350-501 Architecture Practice Question
A large ISP is designing a multicast architecture to support IPTV, requiring high availability and minimal traffic convergence. Which RP placement design is most appropriate?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the misconception that dynamic RP protocols (Auto-RP or BSR) inherently provide high availability, but the trap here is that they still rely on a single active RP unless combined with Anycast-RP, which is the only option that eliminates the single RP failure point.
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
✓
Anycast-RP with multiple RPs sharing same IP
Anycast-RP with multiple RPs sharing the same IP address is the most appropriate design for a large ISP supporting IPTV because it provides high availability and load sharing without a single point of failure. In the event of an RP failure, traffic automatically converges to the nearest surviving RP using the same anycast address, minimizing disruption. This design also avoids the convergence delays inherent in dynamic RP discovery protocols like Auto-RP or BSR.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Single static RP placed on the core router
Why it's wrong here
Single point of failure; no redundancy.
- ✗
Auto-RP with one RP mapping agent
Why it's wrong here
Auto-RP still uses one RP; slow convergence.
- ✓
Anycast-RP with multiple RPs sharing same IP
Why this is correct
Provides load balancing and fast failover.
- ✗
BSR with one candidate RP
Why it's wrong here
BSR also has a single RP; slower failover.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 350-501 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Cisco certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 350-501 exam.