Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Practice Exam

What feature of Cisco IOS firewalls simplifies policy management across various applications?

1. Firewall Services Module

2. Zone-Based Policy Firewall (ZBPFW)

3. Intrusion Prevention System

4. Advanced Application Awareness

The correct answer is: Zone-Based Policy Firewall (ZBPFW)

The Zone-Based Policy Firewall (ZBPFW) is the correct choice because it organizes and manages network traffic policies based on zones instead of individual interfaces. This method simplifies policy management significantly by grouping network interfaces into logical zones and defining policies between these zones. By streamlining the configuration process, ZBPFW allows network administrators to focus on creating and maintaining security policies at the zone level, which reduces complexity in larger networks where multiple interfaces might otherwise require separate rules. In contrast, other options, while certainly valuable, do not simplify policy management in the same way. The Firewall Services Module is a dedicated hardware solution that enhances the performance of firewall operations but does not uniquely address policy management. An Intrusion Prevention System, on the other hand, focuses on detecting and preventing security threats rather than managing access policies between application layers. Advanced Application Awareness provides insights into application-level traffic but does not itself streamline policy management as effectively as ZBPFW does. Thus, the feature that directly simplifies policy management across various applications is indeed the Zone-Based Policy Firewall.