350-501 Architecture Practice Question
A large service provider operates an MPLS L3VPN network with multiple Route Reflectors (RRs) in the core. The network uses BGP as the control plane for both IPv4 unicast and VPNv4 routes. Recently, one of the RRs started flapping, causing route withdrawals to many clients. The network architect wants to improve stability. The RRs are fully meshed with each other and clients are configured as route-reflector clients. The RRs have both IPv4 and VPNv4 address families enabled. Which action should be taken to minimize the impact of an RR failure?
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
✓
Configure client-to-client reflection on the RRs and ensure that each PE is a client of at least two RRs.
Configuring client-to-client reflection on the RRs and ensuring each PE is a client of at least two RRs provides redundancy; if one RR fails, routes are still available via the other RR. BGP PIC helps fast failover but does not prevent route withdrawal impact; add-paths increases paths but not redundancy; same cluster ID reduces redundancy.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure BGP prefix-independent convergence (PIC) on all PE routers.
Why it's wrong here
BGP PIC improves convergence speed after a failure but does not minimize the impact of an RR failure causing route withdrawals.
- ✗
Implement BGP add-paths capability on RRs to advertise multiple paths to clients.
Why it's wrong here
Add-paths allows advertising multiple paths for the same prefix, but if the RR fails, those paths are lost anyway.
- ✗
Deploy redundant RRs with the same cluster ID and use the 'bgp cluster-id' command to ensure clients only accept routes from one RR at a time.
Why it's wrong here
Same cluster ID causes clients to prefer one RR; if that RR fails, routes from the other may not be accepted until the failing RR withdraws.
- ✓
Configure client-to-client reflection on the RRs and ensure that each PE is a client of at least two RRs.
Why this is correct
This provides redundancy; clients receive routes from multiple RRs, and if one RR fails, routes are still available via the other.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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