What is the purpose of detecting drift from or relative to the configuration baseline?

• A. To identify deviations from approved configurations and trigger remediation or change.
• B. To measure network latency.
• C. To generate a new baseline every hour.
• D. To archive old configurations.

Answer: (A)

Detecting drift from a configuration baseline is about comparing what a system is currently running to the approved, intended configuration and catching any differences. When something changes—whether by manual tweak, software update, or misconfiguration—the deviation is identified so you can automatically or procedurally remediate and bring the system back to the approved state. This keeps environments consistent, secure, and compliant, and it supports reliable change control and auditing by ensuring every node aligns with the intended baseline.

The other options miss the core purpose: measuring network latency is a performance metric, not about configuration state; generating a new baseline every hour would undermine stability and make drift management self-defeating; archiving old configurations is about recordkeeping, not actively detecting and correcting deviations from the approved setup.