JN0-650 Enterprise Routing and Switching - Professional (JNCIP-ENT) Questions and Answers

In Junos OS 24.4, the no-loss forwarding class is used for traffic that requires lossless delivery, such as iSCSI or FCoE, typically in a Data Center Bridging (DCB) environment.

Priority-Based Flow Control (Option C): To guarantee "no-loss" behavior, the switch must support and use Priority-based Flow Control (PFC). PFC allows the switch to send "pause" frames for a specific priority (forwarding class) to prevent buffer overflow and packet drops without affecting other traffic on the same link.

Forwarding Class Sets (Option B): In enhanced Layer 2 software (ELS) versions used by modern QFX and EX series switches, lossless traffic must be managed within forwarding class sets (also known as priority groups). This grouping is necessary to apply specific DCB properties, such as PFC and specific bandwidth guarantees, to the lossless traffic class.

Why A and D are incorrect: Default scheduler maps and default drop profiles do not provide the specialized buffer management or lossless signaling required for this class. Lossless traffic specifically requires the suppression of tail drops rather than standard drop profiles.

When a peer incorrectly floods your router with an excessive number of routes, it can exhaust system resources and crash the routing engine.

Prefix-Limit (Option B): The prefix-limit (or accepted-prefix-limit) parameter is the primary defense against such "route leaks".

You can set a maximum threshold for the number of prefixes allowed from a specific BGP neighbor or group.

When the limit is reached, Junos can be configured to either just log a warning or tear down the BGP session entirely (using the teardown keyword) to protect the router.

This prevents the "hundreds of thousand routes" from ever being fully processed or installed into the main routing table.

Damping (Option A): Damping is used to suppress unstable, "flapping" routes, but it does not limit the total volume of stable routes received.

The exhibit shows the MSTP configuration for two switches, switch1 and switch2. MSTP allows you to group multiple VLANs into a single Multiple Spanning Tree Instance (MSTI), enabling different root bridges and topologies for different sets of VLANs.

Root Bridge Election (Option B): For any Spanning Tree instance, the switch with the lowest bridge priority is elected as the root bridge.

For msti 2, switch1 has a priority of 4k (4096), while switch2 has a priority of 8k (8192).

Since 4096 < 8192, switch1 is elected the root bridge for msti 2.

Failover Behavior (Option D): Spanning Tree is designed for redundancy. If a primary root bridge fails, the remaining switches in the network re-elect a new root based on the next lowest priority.

If switch2 goes down, switch1 becomes the only switch in the region.

Regardless of its original priority (4k or 8k), switch1 will take over as the root bridge for both msti 1 and msti 2 because there are no other contenders with a better (lower) priority.

Incorrect Statements: Option A is incorrect because for msti 1, switch2 has the lower priority (4k vs. 8k), making switch2 the root bridge. Option C is incorrect because it contradicts the fundamental high-availability nature of Spanning Tree.

In an EVPN-VXLAN architecture, the network is divided into two distinct planes: the Underlay and the Overlay.

Underlay (IP Fabric): The underlay's only job is to provide IP reachability between the loopback addresses of all VTEPs (Virtual Tunnel Endpoints). This is typically achieved using OSPF, IS-IS, or EBGP.

Overlay (EVPN Control Plane): The overlay is responsible for carrying Layer 2 MAC and Layer 3 IP reachability information between switches. EVPN signaling is the standard mechanism for this task.

Protocol Choice (Option D): EVPN uses MP-BGP (Multiprotocol BGP) as its control plane protocol. On Juniper EX Series and QFX Series switches, the most scalable and recommended design for the overlay is EBGP (External BGP).

In a 3-stage or 5-stage Clos architecture, EBGP is used in the overlay to exchange EVPN routes (Route Types 1-5) between Leaf and Spine switches.

EBGP simplifies configuration by avoiding the need for Route Reflectors (required for IBGP) and provides better control over route propagation through BGP community and policy management.

Incorrect Options:

Options A and B refer to the underlay protocols. While they provide the path for the VXLAN tunnels, they do not handle the EVPN signaling itself.

Option C (MPLS) is a different transport technology. While EVPN can run over MPLS (EVPN-MPLS), campus designs on EX series devices specifically use VXLAN as the data plane, making EBGP the standard signaling protocol for the EVPN-VXLAN overlay.

In External BGP (EBGP), there is a default safety mechanism that requires the peer's next hop to be on a directly connected network.

TTL Constraint: By default, EBGP packets are sent with a Time-to-Live (TTL) value of 1. If the next hop is not directly connected (e.g., when peering via loopback interfaces or across a multi-hop path), the packet will expire before reaching the destination, causing the route to be discarded or the session to fail.

The Multihop Solution (Option B): To override this behavior, you must configure the multihop statement under the BGP neighbor or group hierarchy. This allows the BGP session to establish by increasing the TTL (typically to 64 or a user-defined value) and bypasses the "directly connected" check.

Incorrect Options: Option A (accept-remote-nexthop) is used in internal BGP or specific routing-instance scenarios to resolve next hops that aren't in the local routing table, but it doesn't solve the EBGP TTL/direct-connection requirement. Option C (advertise-inactive) allows BGP to advertise routes that are not the best path in the routing table, which is irrelevant to next-hop reachability. Option D (multipath) is used for load-sharing across multiple paths.

In BGP path selection, the Local Preference attribute is one of the most common ways to influence outbound traffic from an Autonomous System (AS). It is a well-known discretionary attribute that is propagated throughout the AS to tell internal routers which path is preferred for a specific destination.

Priority Rule: In the BGP selection algorithm, a higher local preference value is always preferred over a lower one. The default value in Junos OS is 100.

Influencing Outbound Traffic (Option A): To ensure that Provider A is always preferred, you would apply an import policy on R1 (the router connected to Provider A) to set the local preference of all received routes to a value higher than the default (e.g., 200). Since 200 > 100, R3 and R4 will prefer the path via R1.

Alternative Method (Option C): Conversely, you can achieve the same result by applying an import policy on R2 (the router connected to Provider B) to set the local preference to a value lower than the default (e.g., 50). Since the routes from R1 remain at the default of 100, and 100 > 50, the path via R1 (Provider A) is preferred.

Why B and D are incorrect: Setting a higher local preference on R2 (Option B) would make Provider B the preferred exit point. Setting a lower local preference on R1 (Option D) would make Provider A the least preferred exit point.

The exhibit shows a BGP routing process where an Import Policy is being applied to routes received in the RIB-IN. Specifically, Policy 1 states: "Reject 0.0.0.0/0 from AS 64512."

In Junos OS, when a routing policy rejects a route, that route is not placed in the main routing table (inet.0) for active use. Instead, it becomes a hidden route. To verify that a specific peer is actually sending a route that is subsequently being rejected by your policy, you must use specific diagnostic commands:

Understanding "Hidden" Routes: When a BGP route is received but fails to meet policy requirements (or has an unreachable next-hop), Junos keeps it in the BGP RIB-IN but marks it as "hidden." It will not appear in a standard show route command.

Command Logic (Option D): The command show route receive-protocol bgp hidden allows an administrator to view all routes received from a specific neighbor, including those that were rejected by import policies.

show route receive-protocol bgp : Shows only the routes that passed the import policy and were accepted into the table. Since the 0.0.0.0/0 route from AS 64512 is explicitly rejected in the exhibit, it would not show up here.

Adding the hidden keyword is the essential step to see the rejected default route and verify that AS 64512 is indeed sending it before the policy drops it.

Other Options:

Option A is incorrect because it only shows accepted routes.

Option B and C are used to filter the existing active routing table based on gateway or next-hop attributes, but they cannot show routes that have been rejected and excluded from that table.

To provide IP phones with geographic location details (such as civic addresses or coordinates) automatically, Juniper EX Series switches utilize the LLDP-MED (Link Layer Discovery Protocol - Media Endpoint Discovery) protocol.

VoIP Specifics: While standard LLDP (C) is for general device discovery, LLDP-MED is an enhancement specifically designed for network-to-endpoint communication for VoIP devices.

Location Identification: LLDP-MED supports Location Identification TLVs (Type-Length-Values). These allow a switch to push geographic or civic location data to an IP phone, which is critical for E911 services and asset tracking.

Junos Implementation: On EX Series switches, this is typically configured under protocols lldp-med to ensure the switch advertises the necessary location information to connected endpoints.

VSTP (VLAN Spanning Tree Protocol) is Juniper's implementation that provides a separate spanning tree instance for each VLAN, ensuring compatibility with Cisco's PVST+. However, it has significant scaling limitations:

Instance Limits: On many Juniper EX and QFX series switches, VSTP is restricted to a maximum of 253 or 510 VLAN instances depending on the software version (ELS vs. non-ELS). In your scenario, having 450 VLANs exceeds the standard 253-instance limit found on many platforms.

The Solution (Option B): When the number of VLANs exceeds the VSTP capacity, the recommended best practice is to enable RSTP (Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol). Unlike VSTP, RSTP runs a single spanning tree instance for the entire switch, regardless of how many VLANs are configured. This ensures that all 450 VLANs are protected from loops without hitting the hardware's instance-count limit.

Other Options: Option A (force-version) only affects the BPDU format for compatibility but doesn't solve the instance limit. Option C and Option D are parameter tuning actions that do not address the architectural limitation of the number of running instances.

The exhibit illustrates an Autonomous System (AS 65512) receiving the same prefix ($203.0.113.0/24$) from two different neighbors, ISP A and ISP B. To influence outbound traffic from AS 65512 so that ISP A is preferred, you must manipulate the BGP Local Preference attribute.BGP Path Selection and Local Preference: Local preference is the first attribute evaluated by BGP after checking if the next hop is reachable. A higher local preference value is always preferred over a lower one. The default value in Junos OS is 100.Applying the Preference (Option B): By applying an import policy on router R1 to set a local preference higher than 100 (e.g., 200) for routes from ISP A, R1, R2, and R3 will all prefer the path through R1 to reach ISP A.Applying the Preference (Option C): Alternatively, you can achieve the same result by applying an import policy on R2 to set a local preference lower than 100 (e.g., 50) for routes from ISP B. Since the routes from R1 remain at the default of 100, the path through ISP A (100) will be preferred over ISP B (50).Why A and D are incorrect: Setting a lower preference for ISP A (Option A) or a higher preference for ISP B (Option D) would result in ISP B being preferred for outbound traffic, which is the opposite of the requirement.

In Junos OS, particularly in BGP-based environments like EVPN-VXLAN or MPLS, the router often needs to perform a recursive lookup to resolve the BGP next-hop of a route.

Next-Hop Resolution (Option C): When an EVPN route (found in default-switch.evpn.0) is received, the protocol next-hop is typically the loopback IP of the remote VTEP. To actually forward traffic, the switch must know how to reach that loopback IP.

The inet.3 table is the default table in Junos used to store egress interface information for BGP next-hops.

While inet.0 handles standard unicast routing, inet.3 is specifically consulted for resolving the path toward BGP peers. In an EVPN context, this ensures that the VXLAN tunnel endpoint is reachable and properly resolved through the underlay.

Other Tables: * inet.2 (Option A) is used for Multicast RPF checks.

default-switch.evpn.0 (Option B) stores the EVPN routes themselves (MAC/IP), but it is the source of the lookup, not the table where the recursive resolution occurs.

vxlan.inet (Option D) is an internal table used to track active VXLAN tunnels but is not the primary table for recursive BGP next-hop validation.

In an EVPN-VXLAN environment, different BGP route types serve distinct purposes in building the control plane. The Ethernet Segment Identifier (ESI) is a unique 10-byte identifier used to represent a multi-homed segment.

Type 1: Ethernet Auto-Discovery (A-D) Route (Option A): This route type is essential for multi-homing scenarios. It carries the ESI to support features like fast convergence and aliasing. By advertising an A-D route per Ethernet Segment, a PE tells other routers that it is connected to that specific ESI. It does not carry individual host MAC addresses; instead, it provides a "mass withdraw" mechanism to quickly update paths if the entire segment goes down.

Type 4: Ethernet Segment Route (Option D): This route is used exclusively for Designated Forwarder (DF) election. It advertises the existence of an ESI and the ES-Import Route Target to all other PE routers. This allows PE routers connected to the same multi-homed segment to discover each other automatically and elect a DF to handle BUM traffic. Like Type 1, it focuses on the segment identity and does not include MAC addresses.

Type 2: MAC/IP Advertisement Route (Option B): This is the primary route used for host reachability. It must include a MAC address (and optionally an IP). While it also includes the ESI to indicate which segment the host is behind, its primary function is MAC advertisement.

Type 3: Inclusive Multicast Ethernet Tag Route (Option C): This route is used for VTEP discovery and building the replication list for BUM traffic. It identifies the VTEP's IP and the VNI, but it does not carry the ESI or MAC addresses.

The exhibit shows a network topology where Multiple VLAN Registration Protocol (MVRP) is used to dynamically manage VLANs across switches Core-1, Access-1, and Access-2.

Identifying the Missing Configuration: According to the diagram, the trunk link between Core-1 and Access-2 uses interface ge-0/0/16.0 on the Core-1 side.

Output Analysis: However, the show protocols mvrp output for Core-1 only lists interfaces ge-0/0/14.0 and ge-0/0/15.0.

MVRP Requirements: For MVRP to successfully propagate VLAN information between Access-2 and the rest of the network, the protocol must be enabled on every trunk interface in the path.

Solution: Because ge-0/0/16.0 is missing from the Core-1 MVRP configuration, VLAN registration messages from Access-2 are not being processed by Core-1. Configuring this interface under MVRP on Core-1 will solve the communication problem.

In this scenario, the requirement is to authenticate devices based on their MAC addresses using a centralized database.

MAC RADIUS (Option A): This is the standard Juniper method for authenticating "headless" or non-802.1X capable devices based on their hardware (MAC) address. The switch acts as a proxy, sending the device's MAC address as the username and password to a centralized RADIUS server (the centralized database). If the MAC address is found in the server's database, the device is granted access to the network. This perfectly matches the user's requirement for MAC-based authentication and a centralized database.

Captive Portal (Option B): This is a web-based authentication method requiring user interaction (login via a browser), which is not based on MAC address identification for the initial authentication phase.

Supplicant Modes (Options C & D): These define how multiple devices are handled on an 802.1X-enabled port, but they are not authentication methods themselves; they rely on 802.1X (EAP-based) or MAC-RADIUS being already configured.

This scenario describes a specific use case where a switch port is shared by multiple devices (e.g., via a downstream unmanaged switch), and you want to simplify the authentication process.

Single Supplicant Mode (Option A): In this mode, the switch requires only the first device that connects to the port to successfully authenticate via 802.1X. Once that first device is authorized, the switch "opens" the port for all traffic. This means all subsequent devices attached to that same downstream switch are permitted to access the network without undergoing their own authentication.

Other Modes:

Single-secure supplicant (C): Only allows the first authenticated device; all others are blocked.

Multiple supplicant (D): Requires every device to authenticate individually.

MAC RADIUS (B): This is an authentication method, not a port-control mode.

When integrating a QFX Series switch into an EVPN-VXLAN IP fabric, specific BGP and EVPN hierarchy configurations are required to establish the control and data planes:

EVPN Encapsulation (Option A): In Junos OS, the encapsulation vxlan statement must be explicitly configured under the protocols evpn hierarchy. This defines that the EVPN control plane will use VXLAN as the data plane encapsulation method rather than MPLS.

BGP Address Family (Option C): EVPN uses Multiprotocol BGP (MP-BGP) to distribute reachability information. For the control plane to function, you must enable the EVPN signaling address family under the BGP protocol using the command set protocols bgp group family evpn signaling.

Incorrect Options: Option B is incorrect because family vpls is used for traditional VPLS signaled by BGP, not for EVPN-VXLAN. Option D is incorrect because while the loopback interface must be reachable, it is typically advertised via an IGP (like OSPF or IS-IS) to provide the underlay connectivity that BGP then rides upon; BGP itself does not "advertise" the loopback to establish the initial peerings.