This example shows how to configure BGP to influence the inbound path selection for traffic destined for the 172.17.1.0 network by modifying the AS-path attribute. In Cisco IOS XE Release 2.4 and later releases, BGP support for 4-octet (4-byte) autonomous system numbers was introduced. The 4-byte autonomous system numbers in this example are formatted in the default asplain (decimal value) format; for example, Router B is in autonomous system number 65538 in the figure below.
One of the methods that BGP can use to influence the choice of paths in another autonomous system is to modify the AS-path attribute. For example, in the figure below, Router A advertises its own network, 172.17.1.0, to its BGP peers in autonomous system 65538 and autonomous system 65550. When the routing information is propagated to autonomous system 65545, the routers in autonomous system 65545 have network reachability information about network 172.17.1.0 from two different routes. The first route is from autonomous system 65538 with an AS-path consisting of 65538, 65536. The second route is through autonomous system 65547 with an AS-path of 65547, 65550, 65536. If all other BGP attribute values are the same, Router C in autonomous system 65545 would choose the route through autonomous system 65538 for traffic destined for network 172.17.1.0 because it is the shortest route in terms of autonomous systems traversed.
Autonomous system 65536 now receives all traffic from autonomous system 65545 for the 172.17.1.0 network through Router B in autonomous system 65538. If, however, the link between autonomous system 65538 and autonomous system 65536 is a really slow and congested link, the
set
as-path
prepend command can be used at Router A to influence inbound path selection for the 172.17.1.0 network by making the route through autonomous system 65538 appear to be longer than the path through autonomous system 65550. The configuration is done at Router A in the figure below by applying a route map to the outbound BGP updates to Router B. Using the
set
as-path
prepend command, all the outbound BGP updates from Router A to Router B will have their AS-path attribute modified to add the local autonomous system number 65536 twice. After the configuration, autonomous system 65545 receives updates about the 172.17.1.0 network through autonomous system 65538. The new AS-path is 65538, 65536, 65536, 65536, which is now longer than the AS-path from autonomous system 65547 (unchanged at a value of 65547, 65550, 65536). Networking devices in autonomous system 65545 will now prefer the route through autonomous system 65547 to forward packets with a destination address in the 172.17.1.0 network.
Figure 3. Network Topology for Modifying the AS-path Attribute
The configuration for this example is performed at Router A in the figure above.
router bgp 65536
address-family ipv4 unicast
network 172.17.1.0 mask 255.255.255.0
neighbor 192.168.1.2 remote-as 65538
neighbor 192.168.1.2 activate
neighbor 192.168.1.2 route-map PREPEND out
exit-address-family
exit
route-map PREPEND permit 10
set as-path prepend 65536 65536