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44 Interview Questions Answers with

Explanation
Advanced Routing Protocols: EIGRP,
OSPF, BGP

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Contents
1. What is EIGRP, and how does it differ from traditional distance vector and link-state
routing protocols? .......................................................................................................... 4
2. How does EIGRP calculate its metric? ....................................................................... 4
3. What are the main components of EIGRP? ................................................................ 4
4. What is the Administrative Distance (AD) of EIGRP, and how does it compare to
other routing protocols? ................................................................................................. 4
5. Can EIGRP establish neighbor relationships with routers from different autonomous
systems (AS)? ............................................................................................................... 4
6. What is the difference between EIGRP's Autonomous System (AS) and OSPF's
Area? ............................................................................................................................. 4
7. What is the feasible successor in EIGRP, and why is it important? ............................ 4
8. How does EIGRP handle loop prevention? ................................................................ 5
9. What is the EIGRP Neighborship table used for? ....................................................... 5
10. Can EIGRP be used in IPv6 networks? .................................................................... 5
11. Explain the OSPF Hello Protocol and its role in neighbor discovery? ....................... 5
12. What are the different types of OSPF routers? ......................................................... 5
13. How does OSPF calculate the cost of a route? ........................................................ 5
14. What is the OSPF LSDB (Link State Database)? ..................................................... 5
15. How does OSPF handle route summarization? ........................................................ 5
16. What is the purpose of the OSPF Area 0 (Backbone Area)? .................................... 6
17. What is the OSPF LSAD (Link State Advertisement Database)?.............................. 6
18. How does OSPF prevent routing loops? .................................................................. 6
19. What is the Administrative Distance (AD) of OSPF? ................................................ 6
20. Can OSPF be used in IPv6 networks? ..................................................................... 6
21. What is BGP, and how does it differ from interior gateway protocols like OSPF and
EIGRP? ......................................................................................................................... 6
22. What are the main features of BGP-4?..................................................................... 6
23. Explain the concept of an AS (Autonomous System) in BGP. .................................. 6
24. What is the difference between eBGP and iBGP? .................................................... 6
25. What is the BGP AS Path attribute? ......................................................................... 7
26. How does BGP select the best path to reach a destination? .................................... 7
27. What is the BGP Local Preference attribute? ........................................................... 7
28. How does BGP handle route aggregation? .............................................................. 7
29. Explain BGP Route Reflectors and their role in reducing BGP update traffic? .......... 7
30. Can BGP be used in IPv6 networks? ....................................................................... 7
31. What is the feasible successor in EIGRP, and how is it determined? ....................... 7

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32. How does EIGRP handle unequal-cost load balancing, and why is it beneficial? ..... 8
33. Can you explain the EIGRP Diffusing Update Algorithm (DUAL) and how it affects
route calculations? ......................................................................................................... 8
34. What are EIGRP stub routers, and why are they used? ........................................... 8
35. What is the OSPF LS age, and how is it used in the SPF tree calculation? .............. 8
36. Explain OSPF's LSRefresh mechanism and its role in preventing LSAs from
expiring. ......................................................................................................................... 8
37. What is the OSPF ASBR (Autonomous System Boundary Router), and why is it
important? ...................................................................................................................... 8
38. How does OSPF handle virtual links, and when are they necessary? ...................... 8
39. Describe the BGP path attributes and their role in BGP route selection.? ................ 9
40. What is the purpose of the BGP MED (Multi-Exit Discriminator) attribute? ............... 9
41. Explain the difference between eBGP and iBGP.? ................................................... 9
42. What is the BGP community attribute, and how is it used to control routing policy? . 9
43. What is the EIGRP Successor and Feasible Successor, and why are they
important? ...................................................................................................................... 9
44. What is BGP route dampening, and how does it work to prevent network instability?
.................................................................................................................................... 10

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1.What is EIGRP, and how does it differ from traditional distance vector
and link-state routing protocols?

Answer : EIGRP is an advanced distance-vector routing protocol that uses a combination of

distance vector and link-state characteristics.

2. How does EIGRP calculate its metric?

Answer :EIGRP uses a composite metric based on bandwidth, delay, reliability, load, and
MTU.

3. What are the main components of EIGRP?

Answer : EIGRP consists of routers, neighbors, and the EIGRP topology table.

4. What is the Administrative Distance (AD) of EIGRP, and how does it

compare to other routing protocols?

Answer :The AD of EIGRP is 90, making it more preferable than RIP (120) and OSPF (110).

5. Can EIGRP establish neighbor relationships with routers from different

autonomous systems (AS)?

Answer : No, EIGRP only forms neighbor relationships within the same AS.

6. What is the difference between EIGRP's Autonomous System (AS)

and OSPF's Area?
Answer : An AS in EIGRP represents an independent routing domain, whereas an Area in
OSPF is a logical grouping of routers within the same OSPF domain.

7. What is the feasible successor in EIGRP, and why is it important?

Answer : A feasible successor is an alternate route to a destination, and it is important for

route redundancy and fast convergence.

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8. How does EIGRP handle loop prevention?

Answer : EIGRP uses the Diffusing Update Algorithm (DUAL) to prevent routing loops.

9. What is the EIGRP Neighborship table used for?

Answer : The EIGRP Neighborship table keeps track of neighboring routers and their
parameters.

10. Can EIGRP be used in IPv6 networks?

Answer : Yes, EIGRP for IPv6 (EIGRPv6) is available to support IPv6 routing.

11. Explain the OSPF Hello Protocol and its role in neighbor discovery?

Answer : The Hello Protocol is used for neighbor discovery, determining router eligibility,
and maintaining adjacencies in OSPF.

12. What are the different types of OSPF routers?

Answer : OSPF routers can be designated as DR (Designated Router), BDR (Backup

Designated Router), and DROTHER (all other routers).

13. How does OSPF calculate the cost of a route?

Answer : OSPF uses the formula 10^8 / bandwidth to calculate the cost, where bandwidth is
in bits per second.

14. What is the OSPF LSDB (Link State Database)?

Answer : The LSDB contains information about the network's topology and is used to
calculate the SPF tree.

15. How does OSPF handle route summarization?

Answer : OSPF uses area border routers (ABRs) to summarize routes between OSPF areas.

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16. What is the purpose of the OSPF Area 0 (Backbone Area)?

Answer : Area 0 is the central OSPF area that connects all other areas in an OSPF network.

17. What is the OSPF LSAD (Link State Advertisement Database)?

Answer : The LSAD contains information about the advertisements received from OSPF
neighbors.

18. How does OSPF prevent routing loops?

Answer : OSPF uses the Dijkstra Shortest Path First (SPF) algorithm to compute loop-free
paths.

19. What is the Administrative Distance (AD) of OSPF?

Answer : OSPF has an AD of 110.

20. Can OSPF be used in IPv6 networks?

Answer : Yes, OSPFv3 is used for IPv6 routing.

21. What is BGP, and how does it differ from interior gateway protocols
like OSPF and EIGRP?

Answer : BGP is an exterior gateway protocol used for interdomain routing, while OSPF and
EIGRP are interior gateway protocols used within a single domain.

22. What are the main features of BGP-4?

- BGP-4 supports CIDR, AS numbers, route aggregation, and path attributes.

23. Explain the concept of an AS (Autonomous System) in BGP.

Answer : An AS is a collection of IP networks and routers under the control of a single
organization and has a unique AS number.

24. What is the difference between eBGP and iBGP?

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Answer : eBGP (external BGP) is used to establish BGP sessions between routers in different
ASes, while iBGP (internal BGP) is used for routers within the same AS.

25. What is the BGP AS Path attribute?

- The AS Path attribute is a list of ASes a route has traversed, used to prevent routing loops
and influence path selection.

26. How does BGP select the best path to reach a destination?

Answer : BGP uses the path attributes (such as AS Path, Local Preference, and Weight) to
select the best path.

27. What is the BGP Local Preference attribute?

Answer : The Local Preference attribute is used to influence the exit point for traffic leaving
an AS.

28. How does BGP handle route aggregation?

Answer : BGP can aggregate multiple routes into a single route advertisement, reducing the
size of the BGP routing table.

29. Explain BGP Route Reflectors and their role in reducing BGP update
traffic?

Answer : Route Reflectors are used to eliminate the need for a fully meshed iBGP network,
reducing update traffic within an AS.

30. Can BGP be used in IPv6 networks?

Answer : Yes, BGP can be used for IPv6 routing with the BGP-4 protocol extended to support
IPv6.

31. What is the feasible successor in EIGRP, and how is it determined?

Answer : A feasible successor is a backup route in EIGRP, chosen based on a successor's

metric and the topology table. It must have a lower metric than the current successor.

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32. How does EIGRP handle unequal-cost load balancing, and why is it
beneficial?

Answer : EIGRP allows unequal-cost load balancing by distributing traffic across multiple
routes with different metrics. This improves network utilization.

33. Can you explain the EIGRP Diffusing Update Algorithm (DUAL) and
how it affects route calculations?

Answer : DUAL is an algorithm used in EIGRP to ensure loop-free routing and calculate
backup routes when a primary route fails.

34. What are EIGRP stub routers, and why are they used?

Answer : EIGRP stub routers reduce the routing table size by simplifying the advertisement
of routes. They are often used in remote or branch office scenarios.

35. What is the OSPF LS age, and how is it used in the SPF tree
calculation?

Answer : LS age is a field in LSAs that represents the time since the LSA was generated. It
helps OSPF routers determine the freshness of LSAs when calculating the SPF tree.

36. Explain OSPF's LSRefresh mechanism and its role in preventing

LSAs from expiring.

Answer : LSRefresh is a mechanism used to refresh LSA timers, ensuring that LSAs do not
expire prematurely. It helps in maintaining accurate routing information.

37. What is the OSPF ASBR (Autonomous System Boundary Router),

and why is it important?

Answer : The ASBR is a router within an OSPF domain that connects to external networks,
serving as a gateway to distribute external routes into the OSPF domain.

38. How does OSPF handle virtual links, and when are they necessary?

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Answer : Virtual links in OSPF are used to connect non-backbone areas to the backbone
area (Area 0) when a physical link is not available. They help maintain hierarchical routing.

39. Describe the BGP path attributes and their role in BGP route
selection.?

Answer : BGP path attributes, such as AS_PATH, NEXT_HOP, and LOCAL_PREF, provide
information used in BGP route selection and path determination.

40. What is the purpose of the BGP MED (Multi-Exit Discriminator)

attribute?

Answer : BGP MED is used to influence the path selection of incoming routes from
neighboring ASes. It is often used for load balancing between multiple entry points.

41. Explain the difference between eBGP and iBGP.?

Answer : eBGP (external BGP) is used for routing between autonomous systems, while iBGP
(internal BGP) is used within a single autonomous system to distribute routes.

42. What is the BGP community attribute, and how is it used to control
routing policy?

Answer : BGP communities are tags that help routers implement routing policies. They can
be used to filter, manipulate, and control route advertisement.

43. What is the EIGRP Successor and Feasible Successor, and why are
they important?

Answer : The EIGRP Successor is the primary route chosen to reach a destination, while the
Feasible Successor is a backup route. Feasible Successors are crucial for fast convergence in
case of link failures.

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44. What is BGP route dampening, and how does it work to prevent
network instability?

Answer : BGP route dampening is a mechanism to mitigate the impact of route flaps
(frequent route changes). It assigns penalties to unstable routes and suppresses them to
maintain network stability.

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