In EVPN multihoming, the Ethernet Segment Identifier (ESI) is the mandatory identifier used to represent a multihomed Ethernet segment—for example, a server or downstream switch that is dual-homed to two leaf devices using a single logical LAG/port-channel. By assigning the same ESI to the participating leaf-facing interfaces, the fabric recognizes those links as belonging to one Ethernet segment and can apply EVPN multihoming procedures consistently across the pair.
A key outcome of EVPN multihoming is loop prevention for multi-attached Layer 2 domains. EVPN uses the Ethernet segment concept (identified by the ESI) along with Designated Forwarder (DF) election to ensure that only the appropriate device forwards BUM (broadcast, unknown unicast, multicast) traffic toward the multihomed segment, avoiding duplicate forwarding and L2 loops. In addition, ESI-based multihoming supports resilient forwarding behavior during failures (for example, link or node loss) while maintaining correct advertisement and convergence in the EVPN control plane.
Therefore, among the provided options, the purpose that best matches how ESI is used operationally is to prevent loops within a LAG/multihomed connection, which is fundamental to EVPN-VXLAN data center designs on Junos v24.4 leaf devices and is also explicitly supported by Apstra when modeling ESI-based dual-homing.
Verified Juniper sources (URLs):
https://www.juniper.net/documentation/us/en/software/nce/evpn-lag-multihoming-guide/topics/concept/evpn-lag-guide-introduction.html
https://www.juniper.net/documentation/us/en/software/nce/evpn-lag-multihoming-guide/topics/task/evpn-lag-guide-esi-types-lacp.html
https://www.juniper.net/documentation/us/en/software/junos/evpn/topics/topic-map/evpn-mh-df-election.html