Comprehensive and Detailed In-Depth Explanation:

1. Understanding the Hub-Spoke BGP Design

Hub-Spoke topology is commonly used in MPLS Layer 3 VPNs, where:

Hub-PE acts as a central router.

Spoke-PEs connect to the hub but do not communicate directly with each other.

eBGP (External BGP) is used between the Hub-PE and Spoke-PE routers.

2. The Role of AS Numbers in BGP Route Transmission

By default, BGP prevents routes from being sent back to the same AS (Autonomous System) to avoid loops (via the AS_PATH loop prevention mechanism).

However, in a Hub-Spoke MPLS VPN, the Hub-PE must be allowed to re-advertise routes learned from one spoke to another spoke.

This requires allowing repetitive AS numbers within the same AS to avoid BGP rejecting valid routes.

3. Solution: Using "Allow-AS Loop" on the Hub-PE

The allowas-in or allow-as-loop command must be used on Hub-PE to allow repetitive local AS numbers.

This ensures that routes from Spoke-PE1 (AS65002) are advertised to Spoke-PE2 (AS65003) via Hub-PE, even if AS numbers are repeated.

Example Configuration on Hub-PE:

plaintext

CopyEdit

bgp 65001

peer Spoke-PE1 allow-as-loop 2

peer Spoke-PE2 allow-as-loop 2

This allows Hub-PE to accept and propagate routes even if the AS number appears more than once.

4. Evaluating the Answer Choices

Option

Correct?

Reasoning

A. TRUE

✅ Correct

Hub-PE can be configured to allow repetitive AS numbers using the allow-as-loop feature.

B. FALSE

❌ Incorrect

BGP by default prevents repeated AS numbers, but this can be overridden.

✅ Correct Answer: A. TRUE

Final Conclusion:

By default, BGP prevents AS loopbacks.

Hub-PE needs to allow repetitive AS numbers for proper route transmission in the hub-spoke model.

The "allow-as-loop" command enables this functionality.

Thus, the correct answer is: TRUE.