350-601 Security Practice Question
A data center switch is experiencing high CPU due to excessive BGP updates. Which action can mitigate this without affecting legitimate BGP traffic?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the distinction between 'rate-limit' and 'drop' in CoPP policies, where candidates mistakenly choose to drop all BGP traffic (option B) thinking it solves the CPU issue, but this breaks routing entirely.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Apply a CoPP policy that rate-limits BGP traffic
Control Plane Policing (CoPP) protects the control plane by rate-limiting specific traffic classes. Applying a CoPP policy that rate-limits BGP traffic (option A) reduces CPU load from excessive BGP updates while still allowing legitimate BGP sessions to function, as the rate-limit only drops packets exceeding a configured threshold. This preserves BGP neighbor reachability and route exchange, unlike dropping all BGP traffic.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Apply a CoPP policy that rate-limits BGP traffic
Why this is correct
CoPP can rate-limit specific control plane protocols, protecting CPU while allowing legitimate BGP updates.
- ✗
Apply a CoPP policy that drops all BGP traffic
Why it's wrong here
Dropping all BGP traffic would disrupt routing, not desirable.
- ✗
Disable BGP route filtering
Why it's wrong here
This would increase the number of routes, worsening CPU usage.
- ✗
Increase BGP timers globally
Why it's wrong here
This may reduce frequency but is less precise than CoPP.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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