Cisco CCIE Service Provider lab exam Exam Practice Test
The CCIE Service Provider lab practice page addresses routing and transport decisions in provider networks. Its question bank samples longest-prefix route selection, IEEE 802.1Q VLAN tagging, BGP route reflection and address-family negotiation, MPLS Layer 3 VPN route control, and Ethernet service transport across an MPLS core.
Exam overview
About the Cisco CCIE Service Provider lab exam Exam
Service provider engineering requires interpreting how control-plane choices affect reachability and how services remain separated across shared infrastructure. Practice topics include selecting the most specific matching IP route, establishing eBGP with directly connected peers, and using route reflectors to distribute BGP information within an autonomous system. Questions also touch on MP-BGP support for multiple routing families, VPN route import through route targets, and carrying customer Ethernet frames as a Layer 2 service over MPLS. These scenarios call for distinguishing Layer 2 forwarding from routed VPN behavior, recognizing loop-prevention mechanisms such as spanning tree, and identifying which protocol feature or policy controls a given outcome. Use them to rehearse configuration reasoning and troubleshooting explanations, rather than to infer the lab’s complete scope.
Sample Practice Questions
Review a selection from this exam's published US Practice Tests practice bank.
A router has several matching IP routes for a destination. Which forwarding rule determines which matching route is selected before other route attributes are compared?
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Correct answer: AIP forwarding uses longest-prefix match: among routes that match a destination, the route with the most-specific prefix is chosen. Packet transport fields and Ethernet source addresses do not determine the IP route match.
On an Ethernet interface carrying multiple tagged customer VLANs, what is the purpose of IEEE 802.1Q tagging?
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Correct answer: AAn 802.1Q tag carries VLAN identification information so a trunk link can transport frames belonging to multiple VLANs. It does not provide encryption, MPLS labeling, or BGP route selection.
In a typical BGP route-reflector design, which attribute helps prevent a reflected route from looping back to a client that originated it?
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Correct answer: AA route reflector sets ORIGINATOR_ID to identify the route's originating client. A router that sees its own BGP router ID in that attribute rejects the route, helping prevent reflection loops. LOCAL_PREF and NEXT_HOP serve different purposes.
A service provider uses BGP to carry IPv4 and IPv6 unicast routes over one peer session. Which BGP capability enables negotiation of these distinct routing families?
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Correct answer: AMP-BGP extends BGP to advertise routes for multiple address families and subsequent address families, such as IPv4 and IPv6 unicast, within a BGP session.
When two routers establish an eBGP session over directly connected interfaces, which configuration is normally needed to permit the session?
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Correct answer: CA basic eBGP peering requires each router to identify the other's address and autonomous system number. Directly connected eBGP peers normally do not require multihop configuration.
Two provider-edge routers need to exchange VPN routes, but their BGP sessions are not directly connected. Which BGP session design can scale by using a small number of central peers to redistribute routes within the provider AS?
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Correct answer: BAn iBGP route reflector can receive routes from its clients and reflect eligible routes to other clients or peers, reducing the need for a full mesh of iBGP sessions. It does not replace the need for suitable underlay reachability between routers.
A provider wants to carry customer Layer 2 frames across an MPLS core while keeping the customer Ethernet service separate from routed VPN service. Which service model is designed for this purpose?
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Correct answer: BAn MPLS Layer 2 pseudowire emulates a point-to-point Layer 2 connection across a packet-switched core, transporting customer frames between provider-edge devices. The other choices address label distribution, BGP scaling, or routing policy rather than frame transport.
How to use this practice test
Access is free. A session presents up to 20 random questions from the 50-question bank and shows results afterward. Use each result to identify concepts to revisit, then explain why the relevant routing rule, BGP feature, or VPN policy fits the scenario.
Preparation tips
- Work through route-selection examples and distinguish longest-prefix matching from later BGP path-attribute comparisons.
- Sketch a route-reflector topology and trace how client-originated routes are identified to help prevent reflection loops.
- Compare MP-BGP address-family negotiation with the VPN route-target policy that controls whether a VRF imports a route.
- Trace a customer Ethernet frame through 802.1Q tagging and an MPLS Layer 2 service, separating that path from MPLS Layer 3 VPN forwarding.
- Review direct eBGP neighbor requirements and identify when a provider design instead uses internal BGP peers or route reflectors.