instead of stalling.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are on Network+ N10-009?
A maximum of 90, a mix of multiple choice and performance-based questions, in 90 minutes.
What is the Network+ passing score?
720 on a scale of 100 to 900.
How long should I study for Network+?
Plan on about 10 weeks at 6 hours a week (60 hours) if networking is new to you. Less if you already work with networks daily, more if subnetting and routing are unfamiliar.
Do I need A+ before Network+?
No. CompTIA recommends A+ and 9 to 12 months of networking experience but does not require either. See Security+ vs Network+ vs A+ for help choosing where to start.
Is subnetting on the Network+ exam?
Yes. Objective 1.7 covers IPv4 addressing including subnetting, VLSM and CIDR, and subnet mask problems also appear in troubleshooting (objective 5.3).
Related reading
CompCertQuiz is an independent practice-exam site and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by CompTIA. Our practice questions are original material written for exam preparation. CompTIA and its certification names are trademarks of CompTIA, Inc. Always confirm exam details on comptia.org.