Question 560
At fictional Brookstone Communications, during a metro aggregation ring, engineers report: A maintenance script changes only one router's dead timer on a point-to-point circuit, causing repeated loss of neighboring state. Which focused engineering action would best correct the fault?
Explanation
Correct Answer
Restore compatible hello and dead intervals on the neighboring OSPF interfaces and observe stable hellos. This treats the fault shown by Brookstone Communications: OSPF neighbor formation requires compatible hello and dead timers; link-layer carrier does not override timer mismatch. Confirm success when the adjacency remains Full over successive dead intervals without periodic neighbor expiration.
Incorrect Answers
The proposal changes OSPF MTU negotiation; that is not the failure isolated by the facts. It could leave OSPF hello and dead timers unresolved even if its own test passed. OSPF neighbor formation requires compatible hello and dead timers; link-layer carrier does not override timer mismatch.
Set an end-to-end MTU that accounts for required additional Ethernet tags and verify supported hardware limits. This addresses provider bridging MTU overhead, but the reported symptoms arise from OSPF hello and dead timers. For this case, verify instead that the adjacency remains Full over successive dead intervals without periodic neighbor expiration.
Verify ABR inter-area advertisement policy and the presence of the appropriate summary reachability in the receiving area. This addresses OSPF area LSA propagation, but the reported symptoms arise from OSPF hello and dead timers. For this case, verify instead that the adjacency remains Full over successive dead intervals without periodic neighbor expiration.