Nokia NRS I (4A0-100) | Chapter 9: OSPF

Chapter 9 Practice Questions

OSPF - NRS I / 4A0-100 exam format (30 questions)

Single best answer, four options (A to D). These 30 cover every section of Chapter 9: the link-state mechanism and SPF,
features and interface types, the router ID, the Hello protocol and neighbour states, DR/BDR, LSAs and flooding, and the
cost metric. Several use the exam's NOT and ordered-sequence framing. Attempt all first, then check the key.

Questions
1. OSPF is best described as:
A. a distance-vector IGP
B. a link-state IGP that exchanges topology information
C. an exterior gateway protocol
D. a Layer 2 protocol

2. What do OSPF routers exchange to build their databases?

A. complete routing tables
B. topology information in the form of LSAs
C. MAC address tables
D. ARP caches

3. After building the LSDB, each OSPF router computes its routes by:
A. copying a neighbour's routing table
B. running the SPF algorithm to build a shortest-path tree with itself as root
C. using hop count
D. asking the DR

4. Which OSPF version and RFC apply to IPv4?

A. OSPFv3, RFC 5340
B. OSPFv2, RFC 2328
C. OSPFv1, RFC 1131
D. OSPFv2, RFC 793

5. Which of the following is NOT an OSPF feature?

A. support for areas (hierarchy)
B. authentication with password or MD5
C. hop-count-based metric like RIP
D. MPLS traffic-engineering extensions

6. What is the default OSPF interface type on an Ethernet port, and the recommended practice?
A. point-to-point; leave as is
B. broadcast; best practice is to configure it as point-to-point
C. point-to-point; change to broadcast
D. loopback; no change

7. An OSPF router ID is:

A. a 48-bit MAC address
B. a 32-bit value in dotted-decimal notation
C. a 16-bit port number
D. an area number

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Nokia NRS I (4A0-100) | Chapter 9: OSPF

8. In what order does a Nokia router choose its OSPF router ID?
A. chassis MAC, then system interface, then configured
B. configured router-id, then system interface address, then last 4 octets of the chassis MAC
C. always the lowest interface IP
D. always the loopback

9. What must happen for a change to the OSPF router ID to take effect?
A. nothing, it is immediate
B. the OSPF process must be restarted (it is not preemptive)
C. the router must be replaced
D. a new area must be created

10. To which multicast address are OSPF Hello packets sent?

A. [Link]
B. [Link]
C. [Link]
D. [Link]

11. Which set of parameters must match on both routers to form an OSPF adjacency?
A. router ID and MAC address
B. area ID, password, Hello interval, and dead interval
C. IP address and hostname
D. priority and cost

12. What is the default OSPF Hello interval?

A. 5 seconds
B. 10 seconds
C. 30 seconds
D. 40 seconds

13. What is the default OSPF dead interval?

A. 10 seconds
B. 20 seconds
C. 40 seconds
D. 120 seconds

14. What is the correct order of OSPF neighbour states?

A. Down, 2-Way, Init, ExStart, Exchange, Loading, Full
B. Down, Init, 2-Way, ExStart, Exchange, Loading, Full
C. Init, Down, 2-Way, Exchange, ExStart, Full, Loading
D. Down, Init, ExStart, 2-Way, Loading, Exchange, Full

15. What does the 2-Way state indicate?

A. the LSDBs are identical
B. the router sees its own router ID in the neighbour's Hello
C. a master has been elected
D. flooding is complete

16. In the ExStart state, how is the master router chosen, and what is checked?
A. lowest IP; checksum
B. highest router ID becomes master; the MTUs must match

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Nokia NRS I (4A0-100) | Chapter 9: OSPF

C. lowest router ID; the area must match

D. random; nothing

17. Two OSPF routers are 'fully adjacent' when they reach which state?
A. 2-Way
B. Exchange
C. Loading
D. Full

18. On which type of network does OSPF elect a DR and BDR?

A. point-to-point links
B. broadcast (multi-access) networks such as Ethernet
C. loopback interfaces
D. all networks

19. What is the purpose of the Designated Router (DR)?

A. to encrypt LSAs
B. to reduce the number of adjacencies on a broadcast segment by being one of the only routers others fully
adjoin
C. to assign IP addresses
D. to run BGP

20. Which multicast address represents all OSPF Designated Routers?

A. [Link]
B. [Link]
C. [Link]
D. [Link]

21. On a point-to-point OSPF link, adjacency formation is:

A. impossible
B. automatic once the routers detect each other via Hellos, with no DR/BDR
C. dependent on a DR election
D. manual on both ends

22. How are LSAs carried and made reliable during flooding?
A. in Hello packets, unacknowledged
B. in Link State Update packets, each of which is acknowledged
C. in ARP replies
D. in TCP segments

23. What are the OSPF LSA maximum age and refresh times?
A. 30 minutes max age, 15 minutes refresh
B. 60 minutes max age, 30 minutes refresh
C. 10 minutes max age, 5 minutes refresh
D. 24 hours max age, 12 hours refresh

24. Which LSA type does every OSPF router generate to describe its own links?
A. Type 2 Network LSA
B. Type 1 Router LSA
C. Type 5 External LSA
D. Type 3 Summary LSA

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Nokia NRS I (4A0-100) | Chapter 9: OSPF

25. In a single-area point-to-point OSPF network, which LSA types are needed?
A. Type 1 and Type 2
B. only Type 1 Router LSAs
C. only Type 5 External LSAs
D. all five types

26. How is the OSPF cost of an interface calculated?

A. hop count to the destination
B. reference bandwidth divided by the interface bandwidth
C. interface bandwidth divided by reference bandwidth
D. the MTU size

27. On a Nokia 7750 SR with the default reference bandwidth of 100 Gbps, what is the cost of a
1-Gbps interface?
A. 1
B. 10
C. 100
D. 1000

28. Using the same 100-Gbps reference bandwidth, what is the cost of a 100-Mbps interface?
A. 10
B. 100
C. 1000
D. 10000

29. Between a 1-Gbps link (cost 100) and a 100-Mbps link (cost 1,000), which does OSPF prefer,
and why?
A. the 100-Mbps link, higher cost wins
B. the 1-Gbps link, because lower cost is preferred
C. neither, costs are ignored
D. whichever came up first

30. Which statement about OSPF is FALSE?

A. It builds an identical LSDB on every router in an area
B. It uses hop count as its metric
C. It runs the SPF algorithm to select routes
D. Its default internal route preference on a Nokia router is 10

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Nokia NRS I (4A0-100) | Chapter 9: OSPF

Answer Key and Explanations

Each answer lists the correct option and a brief reason drawn from the chapter.

1. B OSPF is a link-state IGP; routers exchange topology (LSAs), not routing tables.

2. B OSPF floods LSAs so every router builds an identical link-state database (LSDB).

3. B Each router independently runs SPF on the common LSDB to build a loop-free shortest-path tree.

4. B OSPFv2 (RFC 2328) routes IPv4; OSPFv3 (RFC 5340) supports IPv6.

5. C OSPF uses a cost metric based on bandwidth, not hop count; hop count is RIP's metric.

6. B Ethernet defaults to the broadcast type; configuring it as OSPF point-to-point avoids DR/BDR
overhead.

7. B The router ID is a 32-bit dotted-decimal identifier, like an IP address.

8. B It uses an explicitly configured router-id first, then the system interface address, then the chassis
MAC.

9. B Changing the router ID is not preemptive; OSPF must be restarted to adopt it.

10. B OSPF uses [Link] (all OSPF routers) for Hellos and for flooding on point-to-point links.

11. B The area ID, authentication password, Hello interval, and dead interval must all match.

12. B Hellos are sent every 10 seconds by default.

13. C The dead interval defaults to 40 seconds, the wait before declaring a neighbour down.

14. B The sequence is Down, Init, 2-Way, ExStart, Exchange, Loading, Full.

15. B Reaching 2-Way means two-way communication is confirmed because the router sees its own ID
returned.

16. B The router with the highest router ID becomes master, and the OSPF MTUs must match to
proceed.

17. D In the Full state both routers hold an identical LSDB and are fully adjacent.

18. B DR/BDR election happens on broadcast segments to reduce the number of adjacencies.

19. B Only the DR and BDR form full adjacencies with other routers, cutting adjacencies and duplicate
LSAs.

20. B [Link] is all DR routers; [Link] is all OSPF routers.

21. B Point-to-point neighbours become fully adjacent automatically and do not elect a DR/BDR.

22. B LSAs travel in Link State Update packets (which may hold several) and every update is
acknowledged.

23. B An LSA ages out at 60 minutes; the originating router refreshes it every 30 minutes.

24. B Every OSPF router originates a Type 1 Router LSA for its local topology within the area.

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Nokia NRS I (4A0-100) | Chapter 9: OSPF

25. B A single-area point-to-point network needs only Type 1 Router LSAs to convey topology.

26. B Cost = reference bandwidth / interface bandwidth, so faster links get a lower cost.

27. C 100 Gbps / 1 Gbps = 100.

28. C 100 Gbps / 0.1 Gbps = 1,000, so the slower link has the higher cost.

29. B Lower cost is better, so the 1-Gbps link (100) is preferred over the 100-Mbps link (1,000).

30. B OSPF uses a bandwidth-based cost metric, not hop count, so statement B is false.

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