C:\Documents and Settings\Deepak Arora\Desktop\BGP Part 1

Monday, March 15, 2010 10:17 PM

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+
BGP Module 1.1 Summary
+
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
***BGP is a Path Vector Protocol which route IP traffic between Autonomous Systems(AS).An AS is
a collection of networks under the single technical administration. So basically IGPs Route IP
traffic within an AS & EGP<BGP> Routes traffic between ASs.
=> Note: Single Technical Administration means sharing the same routing protocol & routing
policy. It has nothing to do with Legal & Administrative ownership of the routers within the AS.
+++Autonomous Systems(AS) Details+++
=> AS numbers are 16 Bit, unassigned integers ranging from 1-65535
=> Public AS Numbers = 1-64511
=> Private AS Numbers = 64512-65535

og

sp

ot
.

co

m
/

***BGP is Technicallly an Application which is used to exchange Prefix information

between/within ASs. BGP uses well known TCP port 179 in order to communicate to another BGP
Speaker. As BGP uses TCP protocol in order to send routing updates to its neighbors so it's
considered as reliable updates mechanism and it doesn't require any further protocol/mechanism
to perform this function.

bl

+++Benifits of using BGP over IGPs+++

98

4.

*Scalability => BGP can handle internet routing table containing hundred of thousands of routes

ka

ro

ra
1

*Support for Routing policies => BGP allows us to create much more efficient routing policies
compare to IGPs which usually makes routing decision based on lowest cost or shortest path. The
flexibility of creating and using routing policies is very less with IGPs

ee
pa

* Secure Routing Information Exchange => BGP supports MD5 Authentication in order to exchange
routes with other BGP speakers securely

ht

tp

:/

/d

+++BGP sends routing updates to its neighbors by using a reliable transport mechanism. This
technique means that the sender of the information always knows that the receiver has actually
received the information. As a result, there is no need for periodic updates or routing
information refreshes. In BGP, only the information that has changed is transmitted
+++BGP keepalive+++
=>In BGP a router that has received reachability information from a BGP peer must be sure that
the peer router is still there. Otherwise, the router could route traffic toward a next-hop
router that is no longer available, causing the IP Packets to be lost ,unless some application
data is actually transmistted between the peers. In an idle , where there is no need for BGP to
update its peer, the peer could be unreachable without TCP detecting it. Therefore, BGP takes
care of detecting the presence of neighbors by periodically sending small BGP Keepalive packets
to them. According to BGP specification, the peer router also must reply with a BGP keepalive
packet
+++BGP Triggered/Batch Updates+++
=>When BGP was created, a key design goal was to be able to handle enormous amounts of routing
information in very large and complex networks. In this environment, many links could go up and
down (flapping), causing topology changes, which must be considered by the routing protocol.
But low convergence time and quick responses to topology changes require fast updates and high
-1-

C:\Documents and Settings\Deepak Arora\Desktop\BGP Part 1

Monday, March 15, 2010 10:17 PM

CPU power to process both incoming and outgoing updates. The larger the network, the more
updates per second can be expected if immediate response is required. The presence of too many
updates in large networks can jeopardize network scalability. The designers of BGP decided that
scalability was a more important issue than low convergence time, so BGP was designed to batch
updates. Any changes that are received within the batch interval time are saved. At the end of
the interval, only the remaining result is forwarded in an outgoing update. If a network flaps
several times during the batch interval, only the state at the end of the interval is sent in
an update. The batching feature avoids an uncontrolled flood of updates all over the Internet
because the number of updates is limited by the batching procedure
=> Triggered updates batched and rate-limited
Every 5 seconds for internal peer
Every 30 seconds for external peer

og

sp

ot
.

co

m
/

+++ Typical Scenario where we can/should use BGP+++

=> Customers connected to more than one service provider(Multihomed).
=>ISP networks themselves acting as transit systems and forwarding external traffic.
=>Exchange points, which can be defined by the network access point (NAP) between region
and core. International exchange points can be defined by either Commercial Internet
eXchange (CIX) or Global Internet eXchange (GIX) points.
=>Very large enterprises using BGP as their core routing protocol.

ka

ro

ra
1

98

4.

bl

***The following use guidelines apply to multihomed customers***

=> Although there are designs where BGP could be avoided, most multihomed customers need to
use BGP with their service providers.
=> Multihomed customers must have their own AS numbers,and it is recommended to use a public AS
number.
=> Multihomed customers should use a provider-independent address space, which is allocated to
them directly by an Internet registry.

ht

tp

:/

/d

ee
pa

+++ SOME BGP LIMITATIONS +++

=> Router running BGP must have high amount of RAM along with good quality processor because
BGP process is very memory CPU & memory intensive
=> Special IOS image is required in order to run BGP, not all IOS images support BGP
=>BGP-enabled routers make forwarding decisions based on the destination IP address only; the
source IP address does not affect the decision. If an AS acts as a transit AS for other
autonomous systems, the IP packets that are created and transmitted from the other autonomous
systems are not treated differently from the IP packets that are created and transmitted from
the local AS. If the local AS has decided that the best path to reach a certain destination is
via a specific next-hop router, then it will route all user data traffic toward the final
destination via that specific next-hop router. The local AS makes its decision based on
destination address only, regardless of which IP host has sourced the IP packets

-2-