Compatible Systems Setup Guides: BGP Configuration Guide
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Contents
Introduction
The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is an exterior gateway protocol that allows Autonomous Systems to exchange routing information with each other. An Autonomous System is a set of routers under a single technical administration.
Autonomous System (AS) numbers are assigned by the American Registry for Internet Numbers. For further information, see their Web site. It includes a full listing of all assigned AS numbers under the Documentation section.
American Registry for Internet Numbers 
It is possible, but not encouraged, to apply for an AS number to run BGP if an installation is single-homed. However, a separate AS number is required for a multi-homed site where more than one ISP is used. This is because a single-homed installation could be considered internal to the ISP, whereas a multi-homed site cannot.
Routers that exchange BGP information are called BGP Peers. A router may have both external peers in other AS'es, and internal peers within its own AS. A peer is considered external if its AS number differs from the router's own AS number.
Routers establish BGP sessions using the TCP protocol. Upon startup of a new BGP session, BGP peers will exchange their full routing tables, and then only incremental updates are sent as the routing table changes.
This configuration guide describes the configuration options that are available with BGP running on Compatible Systems routers.
Prerequisites
Requirements
There are no specific requirements for this document.
Components Used
This document is restricted to Cisco Compatible Micro Series Routers.
The information in this document was created from the devices in a specific lab environment. All of the devices used in this document started with a cleared (default) configuration. If your network is live, make sure that you understand the potential impact of any command.
BGP General Configuration
The BGP protocol is enabled in the BGP General configuration section. BGP is enabled globally for the router rather than per interface, as RIP and OSPF are. BGP is Off by default. To enable BGP, you must set the BGPEnabled parameter to On.
[ BGP General ]
BGPEnabled = Off Enable or disable the BGP protocol
BGPAS = "" Autonomous system number of this router
BGPLocPref = 100 BGP local preference, default is 100
BGPUseIPRFltrs = False Use IP Route Filters, default is False
The Autonomous System (AS) number of this router is set here. The BGPAS number must be provided; if it is not, BGP will not be enabled.
The local preference attribute BGPLocPref is exchanged among routers in the same AS, and is an indication about which path is preferred to exit the AS; a path with a higher local preference is more preferred. The default of 100 will be used if no BGPLocPref is specified.
BGP uses BGP Route Maps to filter routes and set attributes. More information on these are available in the BGP Peer Config and BGP Route Map sections of this document. The user has the option to use IP Route Filters instead of BGP Route Maps. The value of BGPUseIPRFltrs will be checked for each peer which has no BGP Route Maps defined, and if it is TRUE, the IP Route Filters will be checked for that peer. Note that IP Route Filters are global to the router, whereas BGP Route Maps can be made specific to each peer.
BGP Peer Configuration
The BGP Peer List contains the list of configured peers for this router. The router will not establish a BGP connection with any router not on this list. If there is no BGP Peer List, BGP will not be enabled even if BGPEnabled is set to On in the BGP General section.
[ BGP Peer List ]
BGPPeer = On/Off IPAddress ASNumber PeerConfigID
The On|Off parameter configures the start-up state of the router with respect to the peer; it determines whether the router will automatically try to establish a BGP session with the peer at startup. If this parameter is set to Off, the router will not establish a BGP session with the peer until you issue the BGP Enable command. Note that this will not change the start-up state; the next time you boot the router, the peer will come up in the Off state until you enable it.
You can configure BGP so that all peers are Off at startup. If BGPEnabled = On in the BGP General section, you will be able to dynamically enable selected peers after router startup.
The router will contact the peer using the IPaddress given in the configuration list. The IPaddress and ASNumber of the peer must be provided. The router must have the network of the supplied IP address in its routing table in order for the session to be established. The router determines if a peer is internal or external from the AS number of the peer, since internal peers have the same AS number as the router itself.
Each BGP Peer List entry may contain an optional PeerConfigID, which specifies the number of the BGP Peer Config section where various peer-specific BGP configuration items may be set. A BGP Peer Config section may be used for more than one peer only if all the same parameters are desired.
[ BGP Peer Config "SectionID" ] Section ID is a character string
InputRouteMap = "" Name of input Route Map to be used for this peer
OutputRouteMap = "" Name of output Route Map to be used for this peer
NextHopSelf = False Next hop is this router
EBGPMultihop = False External peer not directly connected
PeerWeight = 100 Neighbor weight
PeerRetryTime = 30 Retry time in seconds
PeerHoldTime = 180 Configured hold time in seconds
BGPUseLoopback = False Use router LoopbackAddress with this peer
AdvertiseDefault = False Advertise default route to this peer
Note that the InputRouteMap and OutputRouteMap are specified separately. The parameters which may be set and checked are different for input and output routes (see BGP Route Map section for details).
If NextHopSelf is set to TRUE, the router will advertise itself as the next hop to the routes it advertises to this peer.
External peers are required to be directly connected, unless EBGPMultihop is set to TRUE. If this parameter is set to TRUE, the router must have a route to the non-directly connected external peer in order to establish a connection.
The PeerWeight parameter is an internal rating assigned to the peer by the administrator; it is not advertised to other routers. Peers with a higher weight are preferred when multiple routes exist to the same destination.
The BGP Retry Time allows the administrator to set the amount of time between retries to establish a connection to configured peers which have gone down for some reason. If a peer is down but its state is set to On, the router will continually try to contact the peer every PeerRetryTime seconds. The minimum accepted PeerRetryTime is 10 seconds.
The Hold Time is negotiated with the peer, so the configured PeerHoldTime will not necessarily end up being the actual hold time used by the peers. The peers will use the smaller of the two hold times proposed. The hold time must be either zero or at least 3 seconds. If the negotiated Hold Time interval is zero, then periodic KEEPALIVE messages will not be sent.
If no PeerWeight, PeerHoldTime or PeerRetryTime are provided, the defaults will be used. The default PeerWeight is 100, the default PeerHoldTime is 180 seconds, and the default PeerRetryTime is 30 seconds.
If a LoopbackAddress is specified in the IP Loopback section, BGPUseLoopback may be set to TRUE. In that case, the router will use its Loopback Address as the IP source in TCP packets to that peer rather than a specific IP address of one of its interfaces. Note, however, that the peer must know how to send packets to that address via normal IP routing procedures. If the address is not on a subnet already known to the peer, it must be added via a static route. The loopback address is normally only used for internal peers, since external peers are usually directly connected.
The router's default route is not advertised to a peer unless the parameter AdvertiseDefault is set to TRUE for that peer.
Sample Peer Configuration
This is a sample peer configuration:
[ BGP Peer List ]
BGPPeer = On 198.41.11.213 100 Peer1
BGPPeer = On 205.14.128.1 110 Peer2
[ BGP Peer Config "Peer1" ]
InputRouteMap = bgpin1
OutputRouteMap = bgpout1
PeerHoldTime = 180
PeerRetryTime = 65
PeerWeight = 1000
[ BGP Peer Config "Peer2" ]
InputRouteMap = bgpin2
OutputRouteMap = bgpout1
PeerHoldTime = 180
PeerRetryTime = 45
PeerWeight = 2000
In theBGP Peer List and BGP Peer Config Peers 198.41.11.213 and 206.14.128.2 use BGP Peer Config 1, and Peer 205.14.128.1 uses BGP Peer Config 2.
BGP Route Advertisement Policy
The default for BGP is to NOT advertise routes. This is to prevent inadvertent advertisement of routes out on the Internet.
To get routes advertised, you have to configure something: The BGP Networks list, IP Route Redistribution, BGP Route Maps, or IP Route Filters.
To get external routes advertised, use BGP Route Maps or IP Route Filters. To get internal routes advertised, use the BGP Networks List or IP Route Redistribution.
Each of these configuration sections is described below.
BGP Networks
The BGP Networks section defines a list of routes that the administrator wishes to advertise as originating inside the AS. These may be directly connected routes, static routes, RIP routes, or OSPF routes.
The router compares the entries in the BGP Networks list with its IP routing table, and will not advertise a route in the Networks list that it cannot find in its IP routing table. Therefore, if you want to advertise local networks which are not in the router's own IP routing table, you will need to add static routes.
Note that the only way to get directly connected routes advertised into BGP is to include them on the Network List. OSPF or RIP routes can be advertised into BGP using the IP Route Redistribution section. Static routes can be advertised into BGP using the redistribute flag on each configured static route.
The optional mask parameter tells the router how many bits of the IP routing table entry to match against the LocalNet address. This is not necessarily the actual mask of the network you wish to advertise. For instance, suppose the router has subnets 198.41.9.32, 198.41.9.64, and 198.41.9.96, all with mask 255.255.255.224. To get BGP to advertise one 198.41.9.0/24 network, your BGP Networks would look like this:
[ BGP Networks ]
LocalNet = IP address [mask]
[ BGP Networks ]
LocalNet = 198.41.9.32 255.255.255.255
The router will match only the 198.41.9.32 entry due to the mask you supplied with the LocalNet. It will advertise the network as 198.41.9.0/24, since it automatically truncates subnet masks more specific than Class C. However, if you provided a mask of 255.255.255.0, you would end up advertising the 198.41.9.0/24 net three times, since all three of your subnets would match the LocalNet entry. This truncation is not same as aggregation, and only applies to internal networks, and only to masks more specific than Class C. To get route aggregation, use the BGP Aggregates section.
BGP Aggregate Configuration
The BGP Aggregates section contains networks which are to be aggregated before being advertised to external peers. The router's IP routing table must contain networks which are a subset of the aggregate in order for the aggregate to be advertised; only the aggregate, and not the individual routes, will be advertised to external peers. Internal peers will receive the individual routes if they originated outside the AS; internal peers do not exchange internal routes via BGP.
It is not necessary to have an aggregate list for internal subnets of Class C networks (see BGP Networks section above). But if you have several class C's (or greater) that can be combined with a single mask to a supernet, aggregation can be used.
[ BGP Aggregates ]
AddrAndMask = [IPAddr] [IPMask]
IP Routing Table Entries
198.41.8.0 255.255.255.0
198.41.9.0 255.255.255.0
198.41.10.0 255.255.255.0
198.41.11.0 255.255.255.0
[ BGP Networks ]
LocalNet = 198.41.8.0 255.255.252.0
[ BGP Aggregates ]
AddrAndMask = 198.41.8.0 255.255.252.0
The single route 198.41.8.0/22 will be advertised to BGP external peers. Without the BGP Aggregates entry, the four networks would be advertised separately. All four of the networks would match the mask provided in the BGP Networks section, but they would not automatically be aggregated.
IP Routing Protocol Redistribution
Another way to specify RIP and OSPF routes to be imported into BGP is by using route redistribution. The default is for all routing redistribution to be disabled.
It is possible to redistribute BGP routes into RIP and OSPF, but it is not recommended unless you are only accepting a small number of BGP routes. Care must be taken with appropriate filters when doing things like importing BGP routes into OSPF and then exporting OSPF routes into BGP.
Note: The number of routes supported will also depend on the amount of memory the router has.
[ IP Route Redistribution ]
BGPtoOSPF Redistribute BGP routes to OSPF
Syntax: [True|False] [Metric]
BGPtoRIP Redistribute BGP routes to RIP
Syntax: [True|False] [Metric]
RIPtoBGP Redistribute RIP routes into BGP
OSPFtoBGP Redistribute OSPF routes into BGP
Redistributing Static Routes into BGP
A static route may be redistributed into BGP by using the redistribute flag when configuring the route in the IP Static section:
[ IP Static ] 198.41.16.0 255.255.255.0 198.41.9.65 1 Redist=BGP
BGP Route Map Configuration
BGP Route Maps are very similar to IP Route Filters, except:
-
They are specific to BGP
-
They can be specified on a per-peer basis
-
They allow BGP attributes to be set on incoming and outgoing routes in addition to filtering routes
Route maps are used only by the BGP protocol, and are not associated with a particular interface. The BGP Peer Config section specifies the route maps, if any, to be applied to the peer. Input route maps and output route maps are specified separately.
BGP routes known to the router will be advertised unless denied by a route map or a route filter. Static, IGP, and directly connected routes will not be advertised unless specified in the BGP Networks section or by route redistribution.
No input routes will be accepted by the router unless a BGP Route Map or IP Route Filter has been defined. If you really want everything, a "permit 0.0.0.0" will do it. The router checks BGP route maps first, and if the route is denied, the IP route filters will not be checked even if BGPUseIPRFltrs is True.
[ BGP Peer Config 2 ]
InputRouteMap = bgpin2
OutputRouteMap = bgpout2
IP Route Filters may be used with BGP instead of BGP Route Maps. The matching conditions are more limited, and various parameters such as community, local preference, and weight cannot be set with IP Route Filters.
The BGP Route Map name is a special section of the configuration, meaning that there are no keywords to document. Each section contains a complete filter set uniquely identified by the Name portion of the section name. Multiple sections may exist, each with a unique name. The name must be 15 characters or less.
BGP Routing Mapping Rules
This section details the parameters and modifiers pertinent to BGP Route Mapping Rules.
action route [direction] [out | in modifiers] permit | deny IP Address out | in
The action, route and direction are required parameters. In and out modifiers are optional.
Action - Permit or Deny
This specifies the action to be taken when a route meets the condition of the rule.
Route - IP Address of Network
The IP Address is specified in the same fashion as described for IP Route Filters; that is, in normal dotted decimal notation, as a factorized address, a hexadecimal number, or with an optional /bits field. See the IP Route Filter manual page for details.
[Direction]
An in or out parameter must be supplied. This specifies the direction for which the rule is applied.
These modifiers apply if the direction is in:
-
ipaddr — IP Address of peer
-
srcas — route has this source AS number
-
hasas — this AS number is contained in AS path
-
nhop — route has this next hop
-
comm — this community is contained in attribute list
-
setpref — set preference to this value
-
setwt — set weight to this value
The ipaddr | hasas | srcas | comm | nhop modifiers limit input rules to routes originating from the designated IP address, AS number, community, or next hop. Only one of these five arguments is expected here. hasas means that the rule will be applied if the AS path contains the specified AS number anywhere in the AS path; srcas means that the rule will be applied only if the route originated in the specified AS.
The setpref modifier allows the preference to be set on incoming routes. If an ipaddr, hasas, srcas, comm, or nhop is supplied, the preference will only be set for routes that match that condition.
The setwt modifier allows the weight to be set on incoming routes. If an ipaddr, hasas, srcas, comm, or nhop is supplied, the weight will only be set for routes that match that condition.
These modifiers apply if the direction is out:
-
ipaddr — IP Address of peer
-
toas — AS number of peer
-
srcas — source AS number of the route
-
origin — protocol the route came from
-
setnhop — set next hop attribute
-
setmed — set multi-exit discriminator attribute
-
setasp — prepend an AS path to the current path
-
setcomm — set a new community list, discarding old
-
addcomm — prepend a community list to existing one
The ipaddr | toas modifiers limit output rules to routes going to the designated IP address or AS number. Only one argument is expected here. If the router only has one peer in a given AS, then ipaddr or toas will accomplish the same result. If the router has multiple peers within a neighboring AS, use the IP address of the peer to limit the rule to just that peer, or use the AS number to apply the rule to every peer in the AS.
The srcas modifier limits output rules to routes originating from the designated AS number.
The origin protocol modifier limits output rules to routes originating from the designated protocol. BGP can advertise direct, static, RIP, OSPF, or other BGP routes from its own IP routing table to peers.
The setnhop modifier allows the next hop to be set on the outgoing route.
The setmed modifier allows the multi-exit discriminator to be set on the outgoing route.
The setasp modifier allows the specified AS list to be prepended to the outgoing AS path attribute. Up to 6 AS numbers may be entered.
The setcomm modifier allows a community list to be set on the outgoing route. The parameters can either be up to 6 community numbers, or one of the special communities: "noexport", "noadv", or "noexpsub". These are the three "well-known" communities defined in RFC 1997, BGP Communities Attribute: NO_EXPORT, NO_ADVERTISE, and NO_EXPORT_SUBCONFED.
The addcomm modifier allows a community list to be prepended on the outgoing route. The parameters can be up to 6 community numbers.
Examples
In BGP Route Map mymapin, route 192.61.5.0 will be permitted in if the Comunity Attribute contains the community 200, and the preference will be set to 100. In line two, all other routes from Community 200 will also be accepted, but the preference will be set to 300. Routes that do not contain Community 200 will be denied.
In BGP Route Map mymapout, all direct routes specified in the BGP Networks section will be allowed out to AS number 200, and the MED will be set to 10. In the second line, all routes will be allowed out to AS number 300, but the Community value will be set to noadv (NO_ADVERTISE).
[ BGP Route Map "mymapin" ]
permit 192.61.5.0 in comm 200 setpref 100
permit 0.0.0.0 in comm 200 setpref 300
[ BGP Route Map "mymapout" ]
permit 0.0.0.0 out toas 200 origin direct setmed 10
permit 0.0.0.0 out toas 300 setcomm noadv
Summary of BGP Route Selection Process
Route maps help the administrator influence the route selection process, since BGP uses weight, preference, and MED, among other things. BGP uses the following criteria, in the order presented, to select its best route for a destination:
-
The most preferred path is the path with the largest weight.
-
If the weights are the same, select the path with the largest local preference.
-
If the preferences are the same, select the path that has the shortest AS path length.
-
If all paths have the same AS path length, select the path with the lowest MED.
-
If the paths have the same MED, select the path from the BGP peer with the lowest Router ID.
IP Route Filters and BGP
The user has the option of using IP Route Filters with BGP instead of BGP Route Maps; however, IP Route Filters do not provide the ability to set BGP attributes as described in the BGP Route Map section. If an InputRouteMap has been defined for a peer, the IP Route Filters will be ignored for input routes even if the BGPUseIPRFltrs parameter has been set to TRUE in the BGP General section. Likewise, if an OutputRouteMap has been defined for a peer, the IP Route Filters will be ignored for output routes.
For BGP, an additional parameter has been added to IP route filtering, and this is filtering based on AS path. A BGP route contains information concerning each Autonomous System (AS) that it has traversed. Route 199.41.13.0, originating in AS 500, would have two AS paths to reach R1: [200,300,500] and [400,600,500].
In the following example, IP Route Filter bgpin applies to Router R1. All routes originating from AS 300 will be filtered out, and all routes originating from AS 400 will be permitted.
IP Route Filter bgpout allows 192.62.16.0 to be advertised to R2, and 192.62.17.0 to be advertised to R4. The IP addresses of R2 and R4 could be used instead of AS numbers in bgpout.
IP Route Filter bgp600 illustrates the use of the contains keyword. This filter would deny any incoming routes that contained AS 600 anywhere in their AS path.
Note the final line in the route filters to prevent unintended filtering of RIP and OSPF routes:
[ IP Route Filter "bgpin" ]
deny 0.0.0.0 in via bgp from 300
permit 0.0.0.0 in via bgp from 400
permit 0.0.0.0 in via rip ospf
[ IP Route Filter "bgpout" ]
permit 192.62.16.0 out via bgp to 200
permit 192.62.17.0 out via bgp to 400
permit 0.0.0.0 out via rip ospf
[ IP Route Filter "bgp600" ]
deny 0.0.0.0 in via bgp contains 600
permit 0.0.0.0 in via rip ospf
--------- --------- ---------
192.62.16.0 | R1 |___________| R2 |__________| R3 |
192.62.17.0 | AS100 | | AS200 | | AS300 |
--------- --------- ---------
| |
| |
--------- --------- ---------
| R4 |__________| R6 |__________| R5 | 199.41.13.0
| AS400 | | AS600 | | AS500 |
--------- --------- ---------
You cannot, however, do the following with AS filtering, because the AS filter applies to the origin of the route. Say that Router R1 is receiving an advertisement about route 199.41.13.0 from both its peers R2 and R4, and that the route originates in AS 500. The AS path for the route from R2 is therefore [200,300,500], and the AS path for the same route from R4 is [400,600,500].
[ IP Route Filter "does not work as intended" ]
deny 199.41.13.0 in via bgp from 200
permit 199.41.13.0 in via bgp from 400
Although the syntax is correct, the above filter would merely cause the route to be rejected; it would not match the filter in line 2 because its source AS number is 500, not 400. To accomplish the purpose intended by the above, you can use the IP addresses of the peers R2 and R4:
[ IP Route Filter "bgpin" ]
deny 199.41.13.0 in via BGP from "R2's IP address"
permit 199.41.13.0 in via BGP from "R4's IP address"
BGP Console Commands
There are several show commands for BGP, and commands to enable/disable BGP or reset BGP connections:
show bgp rtcount BGP Routing Entry Counts
show bgp routes Display BGP Routing Entries
show bgp peers Display the list of BGP Peers and current status
show bgp timers BGP Peer timer information
show bgp mem BGP Database Memory Allocation
show bgp config BGP configuration information
show bgp stats BGP peer uptime and packet exchange statistics
show bgp networks Display list of internal networks to be advertised
show bgp aggregates Display BGP routes to be aggregated
bgp disable Disable BGP connection to all peers or 1 specified peer
Usage: { ALL | IP Address }
bgp enable Enable BGP connection to all peers or 1 specified peer
Usage: { ALL | IP Address }
bgp reset peer Reset BGP connection to all peers or 1 specified peer
Usage: { ALL | IP Address }
Show BGP rtcount
This command displays a summary of the number of routes in the BGP Routing database. With BGP, this is useful if there are a very large number of routes and you want to know how many, but not print them all out.
BGP Test> sho bgp rt
BGP Routing Database Entries In Use Added Removed
In IP routing table: 51548 78694 27146
BGP route heads: 51548 78702 27154
IP Routing Table Entries: 51561
Show BGP Routes
The show bgp routes command, with no arguments, displays the best route in the BGP routing database for each destination. A sample excerpt is shown below.
The BGP routing database may contain routes that are not in the router's IP routing table; a BGP route will not be present in the IP routing table if the router did not have an entry for the next hop of that route.
bgptest>sho bgp ro
BGP Best Routes List
Network/Mask Bits Pref Weight Next Hop AS Path
1 128.128.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 1 1
2 129.129.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 1 1239 1673 1133 559
3 130.130.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 1 1 5727 7474 7570
4 131.131.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 1 1 1236
5 134.134.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 1 1239 1760 4983
6 135.135.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 3561 3561 4293
7 139.139.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 1 1239 568 1913 1569
8 140.140.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 1 1239 7170 374
9 141.141.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 1 1239 3739 3739 3739
10 142.142.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 3561 3561 577 549 808
11 147.147.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 3561 3561 5400 2856
12 149.149.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 1 1 3749
13 150.150.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 3561 3561 3786 6068
14 151.151.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 1 1239 174
15 152.152.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 1 1 286 1891
16 155.155.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 1 701 702 8413 1913 1564
17 158.158.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 3561 3561
18 161.161.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 1 1239 174
19 164.164.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 1 701 7633
20 165.165.0.0 /16 100 100 199.45.133.101 3404 1 701 5713
The show command may also be invoked with a specific route, in which case it will display all the paths for that route.
BGP 2600>sho bgp ro 129.129.0.0
BGP routing table entry for 129.129.0.0/16
Paths: (in order of preference, best first)
AS path 11129 3404 1239 1673 1133 559
Next hop 198.41.11.1 from peer 198.41.11.17 (RtrID 198.41.11.17)
Origin IGP, localpref 100, weight 100
AS path 12345 11129 3404 1239 1673 1133 559
Next hop 198.41.11.1 from peer 198.41.11.201 (RtrID 198.41.11.201)
Origin IGP, localpref 100, weight 100
If just an IP address is entered, the most specific route will be displayed. To display a less specific route with the same IP address, enter the mask also.
BGP routes are displayed using CIDR notation: Network/Mask Bits, rather than Route/Mask.
The preference and weight may be set using BGP Route Maps. If they are not, the default Local Preference and Weight values will be used.
The complete AS path is shown, with the source AS being the one farthest to the right. Each AS which passes the route on will prepend its own AS to the AS path attribute.
An IP Routing Table excerpt for the show ip routing command with BGP routes is shown below. For BGP, the Metric is the path length, just like for RIP. Most BGP routes are IGP, which means they originated in an interior gateway protocol. The other possibilities are EGP (exterior gateway protocol) or Incomplete (usually means a static route).
bgptest> sho ip ro dynamic bgp Dynamic Routes: Destination Mask Gateway Metric Uses Type Src/TTL Interface 3.0.0.0 FF000000 198.41.11.1 5 0 BGP INC Ether0 6.0.0.0 FF000000 198.41.11.1 6 0 BGP INC Ether0 9.2.0.0 FFFF0000 198.41.11.1 6 0 BGP IGP Ether0 9.20.0.0 FFFF8000 198.41.11.1 6 0 BGP INC Ether0 12.0.0.0 FF000000 198.41.11.1 5 0 BGP IGP Ether0 12.2.97.0 FFFFFF00 198.41.11.1 6 0 BGP IGP Ether0 12.2.183.0 FFFFFF00 198.41.11.1 4 0 BGP IGP Ether0 12.4.164.0 FFFFFF00 198.41.11.1 5 0 BGP IGP Ether0 12.5.164.0 FFFFFF00 198.41.11.1 5 0 BGP IGP Ether0 12.5.252.0 FFFFFE00 198.41.11.1 6 0 BGP IGP Ether0 12.6.42.0 FFFFFE00 198.41.11.1 6 0 BGP IGP Ether0 12.7.214.0 FFFFFE00 198.41.11.1 11 0 BGP IGP Ether0 12.8.188.0 FFFFFC00 198.41.11.1 5 0 BGP IGP Ether0 12.8.188.0 FFFFFF00 198.41.11.1 5 0 BGP INC Ether0 12.8.189.0 FFFFFF00 198.41.11.1 5 0 BGP INC Ether0 12.8.191.0 FFFFFF00 198.41.11.1 5 0 BGP INC Ether0 12.10.14.0 FFFFFE00 198.41.11.1 5 0 BGP INC Ether0 12.10.152.0 FFFFF800 198.41.11.1 5 0 BGP IGP Ether0 12.10.231.0 FFFFFF00 198.41.11.1 6 0 BGP IGP Ether0 12.11.134.0 FFFFFE00 198.41.11.1 5 0 BGP IGP Ether0
Show BGP Peers
The show bgp peers command displays the configured BGP peers of this router, with information about the AS number of the peer, the Router ID, the IP address, the TCP socket number, the Enable Status, and the BGP connect state.
bgptest>sho bgp peers
==========================================================================
BGP PEER STATUS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Int AS Router IP TCP Enable BGP
Ext Number ID Address Socket Status State
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ext 23456 0.0.0.0 198.14.13.18 0 Off IDLE
Ext 34567 198.41.11.6 198.14.12.6 82 On ESTABLISHED
Int 11129 0.0.0.0 198.41.11.17 0 Off IDLE
Int 11129 0.0.0.0 198.41.11.2 0 On ACTIVE
==========================================================================
Int/Ext indicates whether this is an internal or external peer. (An internal peer has the same AS number as the router itself.) The AS Number of the peer is configured in the BGP Peer List.
The Router ID is not known until the peer contacts the router, so if the connect state is IDLE, ACTIVE, or CONNECT, this parameter might be 0. The Router ID is usually the IP address of one of the peer's interfaces, and may or may not be the same as the IP address.
The Enable Status indicates whether the router will currently accept a connection request from this peer. The peer can be brought up as enabled by setting the peer to On in the BGP Peer List. Also, the peer can be dynamically enabled or disabled by the BGP Peer Enable and BGP Peer Disable commands. When the Enable Status is Off, the BGP State is always IDLE.
The BGP connect states are: IDLE, ACTIVE, CONNECT, OPENSENT, OPENCONFIRM, and ESTABLISHED. The connect state is established by active negotiations between the peers. In the IDLE state, the router will not accept connections from the peer. This state is entered briefly after a connection has timed out, to prevent too-rapid up-and-down transitions of peers. In the ACTIVE state, the router is listening on its server port for connection requests from the peer. In the CONNECT state, the router has sent out an active TCP connection request to the peer. In the OPENSENT and OPENCONFIRM states, the two peers are exchanging preliminary packets in order to establish their BGP session. If the exchanges are successful, the peers will enter the ESTABLISHED state. The peers must continue to exchange periodic KEEPALIVE packets to remain in the established state, unless the negotiated hold time is 0.
BGP communicates with its peers via TCP. Therefore, further information about BGP sessions can be obtained with the "show os tcp" command. The TCP states are not the same as BGP states, but are the standard TCP states (LISTEN, SYNSENT, SYNRCVD, ESTABLISHED, FINWAIT1, FINWAIT2, CLOSEWAIT, LASTACK, CLOSING, TIMEWAIT). BGP uses port 179 to listen for BGP connection attempts.
bgptest>sho os tcp
==========================================================================
TCP SESSION INFORMATION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Local Remote Remote
Num Session Type State Socket Port Port IP Address
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 SERVER (TELNET) LISTEN 80 23 0 0.0.0.0
2 SERVER (BGP) LISTEN 81 179 0 0.0.0.0
3 ACTIVE (BGP) ESTABLISH 82 20001 179 198.41.9.2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
13 free TCBs out of 16.
==========================================================================
Show BGP Networks
The show bgp networks command displays the list of internal networks to be advertised to external BGP peers.
bgptest>sho bgp networks
BGP NETWORKS: 2
Address Mask
198.41.11.0 255.255.255.0
209.14.128.0 255.255.255.0
Show BGP Stats
The show bgp stats command displays statistics about packet types received from and sent to BGP peers, and the current uptime of the peer.
BGP Test>sho bgp stats
Received Sent
Open messages: 8 58
Keepalive messages: 4069 4124
Notify messages: 0 0
BGP External Peer 198.41.11.6 state ESTABLISHED
6 peer sessions, current uptime 2 days 16 hours 40 minutes 19 secs
0 updates received
78791 updates sent, last at 6 secs
BGP Internal Peer 198.41.9.2 state ESTABLISHED
1 peer sessions, current uptime 2 days 20 hours 42 minutes 28 secs
88791 updates received, last at 7 secs
0 updates sent
Show BGP Timers
The show bgp timers command displays the current time in seconds left on each timer associated with each peer. If the peer is in ESTABLISHED state, this will be the KEEPALIVE timer and the HOLD timer. If the peer is in ACTIVE state, this will be the CONNECT timer. If the peer is in IDLE state but enabled, this will be the AUTO ENABLE timer. If the peer is IDLE and disabled, no timers are active until the bgp peer enable command is issued.
BGP Test>sho bgp timers
======================================================================
BGP TIMERS
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Peer Address Status State Timers
----------------------------------------------------------------------
198.41.9.2 Enabled ESTABLISHED Send KEEPALIVE pkt: 2 secs
HOLD timer expires: 121 secs
198.14.13.2 Enabled ACTIVE Next CONNECT attempt: 16 secs
199.13.12.3 Enabled IDLE AUTO ENABLE: 112 secs
198.41.9.3 Disabled IDLE No timers active
======================================================================
When a peer is in ESTABLISHED state, the Keepalive timer indicates how many seconds until the router will send another KEEPALIVE packet to the peer. The Hold Timer indicates how many seconds until the Hold Timer for the peer will expire. The Hold Timer is set every time the router receives either an UPDATE or a KEEPALIVE packet from the peer. If the Hold Timer expires, the router will declare the peer down, transition the peer to IDLE state, and set the Auto Enable timer.
The Connect and Auto Enable Timers both indicate how many seconds remain until the router will once again try to contact the peer. The Connect timer is used when the peer is in ACTIVE state; in this state, the router will accept an incoming connection request from the peer before the Connect time expires. The Auto Enable timer is used when the peer is in IDLE state; in this state, the router will NOT accept a connection request from the peer until the Auto Enable time has expired. When the Auto Enable time expires, the peer will transition back into the ACTIVE state.
The purpose of the Auto Enable timer is to prevent peer sessions from going up and down at too fast a rate. Once a peer session has been interrupted for some reason, the peer is held down for a short period before a new session will be allowed.
Show BGP Mem
The show bgp mem command displays detailed dynamic memory usage information for BGP.
BGP Test>sho bgp mem
ROUTING DATABASE DYNAMIC MEMORY USAGE
------------------------------------------------------------
Memory Block Allocs Deallocs Size (bytes)
------------------------------------------------------------
ip radix nodes 1976180
ip routing entries 4332132
bgp ip routes 78709 27149
bgp routes 78717 27157 2062400
bgp int change 0 0 0
bgp aggregates 0 0 0
bgp agg paths 0 0 0
bgp timers 12 0 384
-------------------------------------------------------
Peer 198.41.9.2
bgp path entries 78728 27168 1443680
bgp transmit queues 0 0 0
bgp PA strings 28151 21181 1784320
bgp PA hdr entries 28151 21181 529720
bgp rejected routes 0 0 0
bgp rej entries 0 0 0
bgp history entries 0 0 0
------------------------------------------------------------
Total Size 12128816
------------------------------------------------------------
Show BGP Config
This command displays the Router ID of the router, the parameters set in the BGP General section, the route redistribution status, and the peer configuration parameters. Note that the Router ID of the router for BGP is the same as for OSPF, the largest IP address of the router's IP interfaces.
bgptest>sho bgp config
BGPEnabled Yes
Router ID 205.14.128.2
BGP AS Number 100
BGP Local Preference 100
Use IP Route Filters Yes
Route Relector Server No
Redistribute RIP routes into BGP is disabled
Redistribute OSPF routes into BGP is disabled
Redistribute BGP routes into OSPF is disabled
Redistribute BGP routes into RIP is disabled
BGP Peer 205.14.128.1
Configuration ID 1
Startup State Inactive
AS Number 110
Peer Weight 2000
Next Hop Self No
Cfg Hold Time 180
Retry Time 45
Use Loopback No
Advertise Default Yes
Input Route Map rmapin
Output Route Map rmapout
BGP Peer 198.41.11.213
Configuration ID 2
Startup State Active
AS Number 100
Peer Weight 1000
Next Hop Self No
Cfg Hold Time 180
Retry Time 65
Use Loopback No
Advertise Default No
Input Route Map None
Output Route Map None
The peer Startup State indicates whether the router will attempt to establish a session with the peer upon power-on. If this is set to Inactive, the peer may be enabled with the BGP Enable command. The peer will once again be inactive at the next router restart, however.
Note that the first peer has BGP Route Maps defined, whereas the second peer does not. Since Use IP Route Filters has been set to Yes, they will be used for the second peer, but not the first peer.
Show BGP Aggregates
The show bgp aggregates command displays the routes which the administrator has configured to be aggregated to external peers. Aggregation will only occur when an instance of the route appears in the IP routing table.
bgptest>sho bgp agg
BGP AGGREGATES:
195.41.0.0/16
BGP Disable
This command discontinues a BGP session with a selected peer, or with all peers.
BGP disable all
OR
BGP disable 205.14.128.1
Reset BGP Peer
This command resets a session with a selected BGP peer, or with all peers.
Reset BGP Peer all
OR
Reset BGP Peer 205.14.128.1
BGP Quick Start Guide
Here is a very simple configuration to get BGP up and running. This assumes that you only have one exit point from your AS, and will therefore be using a static default route for your outgoing packets.
-
Enable BGP and specify your AS number in the BGP General Section.
[ BGP General ] BGPEnabled = On BGPAS = your AS number
-
Specify the IP address and AS number of your BGP peer, in this case your ISP's BGP router.
[ BGP Peer List ] BGPPeer = On peer IP address peer AS number
-
Specify a network list for the internal networks you want advertised outside your AS.
[ BGP Networks ] LocalNet = first IP address mask LocalNet = second IP address mask
BGP Debug Options
For code versions with debugging available, there are five BGP debug commands: BGPPKT, BGPDB, BGPCON, BGPKEEP, and BGPTXQ. BGPPKT provides information about exchange of BGP update packets. BGPFDB provides database update information. BGPCON provides information concerning the status of BGP sessions with peers. BGPKEEP provides information about when KEEPALIVE packets have been sent or received. BGPTXQ provides information about the sending of update packets to peers in ESTABLISHED state.
sys debug flags BGPPKT
sys debug flags BGPCON
sys debug flags BGPFDB
sys debug flags BGPKEEP
sys debug flags BGPTXQ
BGP RFC References
rfc2283 -- Multiprotocol Extensions for BGP-4.
T. Bates, R. Chandra, D. Katz, Y. Rekhter.
February 1998. (Status: PROPOSED STANDARD)
rfc2042 -- Registering New BGP Attribute Types.
B. Manning.
January 1997. (Status: INFORMATIONAL)
rfc1998 -- An Application of the BGP Community Attribute in
Multi-home Routing.
E. Chen & T. Bates.
August 1996. (Status: INFORMATIONAL)
rfc1997 -- BGP Communities Attribute.
R. Chandra, P. Traina & T. Li.
August 1996. (Status: PROPOSED STANDARD)
rfc1965 -- Autonomous System Confederations for BGP.
P. Traina.
June 1996. (Status: EXPERIMENTAL)
rfc1863 -- A BGP/IDRP Route Server alternative to a full mesh routing.
D. Haskin.
October 1995. (Status: EXPERIMENTAL)
rfc1774 -- BGP-4 Protocol Analysis.
P. Traina, Editor.
March 1995. (Status: INFORMATIONAL)
rfc1773 -- Experience with the BGP-4 protocol.
P. Traina.
March 1995. (Status: INFORMATIONAL)
rfc1771 -- A Border Gateway Protocol 4 (BGP-4).
Y. Rekhter & T. Li.
March 1995. (Status: DRAFT STANDARD)
rfc1745 -- BGP4/IDRP for IP---OSPF Interaction.
K. Varadhan, S. Hares, Y. Rekhter.
December 1994. (Status: PROPOSED STANDARD)
Related Information
Revision History
| Revision | Publish Date | Comments |
|---|---|---|
1.0 |
22-Jan-2007 |
Initial Release |
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