• atulsharma.cse@gmail.com
• March 3, 2023
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Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) certification is one of the most sought-after certifications in the networking industry. If you’re done with the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certification, it is the best career move to go for CCNP next!

If you’re planning to appear for a CCNP interview, it is best to go through the following CCNP Interview questions. Interviews are indeed nerve-wracking. Yet, you can handle an interview easily if you’re entirely aware of the technology.

In this blog, we have covered the most important concepts to ace a CCNP interview. The questions are separated into two categories:

• CCNP interview questions for Beginners

• CCNP interview questions for Experienced

Let’s begin with the interview questions!

CCNP Interview Questions and Answers for Beginners

1. What is the difference between routing and switching?

Routing moves a telephone call or a letter to the access layer. Switching allows the final delivery. When an address is not used in routing, a switching decision is initiated.

2. Tell us why postal addresses and telephone numbers are routable?

A postal address has the ability to deliver mail by using its three components:

• State
• City
• Street

A phone number has an area code and exchange. Mail can be delivered to the next post office based on state/city and state information at the core layer. A phone number is delivered at the core layer based on the area code.

3. What are the seven states of OSPF neighbor ship?

The seven states of OSPF neighbor ship are as follows:

• Down
• Init
• Two Day
• Exstart
• Exchange
• Loading
• Full

4. What is the use of a default route?

A default route works at times if there is not a specific entry in the routing table for the destination.

5. What are the types of LAN traffic?

There are three types of LAN traffic. These are:

• Unicasts: 

These are meant for one host.

• Broadcasts:

These are meant for everyone.

• Multicasts:

These are meant for only a subset or a group sharing a common network.

6. What is Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP)?

• IGRP is a Cisco-owned distance vector routing protocol.
• It has a default hop count of 100 hops.
• It has a maximum hop count of 225.
• IGRP uses bandwidth and line delay as its default metric.
• At some times, it also uses reliability, load and MTU.

7. What is the difference between a classful and classless routing protocol?

8. What is the difference between bridges and switches?

• The bridges and switches work in the same manner. 
• They differ in the way they are implemented.
• Bridges are implemented by software and most of the time, have many network ports.
• Switches are implemented in hardware by ASIC chips and have many ports.

9. What are the types of OSPF routes?

There are 6 different types of OSPF routes:

• Intra-Area (O)
• Inter-Area (O IA)
• External Type 1 (E1)
• NSSA Type 1 (N1)
• External Type 2 (E2)
• NSSA Type 2 (N2)

10. Mention the types of BGP attributes.

There are namely 4 general types of BGP attributes. These are as follows:

• Well-known mandatory
• Well-known discretionary
• Optional transitive
• Optional non-transitive

11. Define VTP and its significance in a network?

VTP (VLAN Trunking Protocol) is a Cisco protocol that helps manage VLANs across multiple switches. It automatically updates and syncs VLAN changes, reducing manual work and preventing errors. This makes network management easier and more efficient, especially in large setups.

12. Explain the concept of subnetting?

Subnetting is the process of dividing a large network into smaller, more manageable parts called subnets. It helps improve security, reduce congestion, and efficiently use IP addresses. By subnetting, networks can control traffic flow and ensure better performance in communication.

13. Describe the purpose of NAT in networking?

NAT (Network Address Translation) allows multiple devices in a private network to share a single public IP address for internet access. It improves security by hiding internal IPs and helps conserve IPv4 addresses. NAT is commonly used in homes and businesses for efficient networking.

14. How does STP (Spanning Tree Protocol) prevent network loops?

STP (Spanning Tree Protocol) prevents network loops by blocking redundant paths in a network. It selects a Root Bridge, determines the best paths, and places extra links in a blocking state. If an active path fails, STP reactivates a blocked path to maintain connectivity.

CCNP Interview Questions and Answers for Experienced:

11. How to enable IGRP on a Cisco router?

Enabling IGRP is quite similar to enabling RIP on a Cisco router. The only difference is that you need to select IGRP as the protocol and add an anonymous system number.

For example, RouterA(config)#router igrp 10 (10 is the AS number)

RouterA(config-router)#network 192.168.0.0

RouterA(config-router)#network 192.168.1.0

RouterA(config-router)#network 192.168.2.0

12. Tell us about the structure and format of an NSAP address?

An NSAP address comprises two parts:

• Initial Domain Part (IDP)
• Domain Specific Part (DSP)
• The IDP is equal to the network ID of an IP address. 
• The DSP is equal to the subnet and host ID.
• The IDP further has 2 more parts:
  • Authority and Format Identifier (AFI)
  • Initial Domain Identifier (IDI)
• The DSP consists of the following parts:
  • High Order Part of DSP (HO-DSP): It identifies the area.
  • System ID: It identifies the host.
  • SEL: It identifies the type of service.

An NSAP address has a length that varies from 8 bytes to 20 bytes. It consists of the following components:

• 1 to 13-byte area ID
• 6-byte system ID
• 1-byte NSAP selector, equal to zero for a router

13. What is the function of a Level 1-2 router in IS-IS?

There are 2 IS-IS databases in a Level 1-2 router.

• Level 1 database:

It is used for routing to destinations within a router’s configured area.

• Level 2 database:

It is used to route between destinations in different areas.

14. What are the differences between the operation of IBGP and EBGP?

15. What is route leaking?

Route leaking refers to the redistribution of Level 2 routes into an area of Level 1 routes.

16. What is the use of the WEIGHT attribute?

Sometimes, there can be more than one route to the same IP prefix. In such a case, the best path has the highest WEIGHT value.

17. What are the ways for installing a prefix in the BGP routing table?

• Transfer a router from the IP routing table to the BGP routing table using the network command.
• Redistributing routes from the IP routing table to the BGP routing table.

You can also install a prefix in the BGP routing table by learning it from a BGP neighbor which already has a prefix installed.

18. What are the two methods for reducing the number of IBGP connections?

The two methods to reduce the number of IBGP connections are as follows:

• Route reflector:

A route reflector is a networking routing component present in BGP. it is the best substitute for the full-mesh requirement of internal BGP (IBGP).

• Confederation:

BGP confederations are able to break up a large autonomous system (AS) into sub-autonomous systems. Each of the sub-AS is identified within the confederation AS as a unique sub-AS number.

19. What is the range of IP multicast addresses?

The range of IP multicast addresses is 224.0.0.0-239.255.255

20. What is the use of metric or MULTI_EXIT_DISC attribute?

The role of MULYI_EXIT_DISC (MED) is to prefer a path into an autonomous system. A lower MED value is preferred over a higher MED value.