What is the primary purpose of route reflectors in BGP?

• A. Replace router advertisements with static routes
• B. Reduce iBGP mesh by reflecting routes
• C. Encrypt BGP sessions
• D. Increase number of required routers

Answer: (B)

Route reflectors address the scalability challenge of iBGP inside an AS. In a pure iBGP setup, every router would need a direct session with every other iBGP router to share routes, which becomes impractical as the network grows. A route reflector sits in the AS and, together with its designated clients, distributes routes learned from one iBGP neighbor to other iBGP clients. This lets you avoid building a full iBGP mesh while still propagating routing information everywhere that needs it. It’s a way to keep route visibility intact as the network expands, without constantly increasing the number of iBGP sessions. The other options aren’t how BGP switches traffic or secures it, and they don’t capture the purpose of route reflectors, which is to reduce the required iBGP mesh and improve scalability.