Cisco ENCOR Practice Exam 2025 – All-in-One Comprehensive Guide to Mastering Enterprise Network Core Technologies!

In the context of Perpetual Mode (PM) Designated Router (DR) selection in a Multi-Access network, the first priority is given to the highest priority value. The priority value allows administrators to influence which router will be elected as the DR and therefore, play a crucial role in minimizing multicast and broadcast traffic over the network.

When routers participate in the DR election process, they utilize the priority configured on each router's interface. If one router has a higher priority value than others, it is selected as the DR for that segment. The importance of this approach lies in the ability to tune the network for optimal performance, ensuring that a more reliable or faster router can serve as the designated router.

If there is a tie in the priority values, the election process then moves to the next criteria, which is usually the highest router ID, determined by the highest IP address assigned to the router or the highest MAC address if the router ID is not manually configured. This hierarchy thus emphasizes the importance placed on configured priorities as the primary factor before looking at IP or MAC addresses.