BGP routers establish a TCP connection with one another. These routers are called __________

• A. BGP routers
• B. IP neighbors
• C. Loopback peers
• D. BGP peer routers or BGP neighbors

Answer: (D)

In BGP, the two routers that form a session and exchange routing information are known as BGP peers or BGP neighbors. This terminology highlights their relationship in the protocol: each router is configured to connect to its neighbor and they establish a TCP session (on port 179) to carry BGP updates. Whether the session is EBGP (between different autonomous systems) or IBGP (within the same AS), the devices on each end are referred to as peers or neighbors. Other terms like “BGP routers” are too generic, “IP neighbors” isn’t the standard BGP terminology, and “Loopback peers” isn’t a formal term (loopback addresses may be used as endpoints, but the correct label for the two BGP-speaking devices is peers/neighbors).