350-501 Services Practice Question
A network engineer is troubleshooting slow BGP convergence after a link failure in an MPLS core. Which feature can be enabled on the PE routers to fast-failover traffic upon BGP next-hop unreachability?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the distinction between fast detection (BFD) and fast failover (PIC), so candidates mistakenly choose BFD thinking it alone solves slow convergence, but BFD only detects failure faster—it does not pre-install backup paths.
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
✓
BGP Prefix Independent Convergence (PIC)
BGP Prefix Independent Convergence (PIC) enables fast failover by pre-installing backup paths into the forwarding table, so when a BGP next-hop becomes unreachable, traffic is immediately switched to the backup path without waiting for BGP reconvergence. This is critical in MPLS cores where slow BGP convergence after a link failure can cause prolonged traffic loss.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Route Reflector clustering
Why it's wrong here
Route reflectors reduce iBGP full mesh, not convergence.
- ✗
Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD)
Why it's wrong here
BFD speeds up failure detection but does not provide backup paths.
- ✗
Local Preference manipulation
Why it's wrong here
Local Preference influences path selection, not convergence.
- ✓
BGP Prefix Independent Convergence (PIC)
Why this is correct
BGP PIC pre-installs backup paths for fast failover.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every 350-501 question from scratch — 971 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.