easyMultiple Choice
350-401 Practice Question: Runs the following command on Router R1: R1# show…
A network engineer runs the following command on Router R1:
R1# show bgp ipv4 unicast summary | include 10.0.1.5 10.0.1.5 4 65005 3456 3457 15 0 0 00:15:22 5
Based on this output, what can be concluded?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the misinterpretation of the 'Up/Down' column, where candidates mistakenly read it as downtime instead of uptime, and the confusion between prefixes received (PfxRcd) and prefixes sent (PfxSent), which is not shown in this output.
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 BGP session with 10.0.1.5 is up and has received 5 prefixes.
The 'show bgp ipv4 unicast summary' output displays BGP neighbor status. The column 'Up/Down' shows '00:15:22', indicating the session has been established for 15 minutes and 22 seconds, not down. The last column shows '5', which under the 'PfxRcd' (Prefixes Received) column indicates the number of prefixes received from the neighbor. Therefore, the session is up and has received 5 prefixes.
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 BGP session with 10.0.1.5 has been down for 15 minutes and 22 seconds.
Why it's wrong here
In the 'show bgp summary' output, the Up/Down column tracks the elapsed time since the neighbor last changed BGP state. When the state is Established, this counter is the session's uptime, not a count of time since failure. Because the State/PfxRcd column displays a numeric 5, the session is currently Established, so reading 00:15:22 as 'down for 15 minutes' is incorrect.
- ✓
The BGP session with 10.0.1.5 is up and has received 5 prefixes.
Why this is correct
The '5' in the State/PfxRcd column is the number of Network Layer Reachability Information (NLRI) prefixes that this router received from 10.0.1.5 over the established BGP session. Crucially, when the session is in the Established state, the column shows a numeric prefix count rather than a state keyword such as Active, Idle, or Connect. Thus, the neighbor is up and has successfully exchanged routes.
- ✗
The BGP session with 10.0.1.5 is in the 'Active' state.
Why it's wrong here
The BGP finite state machine includes an Active state, which indicates that the router is actively trying to establish a TCP session, but that state would be displayed as the literal word 'Active' in the State/PfxRcd column. No numeric prefix count can appear while in Active because the session is not yet Established, so no BGP routes have been received. Since the output shows the number 5, the neighbor cannot possibly be in the Active state.
- ✗
The BGP session with 10.0.1.5 has sent 5 prefixes.
Why it's wrong here
The column header 'State/PfxRcd' is an abbreviation for 'State/Prefixes Received', not prefixes sent. In a 'show bgp summary' output, the value is the count of BGP routes learned from that neighbor, whereas outgoing update metrics are tracked separately in the MsgSent column. Therefore the option incorrectly swaps the receive and send directions of the route advertisement.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 350-401 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Cisco certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 350-401 exam.