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350-401 · Question #178

In a Cisco SD-WAN solution, how is the health of a data plane tunnel monitored?

The correct answer is C. using BFD. In Cisco SD-WAN, Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) is the primary mechanism used to actively monitor the health and liveness of data plane tunnels between vEdge or cEdge routers.

Submitted by javi_es· Mar 6, 2026Architecture

Question

In a Cisco SD-WAN solution, how is the health of a data plane tunnel monitored?

Options

  • Awith IP SLA
  • BARP probing
  • Cusing BFD
  • Dwith OMP

How the community answered

(55 responses)
  • A
    2% (1)
  • B
    2% (1)
  • C
    93% (51)
  • D
    4% (2)

Why each option

In Cisco SD-WAN, Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) is the primary mechanism used to actively monitor the health and liveness of data plane tunnels between vEdge or cEdge routers.

Awith IP SLA

IP SLA is a Cisco IOS feature for network performance monitoring, but in Cisco SD-WAN, BFD is specifically used for rapid data plane tunnel health monitoring.

BARP probing

ARP probing is used for address resolution and host reachability within a local segment, not for monitoring the health of data plane tunnels across a WAN.

Cusing BFDCorrect

BFD provides rapid detection of forwarding path failures between two routers by continuously sending small packets at a high frequency over the data plane tunnels. This quick detection identifies if a tunnel is down or experiencing issues, enabling fast rerouting in the SD-WAN fabric.

Dwith OMP

OMP (Overlay Management Protocol) is the routing protocol for the Cisco SD-WAN control plane, responsible for exchanging routing and policy information, but it does not directly monitor the data plane tunnel health itself.

Concept tested: Cisco SD-WAN data plane tunnel monitoring

Source: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/routers/sdwan/configuration/sdwan-xe-gs-book/sdwan-basic-config.html#_Ref81232

Topics

#Cisco SD-WAN#BFD#Tunnel monitoring

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