Two routers R1 and R2 are directly connected. If you want to establish an OSPF adjacency relationship, R1 uses MD5 port authentication, and R2 uses MD5 area authentication. If the passwords are the…

Question

Options

• ATRUE
• BFALSE

• A
  78% (31)
• B
  23% (9)

Explanation

Option A is correct because OSPF authentication operates at the packet level, not the configuration level. Whether authentication is applied at the interface (port) level or the area level is simply a configuration scope distinction - both methods result in the same MD5 authentication data being embedded in OSPF Hello packets. Since both R1 and R2 are using MD5 as the authentication type with matching passwords, the Hello packets exchanged will authenticate successfully and the adjacency will form.

Option B (FALSE) is the distractor and would only be correct if there were a mismatch in authentication type (e.g., one side uses MD5 and the other uses plain-text) or the passwords differ - neither condition applies here.

Memory tip: Think of "port authentication" vs. "area authentication" as two doors into the same room - they look different from the outside but lead to the same outcome. What OSPF actually validates during neighbor discovery is the type + key carried in each packet, not how you configured it on the device.

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