What is the role of redundant paths in maintaining operation during failures?

• A. Provide alternate routes to delivery if one path fails.
• B. Increase latency.
• C. Encrypt data.
• D. Reduce throughput.

Answer: (D)

Redundant paths provide alternate routes for traffic so delivery can continue even if a link or route fails. That built-in fault tolerance keeps services available and minimizes downtime by automatically rerouting data through another path when one path drops out. The aim is resilience and uptime, not encryption or reducing performance. While adding extra paths can influence latency depending on routing decisions, the main purpose is to maintain operation during failures by avoiding a single point of disruption. In network design, redundancy supports continuous service through multiple physical paths and failover mechanisms that keep traffic moving and balance load under normal and degraded conditions.