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200-901 Practice Question: A network administrator is asked to reduce the…
A network administrator is asked to reduce the size of the routing table on a core router. The router currently has many /24 routes learned via BGP. Which technique will most effectively reduce the number of routes without losing reachability to all subnets?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the misconception that simply using a default route or switching routing protocols will reduce the routing table size, but the key is that summarization must be explicitly configured to combine multiple specific prefixes into a single, less specific prefix while preserving reachability.
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
✓
Implement route summarization on the BGP neighbor.
Route summarization (also known as route aggregation) allows the router to advertise a single, less specific prefix (e.g., a /22 or /20) that covers multiple contiguous /24 subnets, thereby reducing the number of BGP routes in the routing table while still providing reachability to all the underlying subnets. This technique is commonly implemented on BGP neighbors using the `aggregate-address` command in Cisco IOS, which creates a summary route in the BGP table and suppresses the more specific routes.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Implement route summarization on the BGP neighbor.
Why this is correct
Summarization reduces the number of prefixes advertised and installed.
- ✗
Replace BGP with static routes.
Why it's wrong here
Static routes do not scale and would require manual updates.
- ✗
Remove all BGP learned routes and use only OSPF.
Why it's wrong here
This would lose external connectivity.
- ✗
Configure a default route to the upstream provider.
Why it's wrong here
A default route only works for internet-bound traffic, not for internal subnets.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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