When you initially unbox and power on a Juniper MX Series router, it loads a factory-default configuration
. Unlike some consumer-grade or lower-end enterprise switches that might have all ports active in a default VLAN, high-performance routers like the MX Series prioritize security and intentionality. In the factory- default state, the transit interfaces are not configured .
While the physical hardware interfaces (such as ge-0/0/0 or xe-0/1/0) are detected by the Junos kernel, they lack any logical unit or protocol family definitions (like family inet or family inet6). Without a logical unit- even a simple unit 0-the Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) will not accept or forward any traffic arriving on those ports. Furthermore, as discussed in previous questions, the device is essentially in a " locked " state; you cannot even commit new changes to enable these interfaces until you have defined a root-authentication password. This " blank slate " approach ensures that no traffic accidentally flows through a newly installed provider-edge device until an architect has explicitly defined the routing policies, firewall filters, and interface parameters required for the specific network environment. To begin passing traffic, you must manually define the logical units and assign the appropriate IP addresses or switching parameters to each interface.
Reference: Configuration Basics, Initial Configuration, Factory Default Settings.

In the Junos OS architecture, the Routing Engine (RE) manages path selection by evaluating multiple potential routes to a specific destination found within the Routing Information Base (RIB). When multiple routing sources (such as static configuration, OSPF, IS-IS, and BGP) provide information for the exact same destination prefix-in this case, 192.168.100.100/32 -the device utilizes route preference as the primary tie- breaker to determine which entry becomes the " active " route.
The provided exhibit displays the default preference values for each protocol: Static is 5 , OSPF is 10 , IS-IS is 15 , and BGP is 170 . Junos OS follows a " lower is better " logic for preference; therefore, the Static route is selected as the most trustworthy path. In the command output, the active route is explicitly identified by the asterisk (*) and plus sign (+) symbols located next to the [Static/5] entry. Looking at the specific next-hop information for this active static route, the output indicates the traffic is sent to 192.168.0.2 via xe-0/0/0.0 .
Consequently, the Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) will install this specific path into the forwarding table, causing all traffic destined for 192.168.100.100 to be egressed over the xe-0/0/0.0 interface.
Reference: Routing Fundamentals, Route Preference, and Routing Table Output Interpretation.

Area 0 is the OSPF backbone area, and all other areas are generally required to connect to it, either directly or through virtual links, to maintain proper route propagation.

In the exhibit shown, the highlighted number next to the route type (Static) within the square brackets indicates the route preference, also known as the administrative distance. In Junos, the route preference is a value that determines the priority of the route source. Lower numbers indicate a higher priority when the routing table is being calculated. The route preference is used to select the best route when multiple paths to the same destination exist from different routing sources. The number 5 is unusually low for a static route by default, suggesting it has been manually configured to override other route types.