What is a broadcast storm?

• A. Network congestion caused by a frame/packet being re-broadcast multiple times.
• B. A single broadcast packet that never reaches destination
• C. A router misconfiguration
• D. A switch's port error

Answer: (D)

A broadcast storm happens when broadcast frames are flooded and endlessly forwarded across many switches because of a loop in the network. In a Layer 2 network, a broadcast frame is normally sent to all devices on a broadcast domain, but if there are redundant paths and no mechanism to stop looping, the same frame can bounce from switch to switch and be rebroadcast out multiple ports. This causes an exponential surge in traffic, consuming bandwidth and processing power on devices, until the network becomes congested or unresponsive. That is why the best description is the one that defines a broadcast storm as network congestion caused by a frame or packet being re-broadcast multiple times. The other options describe separate issues: a single broadcast not reaching its destination is a delivery failure, a router misconfiguration points to a different problem, and a switch port error isn’t by itself the definition of a storm, though it could contribute to network problems.