350-501 Networking Practice Question
A network operator wants to prefer a specific BGP route from a peer for a prefix. After applying a route-map to set local preference to 200, the route is still not preferred over a route from another peer with local preference 150. What could be the issue?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the BGP best-path selection order, specifically that weight is evaluated before local preference, leading candidates to mistakenly believe local preference is the highest-priority attribute.
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
✓
The prefix was received with a higher weight.
BGP uses multiple attributes in a specific order of precedence when selecting the best path. Weight (Cisco-proprietary) is checked first, before local preference. If the peer's route has a higher weight (e.g., 32768 for locally injected routes or a manually set value), it will be preferred over a route with a local preference of 200, even if the other route's local preference is only 150.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The prefix was received with a higher weight.
Why this is correct
Correct. Weight is considered before local preference, so a higher weight overrides a lower local preference.
- ✗
The neighbor address-family is not correct.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. If the address-family were incorrect, the route would not be received at all.
- ✗
The route-map was applied on the wrong BGP neighbor direction.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Direction typically affects whether the route-map is used for incoming or outgoing updates, but local preference set inbound from an EBGP peer is valid.
- ✗
The route is received via an IBGP session.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Local preference is propagated within IBGP and is compared equally.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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