Which of the following parameters are not mandatory during the configuration of a BGP peer? A. Password B. Peer IP address C. AS-number D. description

Question

Options

• APassword
• BPeer IP address
• CAS-number
• Ddescription

• A
  82% (23)
• B
  11% (3)
• C
  4% (1)
• D
  4% (1)

Explanation

Password (A) is optional in BGP peer configuration - MD5 authentication adds security but BGP sessions can be established without it. The remaining options are either mandatory or require clarification:

• Peer IP address (B) is mandatory: BGP must know the exact IP address of the neighbor to initiate a TCP session on port 179 - without it, there's no target to connect to.
• AS-number (C) is mandatory: BGP is an inter-AS routing protocol and requires the remote AS number (neighbor x.x.x.x remote-as <ASN>) to validate the peer and determine eBGP vs. iBGP behavior.
• Description (D) is also technically optional (it's just a CLI label), but the exam singles out Password because it is a genuine BGP security parameter that is explicitly configurable yet never required for the session to come up.

Memory tip: Think of BGP's minimum requirements as "Who are you and where are you?" - the peer IP answers "where" and the AS number answers "who." Everything else (password, description, timers) is optional tuning. If a neighbor comes up without a password configured, BGP doesn't complain - it just skips authentication.

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