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Unicast RPF with Routing Asymmetry

In general, we recommend that you not enable unicast RPF on interfaces that are internal to the network because internal interfaces are likely to have routing asymmetry. Routing asymmetry means that a packet’s outgoing and return paths are different. Routers in the core of the network are more likely to have asymmetric reverse paths than routing platforms at the customer or provider edge. Figure 7 shows unicast RPF in an environment with routing asymmetry.

Figure 7: Unicast RPF with Routing Asymmetry

Image g017009.gif

In Figure 7, if you enable unicast RPF on interface so-0/0/0, traffic destined for Router A is not rejected. If you enable unicast RPF on interface so-1/0/1, traffic from Router A is rejected.

If you need to enable unicast RPF in an asymmetric routing environment, you can use fail filters to allow the routing platform to accept incoming packets that are known to be arriving by specific paths. For an example of a fail filter that accepts packets with a specific source and destination address, see Example: Configuring Unicast RPF.


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