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350-501 · topic practice

Architecture practice questions

Practise Cisco SPCOR / CCNP Service Provider Core 350-501 Architecture practice questions — original exam-style scenarios with answer choices, explanations, and analysis of common mistakes.

Courseiva uses original exam-style practice questions designed for learning and revision. The goal is to understand the concepts, recognise exam patterns, and improve through explanations — not memorise copied exam dumps.

Reviewed byJohnson Ajibi· MSc IT Security
20 questionsDomain: Architecture
Practice 10 questionsBrowse domain →

What the exam tests

What to know about Architecture

Architecture questions test whether you can apply the concept in context, not just recognise a definition.

How the topic appears in realistic exam-style scenarios.

Which detail in the question changes the correct answer.

How to eliminate plausible but wrong options.

How to connect the question back to the wider exam objective.

Watch out for

Common Architecture exam traps

  • ▸Answering from memory before reading the full scenario.
  • ▸Missing a constraint such as cost, availability, security, scope or command context.
  • ▸Choosing a broad answer when the question asks for the most specific fix.
  • ▸Ignoring why the wrong options are tempting.

Practice set

Architecture questions

20 questions · select your answer, then reveal the explanation

Question 1mediummultiple choice
Read the full MPLS explanation →

An engineer needs to ensure that a core router can forward MPLS packets without checking the IP header. Which forwarding mechanism should be enabled?

Question 2mediummulti select
Read the full VPN explanation →

Which TWO of the following are benefits of using EVPN over traditional VPLS for L2VPN services?

Question 3mediummulti select
Read the full VPN explanation →

Which TWO of the following are disadvantages of using VPLS for L2VPN services compared to EVPN?

Question 4hardmulti select
Read the full Architecture explanation →

A service provider wants to deploy network slicing for 5G services. Which THREE of the following are typical requirements for network slicing?

Question 5mediummultiple choice
Read the full MPLS explanation →

A service provider is designing a new MPLS L3VPN service. The customer requires that their VPN traffic be isolated from other customers and that the provider edge routers maintain separate routing tables for each VPN. Which architectural component is essential for this separation?

Question 6hardmultiple choice
Read the full MPLS explanation →

An operator notices that a new MPLS-TE tunnel is not being established. The tunnel configuration includes a dynamic path option and a bandwidth of 100 Mbps. The network uses RSVP-TE with CSPF. The link-state database shows sufficient reservable bandwidth on all links along the calculated path. What is the most likely cause of the tunnel establishment failure?

Question 7easymultiple choice
Read the full Architecture explanation →

Which network architecture model separates the control plane and data plane in a way that allows for centralized control and distributed forwarding?

Question 8mediummultiple choice
Open the full BGP breakdown →

A service provider is troubleshooting a BGP route advertisement issue. Routes from a customer are not being advertised to the upstream provider. The PE router is configured with 'neighbor 10.0.0.1 route-map RMAP out'. The route-map RMAP permits the customer prefix. However, the BGP table on the PE shows the prefix as valid but not advertised. What is a likely cause?

Question 9hardmultiple choice
Read the full MPLS explanation →

In a carrier's network, MPLS-TE tunnels are used to steer traffic away from congested links. The operator configures a tunnel with a bandwidth of 200 Mbps and a dynamic path. The CSPF computation shows a path with sufficient bandwidth, but the tunnel fails to come up. The RSVP neighbor is established. What is the most likely cause?

Question 10easymultiple choice
Read the full MPLS explanation →

A service provider wants to offer Layer 2 VPN services using MPLS. Which technology should be used to transport Ethernet frames across the MPLS core?

Question 11mediummultiple choice
Read the full MPLS explanation →

An engineer is designing an MPLS L3VPN solution and must ensure that the provider edge (PE) routers can handle routing updates for multiple customers without interfering with each other. Which mechanism should be used on the PE routers?

Question 12hardmultiple choice
Read the full MPLS explanation →

A network operator is deploying segment routing in an MPLS network. They want to use a centralized controller to compute paths based on traffic demand and network constraints. Which architecture is being used?

Question 13mediummulti select
Read the full MPLS explanation →

Which TWO of the following are characteristics of MPLS L3VPN architecture? (Choose two.)

Question 14mediummulti select
Read the full MPLS explanation →

Which TWO of the following are advantages of segment routing over traditional LDP-based MPLS? (Choose two.)

Question 15mediummulti select
Read the full MPLS explanation →

Which THREE of the following are key components of an MPLS L3VPN architecture? (Choose three.)

Question 16mediummultiple choice
Open the full BGP breakdown →

Refer to the exhibit. A network engineer configures a BGP route-map to set communities on routes advertised to a neighbor. After applying the configuration, the engineer checks the BGP table on the neighbor router and does not see the communities. What is the most likely reason?

Exhibit

Refer to the exhibit.

router bgp 65000
 neighbor 10.0.0.1 remote-as 65001
 neighbor 10.0.0.1 route-map SET-COMMUNITY out
!
route-map SET-COMMUNITY permit 10
 match ip address prefix-list CUSTOMER_PREFIXES
 set community 65000:100 65000:200
!
ip prefix-list CUSTOMER_PREFIXES seq 5 permit 192.168.0.0/24
Question 17hardmultiple choice
Review the full OSPF breakdown →

Refer to the exhibit. An engineer configures MPLS LDP on a router. The router has two interfaces with IP addresses 10.0.0.1/30 and 10.0.0.5/30. The engineer notices that LDP sessions are not established. The OSPF neighbor adjacencies are up. What is the most likely cause?

Exhibit

Refer to the exhibit.

interface GigabitEthernet0/0
 ip address 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.252
 mpls ip
 mpls mtu 1500
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1
 ip address 10.0.0.5 255.255.255.252
 mpls ip
 mpls mtu 1500
!
router ospf 1
 network 10.0.0.0 0.0.0.3 area 0
 network 10.0.0.4 0.0.0.3 area 0
!
mpls ldp router-id Loopback0 force
!
mpls label range 100 199
!
mpls label protocol ldp
Question 18hardmultiple choice
Review the full OSPF breakdown →

You are a network architect for a large service provider. The network consists of multiple core routers (P routers) and edge routers (PE routers) supporting both L3VPN and L2VPN services. The network currently uses LDP for label distribution and has a flat IGP (OSPF) design. Recently, there have been scalability issues: the IGP convergence time has increased significantly, and the OSPF link-state database (LSDB) has grown large, causing high CPU utilization on core routers. Additionally, the LDP sessions are taking longer to establish after a router reboot. You are tasked with redesigning the network to improve scalability and convergence. The budget allows for significant changes but cannot replace all hardware. Which approach best addresses the scalability issues while minimizing disruption?

Question 19mediummultiple choice
Review the full OSPF breakdown →

You are a network engineer at a service provider that offers L3VPN services. A customer complains that their VPN traffic is intermittently dropping. The network uses OSPF as the IGP, LDP for label distribution, and MP-BGP for VPNv4 route exchange. The PE routers are connected to two core routers (P1 and P2) in a redundant design. Upon investigation, you find that the BGP next-hop for some VPN prefixes is set to the loopback interface of the remote PE, but the route to that loopback is sometimes unreachable due to a flapping link between P1 and P2. The IGP converges, but the BGP prefixes take longer to recover. What is the most likely cause of the intermittent drops?

Question 20mediummultiple choice
Read the full MPLS explanation →

A service provider is redesigning its MPLS core to support both L3VPN and L2VPN services. They want to minimize the number of labels in the forwarding table while maintaining per-VRF label allocation. Which label allocation mode should be used for the L3VPN service?

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Frequently asked questions

What does the 350-501 exam test about Architecture?
Architecture questions test whether you can apply the concept in context, not just recognise a definition.
How should I use these practice questions?
Select your answer before revealing the explanation. Then read why each option is right or wrong — this active recall approach builds retention far faster than re-reading notes.
Can I practise just Architecture questions in a focused session?
Yes — the session launcher on this page draws every question from the Architecture domain. Use a 10-question session first to gauge your baseline, then move to 20 or 30 once the weak spots are clear.
Where can I practise other 350-501 topics?
Use the topic links above to move to related areas, or go back to the 350-501 question bank to see all topics.
Are these real exam questions or dumps?
These are original practice questions written to test the same concepts the 350-501 exam covers. They are not copied from any real exam or dump site.