350-501 Networking Practice Question
A service provider is troubleshooting BGP route selection between two eBGP peers. The router receives a prefix from Peer A with local preference 150 and AS path length 3. From Peer B, the same prefix has local preference 100 and AS path length 2. Which route will be preferred?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the order of BGP path selection attributes, and the trap here is that candidates mistakenly prioritize AS path length over local preference because they remember 'shortest AS path' but forget it comes after local preference in the decision process.
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 route from Peer A because local preference is higher.
B is correct because BGP's route selection process evaluates local preference before AS path length. The route from Peer A has a local preference of 150, which is higher than Peer B's 100, so it is preferred regardless of the shorter AS path from Peer B. Local preference is the second BGP attribute in the decision process (after weight) and is used to influence outbound traffic from an AS.
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 route from Peer A because it has a higher weight.
Why it's wrong here
Weight is not mentioned; local preference is the decisive factor here.
- ✓
The route from Peer A because local preference is higher.
Why this is correct
Local preference is the first tiebreaker after weight; higher value wins.
- ✗
Both routes are equally preferred and will be used for load balancing.
Why it's wrong here
BGP selects only one best path unless multipath is configured.
- ✗
The route from Peer B because AS path is shorter.
Why it's wrong here
AS path length is considered only if local preference is equal.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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