This N10-009 practice question tests your understanding of network implementation. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
An organization uses OSPF as its interior gateway protocol in a multi-area design. After a core router failure, the network takes a long time to reconverge. Which technology can be implemented to improve convergence speed?
BFD provides sub-second failure detection by sending rapid, lightweight hello packets independently of OSPF's own hello mechanism. When a core router fails, BFD detects the link down in milliseconds and immediately signals OSPF to trigger reconvergence, drastically reducing the time OSPF would otherwise spend waiting for its own dead timer to expire.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Use static routes instead of OSPF
Why it's wrong here
Static routes are not dynamic and cannot adapt to topology changes; they do not improve convergence.
✗
Increase OSPF hello and dead timers
Why it's wrong here
Increasing timers would make OSPF slower to detect a failure, thus slowing convergence.
BFD provides sub-second failure detection, which allows OSPF to converge much faster.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Configure all routers in a single OSPF area
Why it's wrong here
A single area can lead to larger LSDBs and more frequent SPF calculations, potentially worsening convergence time.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
CompTIA often tests the misconception that increasing OSPF timers or using a single area speeds up convergence, when in fact BFD is the correct technology for sub-second failure detection without altering OSPF's own protocol timers.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
BFD operates as a hardware-independent, lightweight protocol that can detect link failures in as little as 50 ms, compared to OSPF's default dead interval of 40 seconds (with default hello of 10 seconds). BFD sessions are established over any media and can be configured with timers as low as 50 ms for hello and 150 ms for multiplier, enabling rapid failover. In real-world deployments, BFD is often paired with OSPF or BGP to meet strict SLA requirements for voice or financial trading networks.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A network engineer at a university connects two campus buildings via a fibre link. Both routers run OSPF, but no adjacency forms — even though both routers can ping each other. The engineer finds one router is in area 0 and the other in area 1. OSPF adjacency requires matching area numbers, hello/dead timers, and network type. IP reachability alone is not enough.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this N10-009 question in full detail.
Network Implementation — This question tests Network Implementation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Implement Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) — BFD provides sub-second failure detection by sending rapid, lightweight hello packets independently of OSPF's own hello mechanism. When a core router fails, BFD detects the link down in milliseconds and immediately signals OSPF to trigger reconvergence, drastically reducing the time OSPF would otherwise spend waiting for its own dead timer to expire.
What should I do if I get this N10-009 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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