Question 20
At fictional Lighthouse Education, during a provider-edge service migration, engineers report: After enabling MPLS forwarding on a new link, Junos does not discover an LDP neighbor because LDP discovery is not enabled on that interface. Which networking principle most accurately explains the observed failure?
Explanation
Correct Answer
LDP uses discovery messages on enabled interfaces before exchanging label mappings; IGP reachability alone does not start LDP. That is the specific distinction behind the observed outage. The targeted fix is to enable appropriate LDP interface discovery and verify discovery hellos and eventual neighbor session state.
Incorrect Answers
LDP supplies label bindings for eligible FECs; IP reachability without a usable label binding does not prove labeled forwarding. That describes LDP label binding completeness, whereas the observed symptoms are caused by LDP neighbor discovery; it does not predict the reported behavior.
Although RSTP root protection needs this consideration, the failure at issue has a different cause. LDP uses discovery messages on enabled interfaces before exchanging label mappings; IGP reachability alone does not start LDP.
Control-plane LSP state and data-plane label forwarding entries are separate checks; an Up session does not prove the FIB is correct. That describes MPLS label forwarding table mismatch, whereas the observed symptoms are caused by LDP neighbor discovery; it does not predict the reported behavior.