ECP-206 Questions and Answers

The statement about IPv6 that is correct is that broadcast has been replaced with multicast. IPv6 is the most recent version of Internet Protocol (IP), which provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic across the Internet. IPv6 has several improvements over IPv4, such as a larger address space, simplified header format, enhanced security, and better support for mobility and QoS.One of the changes in IPv6 is that it does not support broadcast, which is a method of sending a packet to all nodes on a network segment. Instead, IPv6 uses multicast, which is a method of sending a packet to a group of nodes that have joined a multicast address34.

References: IPv6 - Wikipedia, What Is IPv6? - Cisco

An Ethernet switch will forward the frame to all ports when the destination address is FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF. This is because this address is the broadcast MAC address, which means that the frame is intended for all devices on the same LAN segment. The switch does not need to look up its MAC address table to find a matching entry for this address, but simply floods the frame out of all ports except the one where it received the frame. This way, the frame reaches every device on the LAN segment, regardless of their MAC addresses. References: Ethernet - Wireshark, Broadcast MAC Address - omnisecu.com

The correct order of DiffServ priority (highest to lowest) for the DiffServ classes: Default Forwarding (DF), Network Control (NC), Assured Forwarding (AF), and Expedited Forwarding (EF) is EF, NC, AF, DF. DiffServ is a QoS model that classifies and prioritizes traffic into different service classes based on the DSCP field in the IP header. The DSCP field is a 6-bit field that can encode up to 64 different per-hop behaviors (PHBs). The DiffServ classes are predefined groups of PHBs that have similar characteristics and requirements. The four main DiffServ classes are:

• EF: This class provides the highest priority and lowest delay for real-time applications such as voice and video. The DSCP value for EF is 101110 or 46 in decimal12.
• NC: This class provides the second highest priority and low delay for network control traffic such as routing protocols and network management. The DSCP value for NC is 110000 or 48 in decimal12.
• AF: This class provides four levels of assured forwarding with different drop probabilities for each level. AF is suitable for applications that require guaranteed bandwidth and delivery assurance, such as web browsing and email. The DSCP values for AF range from 001010 to 011110 or 10 to 46 in decimal12.
• DF: This class provides the lowest priority and best-effort service for applications that can tolerate packet loss and delay, such as file transfer and backup. The DSCP value for DF is 000000 or 0 in decimal12.

References: Differentiated Services - Wikipedia, DSCP - Differentiated Services Code Point - Mpirical

Two protocols that apply to both IPv4 and IPv6 are:

• SNMP: This stands for Simple Network Management Protocol, which is a protocol that allows network administrators to monitor and manage network devices such as routers, switches, servers, printers, etc. SNMP uses a client-server model, where an SNMP manager (client) can query or configure an SNMP agent (server) on a network device using SNMP messages. SNMP can operate over both IPv4 and IPv6 networks56.
• DNS: This stands for Domain Name System, which is a protocol that translates human-readable domain names (such as www.example.com) into numerical IPaddresses (such as 192.0.2.1 or 2001:db8::1) that identify network devices. DNS uses a hierarchical distributed database of name servers that store and resolve domain names and IP addresses. DNS can support both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses78.

References: Simple Network Management Protocol - Wikipedia, SNMP over IPv6 - Cisco, Domain Name System - Wikipedia, DNS for IPv6 - Cisco

Priority queuing (PQ) is a queuing method that establishes four interface output queues that serve different priority levels: high, medium, normal, and low. Traffic in the highest priority queue will experience the least amount of jitter and delay compared to traffic in the other queues, because PQ always services the higher-priority queues first. However, this can also cause traffic in lower priority queues to be starved of bandwidth, especially if the highest priority queue is oversubscribed. Traffic in the highest priority queue is not only reserved for voice traffic, but can also include network control and routing traffic. Traffic in all queues are not always guaranteed a minimum bandwidth, because PQ does not provide any bandwidth reservation mechanism. References: Quality of Service (QoS) Queues and Queuing Explained, Chapter: Configuring Priority Queueing - Cisco

Two statements that are correct for LDP are:

• LSRs send UDP hello messages for neighbor discovery. LDP is a protocol that distributes labels for MPLS forwarding along the shortest path calculated by an IGP. LDP uses two types of messages: discovery messages and session messages. Discovery messages are used to discover and maintain adjacency with other LSRs that support LDP. Discovery messages are sent as UDP datagrams to the well-known multicast address 224.0.0.2 (all routers on this subnet) on port 64634.
• LSRs use TCP to negotiate LDP session parameters. Session messages are used to establish, maintain, and terminate LDP sessions between LSRs. Session messages are also used to exchange label mappings, notification messages, and keepalive messages. Session messages are sent as TCP segments to port 64634.

References: Ldp | Microsoft Learn, Label Distribution Protocol - Wikipedia

Two roles of the DHCP protocol in a network are:

• It is used by hosts to obtain the IP address and other parameters from the DHCP server. DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, which is a protocol that provides automatic and centralized management of IP addresses and other network configuration parameters for devices connected to a network. A host that needs an IP address can send a request to a DHCP server, which will assign an available IP address from a pool and lease it to the host for a certain period of time34.
• It is used to inform hosts about the default gateway. The default gateway is the IP address of the router that connects the host to other networks. The default gateway is one of the parameters that can be delivered by the DHCP server to the host, along with other parameters such as subnet mask, DNS server, domain name, etc. The host can use the default gateway to send packets to destinations outside of its local network34.

References: What Is DHCP? (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) - Lifewire, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol - Wikipedia

OSPF runs directly on IP, while IS-IS runs directly on Ethernet. This means that OSPF uses IP addresses to identify routers and links, while IS-IS uses MAC addresses or other link-layer identifiers. OSPF also requires an IP header for each packet, while IS-IS does not. Both OSPF and IS-IS are link state protocols, which means that they flood information about the network topology to all routers in the same area or domain. References: Ericsson IP Networking - Routing Protocols, Ericsson Router 6000 Series - Ericsson

The subnet address for 10.57.126.156/29 is 10.57.126.152. To find the subnet address, we need to perform a bitwise AND operation between the IP address and the subnet mask. The subnet mask for /29 is 255.255.255.248, which in binary is 11111111.11111111.11111111.11111000. The IP address in binary is 00001010.00111001.01111110.10011100. The result of the AND operation is 00001010.00111001.01111110.10011000, which in decimal is10.57.126.152. References: Ericsson IP Networking - IP Addressing, Software Installation and Upgrade Overview (Junos OS)

Peers recognize each other’s ability to use MP-BGP extensions by advertising the ability using the capabilities field during the session establishment. MP-BGP is an extension to BGP that allows BGP to carry routing information for multiple network layer protocols, such as IPv6, VPNv4, multicast, etc. To support MP-BGP, peers need to exchange their capabilities during the session establishment phase, which consists of three steps: open, keepalive, and update. In the open message, peers can include an optional parameter called capabilities, which indicates what kind of address families and subsequent address families they can support. If both peers agree on a common set of capabilities, they can proceed to exchange routing information for those address families using update messages56.

References: Use of MP-BGP Extensions for IPv6 Interdomain Routing, MP-EBGP Configuration Example - Cisco

To differentiate traffic types for the purpose of prioritization in their Ethernet LAN and IP/MPLS backbone, an operator can use the following three fields:

• Traffic Class (TC): This is a 3-bit field in the MPLS label that can be used to indicate the priority or class of service (CoS) of the packet. The TC field can be mapped to the DSCP field in the IP header or the PCP field in the Ethernet header. The TC field can be used by MPLS routers to apply different per-hop behaviors (PHBs) such as queuing, scheduling, and dropping policies to different traffic classes12.
• DSCP: This is a 6-bit field in the IP header that can be used to mark packets according to the differentiated services (DiffServ) model. The DSCP field can indicate the per-hop behavior (PHB) that the packet should receive at each router along its path. The DSCP field can be mapped to the TC field in the MPLS label or the PCP field in the Ethernet header. The DSCP field can be used by IP routers to provide QoS for different traffic types34.
• PCP: This is a 3-bit field in the Ethernet header that can be used to mark packets according to the IEEE 802.1Q standard. The PCP field can indicate the priority or class of service (CoS) of the packet on an Ethernet LAN. The PCP field can be mapped to the TC field in the MPLS label or the DSCP field in the IP header. The PCP field can be used by Ethernet switches to provide QoS for different traffic types56.

References: MPLS Traffic Engineering - DiffServ-Aware Traffic Engineering, MPLS Traffic Engineering - DiffServ-Aware Traffic Engineering Configuration Guide, Differentiated services - Wikipedia, DSCP and Precedence Values - Cisco, 802.1Q VLAN IDs and Ethernet Interface Types - Juniper Networks, Introduction to Virtual LANs (VLANs) and Tagging - Ubiquiti Support and Help Center

For IP destinations not found in the IS-IS Level 1 database, the Level 1 router must forward packets to the nearest Level 1-Level 2 router with the attach bit set. The attach bit is a flag in the IS-IS Level 1 LSP that indicates that the router is also a Level 2 router and can reach destinations outside the Level 1 area. The Level 1 router will install a default route pointing to the nearest Level 1-Level 2 router with the attach bit set. This way, the Level 1 router can forward packets to other areas without having to maintain a full Level 2 database. References: Ericsson IP Networking - Routing Protocols, Configure Attach Bit Set - Cisco

The code that is commonly used to assign higher priority to VoIP traffic is EF, which stands for Expedited Forwarding. EF is a per-hop behavior (PHB) defined by the Differentiated Services (DiffServ) model for QoS. EF provides low delay, low jitter, and low loss for real-time applications such as VoIP. EF is marked by setting the DSCP value to 101110, which corresponds to decimal 4678. AF31, which stands for Assured Forwarding class 3 low drop probability, is another PHB defined by DiffServ, but it provides lower priority than EF. AF31 is marked by setting the DSCP value to 011010, which corresponds to decimal 2678. DF, which stands for Default Forwarding, is a PHB defined by DiffServ that provides best-effort service for unmarked traffic. DF is marked by setting the DSCP value to 000000, which corresponds to decimal 078. AF11, which stands for Assured Forwarding class 1 low drop probability, is another PHB defined by DiffServ, but it provides lower priority than EF and AF31. AF11 is marked by setting the DSCP value to 001010, which corresponds to decimal 1078.

References: Differentiated services - Wikipedia, Solved: Cisco VoIP Phone traffic marking - Cisco Community