Question 50
A fictional service-provider team at Fabletree Media is reviewing a wholesale access handoff. The finding is: Two external AS exits advertise the same prefix; inbound traffic favors the congested link because AS-path preparation was not applied as planned. Which networking principle most accurately explains the observed failure?
Explanation
Correct Answer
AS-path prepending can make a path less attractive to other ASes but does not override their local policies or guarantee inbound steering. That is the specific distinction behind the observed outage. The targeted fix is to apply an approved outbound AS-path prepend policy on the less-preferred advertised path and validate what peers receive.
Incorrect Answers
This principle matters when troubleshooting BGP communities and routing policy, but using it here mistakes a different failure mode for AS-path prepend inbound influence. The relevant distinction is: AS-path prepending can make a path less attractive to other ASes but does not override their local policies or guarantee inbound steering.
This principle matters when troubleshooting IBGP route reflection, but using it here mistakes a different failure mode for AS-path prepend inbound influence. The relevant distinction is: AS-path prepending can make a path less attractive to other ASes but does not override their local policies or guarantee inbound steering.
Although provider bridging MTU overhead needs this consideration, the failure at issue has a different cause. AS-path prepending can make a path less attractive to other ASes but does not override their local policies or guarantee inbound steering.