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200-901 Practice Question: A network engineer at a financial services company
You are a network engineer at a financial services company. The network uses OSPF as the IGP, and all routers are in area 0. The core network consists of four routers (R1, R2, R3, R4) connected in a full mesh with GigabitEthernet links. The OSPF cost is set to 1 on all interfaces. Recently, a new application was deployed that requires low jitter and deterministic paths between two servers: Server A connected to R1 and Server B connected to R4. During peak hours, you notice that traffic between the servers is using the path R1->R3->R4 instead of R1->R2->R4, causing higher latency due to congestion on R3. OSPF metrics reflect equal cost to both paths (cost 2 each). You need to enforce that traffic from Server A to Server B always uses the path through R2 without changing the topology or adding additional hardware. Which action should you take?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the misconception that PBR is required for path control when OSPF metrics can be easily tuned, leading candidates to overlook the simpler and more appropriate solution of adjusting interface cost.
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
✓
Increase the OSPF cost on the interface between R1 and R3 to a value higher than the cost of the path through R2.
Increasing the OSPF cost on the R1-R3 interface makes the path through R3 less preferred (cost >2), while the R1-R2-R4 path retains a total cost of 2. OSPF uses cost as its metric, and the lowest-cost path is installed in the routing table. By raising the cost on the R1-R3 link, you force traffic from Server A to Server B to take the deterministic path through R2 without changing the topology or adding hardware.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Change the routing protocol from OSPF to EIGRP to have better metric control.
Why it's wrong here
EIGRP also uses composite metrics; OSPF can already differentiate paths with cost.
- ✗
Use the 'default-information originate' command on R2 to attract traffic.
Why it's wrong here
This advertises a default route, not influencing specific prefixes.
- ✗
Configure policy-based routing (PBR) on R1 to send traffic destined to Server B's subnet to the next-hop R2.
Why it's wrong here
PBR is application-specific and may not be deterministic; also it can cause asymmetric routing issues.
- ✓
Increase the OSPF cost on the interface between R1 and R3 to a value higher than the cost of the path through R2.
Why this is correct
Increasing cost on R1-R3 makes the R1-R2-R4 path lower total cost (2 vs 1+10=11).
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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