Cisco Enterprise Network Core Technologies (ENCOR) Practice Exam

The connecting state in BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) signifies that the BGP router is attempting to establish a session with a peer, which includes the process of sending a TCP connection request and waiting for a response. During this phase, the router pings the peer to check if it is reachable and to establish a TCP session. If the connection is successful, the state will transition to either the OpenSent state or the OpenConfirm state based on the exchange of BGP Open messages.

This understanding points to the importance of TCP in BGP peer relationships, as they rely on a stable connection to exchange routing information. The connecting state represents a transitional phase where the control plane of the network is actively working to establish a communication link with the remote device.

The other states represent different stages and conditions in BGP operation. For example, the idle state indicates that no BGP process is currently active, while the active state signifies that the router is attempting to reach the peer after an unsuccessful connection attempt. The pending state usually comes into play when the router is waiting for a configuration change to complete before it tries to reach a peer. Each state serves a specific purpose in the overall BGP session establishment process, but the connecting state specifically highlights the initiation of