mediumMultiple 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 192.168.1.0
BGP routing table entry for 192.168.1.0/24, version 10 Paths: (2 available, best #2, table default) Advertised to update-groups: 1 Refresh Epoch 1 Local
10.0.0.2 from 10.0.1.2 (10.0.0.2)
Origin IGP, metric 0, localpref 100, valid, internal rx pathid: 0, tx pathid: 0x0 Local, (received & used)
10.0.0.3 from 10.0.1.3 (10.0.0.3)
Origin IGP, metric 0, localpref 200, valid, internal, best rx pathid: 0, tx pathid: 0x0
Based on this output, what can be concluded?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the BGP best path selection order, and the trap here is that candidates may confuse local preference with MED or assume that the first received route is preferred, when in fact local preference is evaluated much earlier 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 path from 10.0.1.3 is preferred because of a higher local preference.
The output shows two BGP paths for 192.168.1.0/24, both with Origin IGP and metric 0. The path from 10.0.1.3 has a local preference of 200, while the path from 10.0.1.2 has a local preference of 100. BGP selects the path with the highest local preference as the best path, making the path from 10.0.1.3 the best (marked as 'best' in the output).
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 path from 10.0.1.2 is the best path because it is received first.
Why it's wrong here
BGP best-path selection does not consider the order in which routes are received. The algorithm compares route attributes in a defined sequence, starting with weight, then local preference, and so on. Since the route from 10.0.1.2 has a local preference of 100 while 10.0.1.3 has 200, the latter is chosen regardless of which update arrived first. No timestamp or learn-order field is part of the BGP decision process.
- ✓
The path from 10.0.1.3 is preferred because of a higher local preference.
Why this is correct
The correct selection is the path from 10.0.1.3 because it carries a local preference value of 200, which is higher than the 100 on the path from 10.0.1.2. Local preference is a well-known discretionary attribute that is advertised to iBGP peers and is the first major criterion compared after weight, so a higher value directly makes this route more preferred for outbound traffic. Thus, even if the other path came from a more specific or more attractive metric, the local preference overrides those later attributes.
- ✗
Both paths are from external BGP peers.
Why it's wrong here
The statement is false because both entries are marked 'internal' in the output, indicating that they are iBGP routes rather than external BGP routes. An eBGP route would show '(external)' and would have been learned from a peer in a different autonomous system. Since the output shows 'internal', these paths originated from an iBGP session or were redistributed, making the claim inaccurate. Distinguishing internal versus external is also part of the BGP decision process, typically comparing eBGP over iBGP after other attributes.
- ✗
The path from 10.0.1.2 is marked as best because it has a lower metric.
Why it's wrong here
The metric (MED) is 0 for both paths, so a lower metric is not the reason for best-path selection. Furthermore, MED is evaluated relatively late in the BGP tie-breaking process, after local preference, AS path length, and origin type. The path from 10.0.1.3 is actually the best because of its higher local preference, and the '>' or best indicator would appear with 10.0.1.3, not 10.0.1.2. MED is used primarily for inbound traffic engineering, not for choosing between routes with differing local preferences.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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