ECP-206 Sample Questions Answers

OSPF runs directly on IP, while IS-IS runs directly on Ethernet. This means that OSPF uses IP addresses to identify routers and links, while IS-IS uses MAC addresses or other link-layer identifiers. OSPF also requires an IP header for each packet, while IS-IS does not. Both OSPF and IS-IS are link state protocols, which means that they flood information about the network topology to all routers in the same area or domain. References: Ericsson IP Networking - Routing Protocols, Ericsson Router 6000 Series - Ericsson

In OSPFv2, the route characteristic that is used to determine the best path is the cost. The cost is a metric that represents the link bandwidth, delay, reliability, or other factors. The cost is inversely proportional to the bandwidth, meaning that a higher bandwidth link has a lower cost. The cost of a route is calculated by adding the costs of all links along the path. OSPFv2 uses the following formula to calculate the cost of an interface:

Cost = Reference bandwidth / Interface bandwidth in bps

The reference bandwidth is a constant value that can be configured by the network administrator. By default, it is 100 Mbps. The interface bandwidth is the actual bandwidth of the interface in bits per second. For example, if an interface has a bandwidth of 10 Mbps, its cost would be 100 Mbps / 10 Mbps = 101415.

OSPFv2 does not use jitter, packet loss, or delay as route characteristics to determine the best path. Jitter is the variation in latency or delay between packets. Packet loss is the percentage of packets that are dropped or corrupted during transmission. Delay is the time it takes for a packet to travel from source to destination. These characteristics are not part of the OSPFv2 protocol and are not advertised in OSPFv2 LSAs1617.

References: OSPF Metric cost Calculation Formula Explained - ComputerNetworkingNotes, OSPF Cost – OSPF Routing Protocol Metric Explained - Study-CCNA, Open Shortest Path First - Wikipedia, OSPF Metric = Cost - Cisco

Two protocols that apply to both IPv4 and IPv6 are:

• SNMP: This stands for Simple Network Management Protocol, which is a protocol that allows network administrators to monitor and manage network devices such as routers, switches, servers, printers, etc. SNMP uses a client-server model, where an SNMP manager (client) can query or configure an SNMP agent (server) on a network device using SNMP messages. SNMP can operate over both IPv4 and IPv6 networks56.
• DNS: This stands for Domain Name System, which is a protocol that translates human-readable domain names (such as www.example.com) into numerical IPaddresses (such as 192.0.2.1 or 2001:db8::1) that identify network devices. DNS uses a hierarchical distributed database of name servers that store and resolve domain names and IP addresses. DNS can support both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses78.

References: Simple Network Management Protocol - Wikipedia, SNMP over IPv6 - Cisco, Domain Name System - Wikipedia, DNS for IPv6 - Cisco

The statement about IPv6 that is correct is that broadcast has been replaced with multicast. IPv6 is the most recent version of Internet Protocol (IP), which provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic across the Internet. IPv6 has several improvements over IPv4, such as a larger address space, simplified header format, enhanced security, and better support for mobility and QoS.One of the changes in IPv6 is that it does not support broadcast, which is a method of sending a packet to all nodes on a network segment. Instead, IPv6 uses multicast, which is a method of sending a packet to a group of nodes that have joined a multicast address34.

References: IPv6 - Wikipedia, What Is IPv6? - Cisco

The Area ID to which the router belongs is 49.00F0.0100. The Area ID is a variable-length field in the NSAP address that identifies the area to which the router belongs. The Area ID can be between 1 and 13 bytes long, but it must start and end with an octet (8 bits). The NSAP address is composed of three parts: the authority and format identifier (AFI), the area ID, and the system ID. The AFI is a one-octet field that indicates the format and authority of the rest of the address. The system ID is a fixed-length field of six octets that uniquely identifies the router within an area. The NSAP address also has a network selector (NSEL) field, which is a one-octet field that identifies the network layer service to which a packet should be sent. For IS-IS routers, the NSEL must always be 00.

In this question, the NSAP address is 49.00F0.0100.5012.3010.00. This means that:

• The AFI is 49, which indicates a private address.
• The Area ID is 00F0.0100, which is four octets long and starts and ends with an octet.
• The system ID is 5012.3010, which is six octets long and identifies the router within the area.
• The NSEL is 00, which indicates IS-IS.

Therefore, the answer is B.

References: Ericsson IP Networking - Routing Protocols, IS-IS NSAP address - Cisco Community, Understanding IS-IS NSAP Addresses - Todd Lammle, LLC, IS-IS - Nokia, Network service access point address - Wikipedia

The action that will influence BGP route selection within your AS is changing the default value of the local preference attribute. The local preference attribute is used to indicate the preference of a path among multiple paths learned from different external BGP neighbors or autonomous systems (ASes). The higher the local preference value, the more preferred the path is within your AS, and vice versa. The default value of local preference is 100, but you can change it using route maps or other configuration methods on your BGP routers. References: Ericsson IP Networking - Routing Protocols, BGP Attributes and Path Selection, BGP Local Preference Attribute: Controlling Traffic Like a Pro

Referring to the exhibit, the two Ericsson routers that support the 100GE interface are Router 6675 and Router 6672. The 100GE interface is a high-speed Ethernet interface that operates at 100 gigabits per second. The Ericsson Router 6000 series is a family ofrouters that provide IP transport for mobile and fixed networks. The Router 6675 is a 5G combined access and E-RAN switch with 100GE interfaces and 320Gb forwarding capacity. The Router 6672 is a high-capacity metro aggregation router with 100GE interfaces and 1.6Tb forwarding capacity12.

References: Router 6000 Series - Ericsson, New Ericsson Router 6000 series couples radio and IP transport for 5G future - Global Brands Magazine

 The operating system used in Ericsson Router 6000 products is ERS (Ericsson Router Software). ERS is based on IPOS (IP Operating System), which is a common operating system for Ericsson’s IP portfolio. ERS provides advanced features and functionality for IP transport, such as MPLS, Segment Routing, QoS, IPSec, synchronization, SDN, and more. ERS also supports seamless integration with Ericsson Radio System and Ericsson Network Manager.

References: Router 6000 Series - Ericsson, Router 6675 Datasheet - Winncom

In an Ethernet frame carrying a VLAN tag, the VLAN tag appears before the type field. A VLAN tag is a 4-byte field that is inserted into an Ethernet frame to indicate the VLAN membership and priority of the frame. The VLAN tag consists of two subfields: the tag protocol identifier (TPID) and the tag control information (TCI). The TPID subfield is a 16-bit field that identifies the frame as an IEEE 802.1Q-tagged frame, with a value of 0x8100. The TCI subfield is a 16-bit field that contains the priority code point (PCP), the drop eligible indicator (DEI), and the VLAN identifier (VID). The VLAN tag appears between the source MAC address and the type fields of the original frame, shifting the type field by four bytes. The type field indicates the type of the payload, such as IP or ARP .

References: [IEEE 802.1Q - Wikipedia], [VLAN Tagging Explained with DTP Protocol - GeeksforGeeks]

Spanning-Tree is used for Ethernet loop avoidance. Spanning-Tree is a protocol that prevents loops in Ethernet networks by creating a logical tree topology of the network switches. Spanning-Tree blocks some of the redundant links between switches to ensure that there is only one active path between any two nodes in thenetwork. Spanning-Tree also detects and recovers from link failures by activating alternative paths when needed56.

References: Network loops and loop avoidance - Medium, Spanning Tree Protocol - Wikipedia

Penultimate hop popping (PHP) is a function performed by certain routers in an MPLS enabled network. It refers to the process whereby the outermost label of an MPLS tagged packet is removed by a label switch router (LSR) before the packet is passed to an adjacent label edge router (LER). The purpose of PHP is to reduce the load on the LER, as it saves one cycle of label lookup. The LER can forward the packet based on its IP header or another label in the stack, without having to process the outer label. PHPfunctionality is achieved by the LER advertising a label with a value of 3 to its neighbors. This label is defined as "implicit-null" and informs the neighboring LSRs to perform PHP12.

References: Penultimate hop popping - Wikipedia, MPLS Penultimate hop popping - NetworkLessons.com

The correct order of DiffServ priority (highest to lowest) for the DiffServ classes: Default Forwarding (DF), Network Control (NC), Assured Forwarding (AF), and Expedited Forwarding (EF) is EF, NC, AF, DF. DiffServ is a QoS model that classifies and prioritizes traffic into different service classes based on the DSCP field in the IP header. The DSCP field is a 6-bit field that can encode up to 64 different per-hop behaviors (PHBs). The DiffServ classes are predefined groups of PHBs that have similar characteristics and requirements. The four main DiffServ classes are:

• EF: This class provides the highest priority and lowest delay for real-time applications such as voice and video. The DSCP value for EF is 101110 or 46 in decimal12.
• NC: This class provides the second highest priority and low delay for network control traffic such as routing protocols and network management. The DSCP value for NC is 110000 or 48 in decimal12.
• AF: This class provides four levels of assured forwarding with different drop probabilities for each level. AF is suitable for applications that require guaranteed bandwidth and delivery assurance, such as web browsing and email. The DSCP values for AF range from 001010 to 011110 or 10 to 46 in decimal12.
• DF: This class provides the lowest priority and best-effort service for applications that can tolerate packet loss and delay, such as file transfer and backup. The DSCP value for DF is 000000 or 0 in decimal12.

References: Differentiated Services - Wikipedia, DSCP - Differentiated Services Code Point - Mpirical

Two statements that are true about router node hardening are:

• Any unnecessary services should be disabled within each context. Router node hardening is a process of securing a router from unauthorized access and attacks by applying various configurations and policies. One of these configurations is to disable any services that are not needed for the router’s functionality or purpose, such as telnet, ftp, http, etc. This reduces the attack surface of the router and prevents potential exploits of these services91.
• Enabling syslog ensures system events are logged to a remote server. Syslog is a protocol that allows a router to send system messages and events to a remote server for logging and analysis. By enabling syslog on a router, network administrators can monitor the router’s activity and performance, troubleshoot problems, detect anomalies, and audit security events101.

References: Cisco Router Hardening Step-by-Step | SANS Institute, Security Hardening Checklist Guide for Cisco Routers/Switches in 10 Steps, CCNA SEC: Router Hardening - Cisco Press

To differentiate traffic types for the purpose of prioritization in their Ethernet LAN and IP/MPLS backbone, an operator can use the following three fields:

• Traffic Class (TC): This is a 3-bit field in the MPLS label that can be used to indicate the priority or class of service (CoS) of the packet. The TC field can be mapped to the DSCP field in the IP header or the PCP field in the Ethernet header. The TC field can be used by MPLS routers to apply different per-hop behaviors (PHBs) such as queuing, scheduling, and dropping policies to different traffic classes12.
• DSCP: This is a 6-bit field in the IP header that can be used to mark packets according to the differentiated services (DiffServ) model. The DSCP field can indicate the per-hop behavior (PHB) that the packet should receive at each router along its path. The DSCP field can be mapped to the TC field in the MPLS label or the PCP field in the Ethernet header. The DSCP field can be used by IP routers to provide QoS for different traffic types34.
• PCP: This is a 3-bit field in the Ethernet header that can be used to mark packets according to the IEEE 802.1Q standard. The PCP field can indicate the priority or class of service (CoS) of the packet on an Ethernet LAN. The PCP field can be mapped to the TC field in the MPLS label or the DSCP field in the IP header. The PCP field can be used by Ethernet switches to provide QoS for different traffic types56.

References: MPLS Traffic Engineering - DiffServ-Aware Traffic Engineering, MPLS Traffic Engineering - DiffServ-Aware Traffic Engineering Configuration Guide, Differentiated services - Wikipedia, DSCP and Precedence Values - Cisco, 802.1Q VLAN IDs and Ethernet Interface Types - Juniper Networks, Introduction to Virtual LANs (VLANs) and Tagging - Ubiquiti Support and Help Center

In the exhibit, the action performed by router R3 for traffic arriving from router R2 towards router R4 is PHP, which stands for penultimate hop popping. PHP is a process in which the penultimate hop router (the router before the egress router) removes the top label from an MPLS packet before forwarding it to the egress router. This reduces the label stack depth of the packet and relieves the egress router from performing a label lookup operation. In the exhibit, router R3 is the penultimate hop for traffic arriving from router R2 towards router R4. Router R3 will perform a PHP operation, removing the top label from the incoming packet before forwarding it to router R478.

References: PHP Tutorial - W3Schools, PHP: Downloads