Table Of Contents
Configuring BGP
The Cisco BGP Implementation
How BGP Selects Paths
BGP Multipath Support
Basic BGP Configuration Task List
Advanced BGP Configuration Task List
Configuring Basic BGP Features
Enabling BGP Routing
Configuring BGP Neighbors
Managing Routing Policy Changes
Resetting a Router Using BGP Dynamic Inbound Soft Reset
Resetting a Router Using BGP Outbound Soft Reset
Configuring BGP Soft Reset Using Stored Routing Policy Information
Verifying BGP Soft Reset
Configuring BGP Interactions with IGPs
Configuring BGP Weights
Disabling Autonomous System Path Comparison
Configuring BGP Route Filtering by Neighbor
Configuring BGP Filtering Using Prefix Lists
How the System Filters Traffic by Prefix List
Creating a Prefix List
Configuring a Prefix List Entry
Configuring How Sequence Numbers of Prefix List Entries Are Specified
Deleting a Prefix List or Prefix List Entries
Displaying Prefix Entries
Clearing the Hit Count Table of Prefix List Entries
Configuring BGP Path Filtering by Neighbor
Disabling Next Hop Processing on BGP Updates
Disabling Next Hop Processing Using a Specific Address
Disabling Next Hop Processing Using a Route Map
Configuring BGP Next Hop Propagation
Configuring the BGP Version
Configuring the MED Metric
Configuring Advanced BGP Features
Using Route Maps to Modify Updates
Resetting eBGP Connections Immediately upon Link Failure
Configuring Aggregate Addresses
Disabling Automatic Summarization of Network Numbers
Configuring BGP Community Filtering
Specifying the Format for the Community
Configuring BGP Conditional Advertisement
BGP Conditional Advertisement Configuration Task List
Conditional Advertisement of a Set of Routes
Verifying BGP Conditional Advertisement
BGP Conditional Advertisement Troubleshooting Tips
Configuring a Routing Domain Confederation
Configuring a Route Reflector
Configuring BGP Peer Groups
Creating the Peer Group
Assigning Options to the Peer Group
Making Neighbors Members of the Peer Group
Disabling a Peer or Peer Group
Indicating Backdoor Routes
Modifying Parameters While Updating the IP Routing Table
Setting Administrative Distance
Adjusting BGP Timers
Changing the Default Local Preference Value
Redistributing Network 0.0.0.0
Configuring the Router to Consider a Missing MED as Worst Path
Selecting Path Based on MEDs from Other Autonomous Systems
Configuring the Router to Use the MED to Choose a Path from Subautonomous System Paths
Configuring the Router to Use the MED to Choose a Path in a Confederation
Configuring Route Dampening
Minimizing Flapping
Understanding Route Dampening Terms
Enabling Route Dampening
Monitoring and Maintaining BGP Route Dampening
Monitoring and Maintaining BGP
Clearing Caches, Tables, and Databases
Displaying System and Network Statistics
Logging Changes in Neighbor Status
BGP Configuration Examples
BGP Route Map Examples
BGP Neighbor Configuration Examples
BGP Prefix List Filtering Examples
Route Filtering Configuration Example Using a Single Prefix List
Route Filtering Configuration Example Specifying a Group of Prefixes
Added or Deleted Prefix List Entries Examples
BGP Soft Reset Examples
Dynamic Inbound Soft Reset Example
Inbound Soft Reset Using Stored Information Example
BGP Synchronization Examples
BGP Path Filtering by Neighbor Examples
BGP Aggregate Route Examples
BGP Community with Route Maps Examples
BGP Conditional Advertisement Configuration Examples
BGP Confederation Examples
BGP Peer Group Examples
iBGP Peer Group Example
eBGP Peer Group Example
TCP MD5 Authentication for BGP Examples
Configuring BGP
This chapter describes how to configure Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). For a complete description of the BGP commands in this chapter, refer to the "BGP Commands" chapter of the Cisco IOS IP Command Reference, Volume 2 of 3: Routing Protocols. To locate documentation of other commands that appear in this chapter, use the command reference master index, or search online. For multiprotocol BGP configuration information and examples, refer to the "Configuring Multiprotocol BGP Extensions for IP Multicast" chapter of the Cisco IOS IP Configuration Guide. For multiprotocol BGP command descriptions, refer to the "Multiprotocol BGP Extensions for IP Multicast Commands" chapter of the Cisco IOS IP Command Reference.
BGP, as defined in RFCs 1163 and 1267, is an Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP). It allows you to set up an interdomain routing system that automatically guarantees the loop-free exchange of routing information between autonomous systems.
For protocol-independent features, see the chapter "Configuring IP Routing Protocol-Independent Features" in this book.
To identify the hardware platform or software image information associated with a feature, use the Feature Navigator on Cisco.com to search for information about the feature or refer to the software release notes for a specific release. For more information, see the "Identifying Supported Platforms" section in the "Using Cisco IOS Software" chapter in this book.
The Cisco BGP Implementation
In BGP, each route consists of a network number, a list of autonomous systems that information has passed through (called the autonomous system path), and a list of other path attributes. We support BGP Versions 2, 3, and 4, as defined in RFCs 1163, 1267, and 1771, respectively.
The primary function of a BGP system is to exchange network reachability information with other BGP systems, including information about the list of autonomous system paths. This information can be used to construct a graph of autonomous system connectivity from which routing loops can be pruned and with which autonomous system-level policy decisions can be enforced.
You can configure the value for the Multi Exit Discriminator (MED) metric attribute using route maps. (The name of this metric for BGP Versions 2 and 3 is INTER_AS_METRIC.) When an update is sent to an internal BGP (iBGP) peer, the MED is passed along without any change. This action enables all the peers in the same autonomous system to make a consistent path selection.
A next hop router address is used in the NEXT_HOP attribute, regardless of the autonomous system of that router. The Cisco IOS software automatically calculates the value for this attribute.
Transitive, optional path attributes are passed along to other BGP-speaking routers.
BGP Version 4 supports classless interdomain routing (CIDR), which lets you reduce the size of your routing tables by creating aggregate routes, resulting in supernets. CIDR eliminates the concept of network classes within BGP and supports the advertising of IP prefixes. CIDR routes can be carried by Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), Enhanced IGRP (EIGRP), and Intermediate System-to-Intermediate System (ISIS)-IP, and Routing Information Protocol (RIP).
See the "BGP Route Map Examples" section at the end of this chapter for examples of how to use route maps to redistribute BGP Version 4 routes.
How BGP Selects Paths
A router running Cisco IOS Release 12.0 or later does not select or use an iBGP route unless both of the following conditions are true:
•
The router has a route available to the next hop router:
•
The router has received synchronization via an IGP (unless IGP synchronization has been disabled).
BGP bases its decision process on the attribute values. When faced with multiple routes to the same destination, BGP chooses the best route for routing traffic toward the destination. The following process summarizes how BGP chooses the best route.
1.
If the next hop is inaccessible, do not consider it.
This decision is why it is important to have an IGP route to the next hop.
2.
If the path is internal, synchronization is enabled, and the route is not in the IGP, do not consider the route.
3.
Prefer the path with the largest weight (weight is a Cisco proprietary parameter).
4.
If the routes have the same weight, prefer the route with the largest local preference.
5.
If the routes have the same local preference, prefer the route that was originated by the local router.
For example, a route might be originated by the local router using the network bgp router configuration command, or through redistribution from an IGP.
6.
If the local preference is the same, or if no route was originated by the local router, prefer the route with the shortest autonomous system path.
7.
If the autonomous system path length is the same, prefer the route with the lowest origin code (IGP < EGP < INCOMPLETE).
8.
If the origin codes are the same, prefer the route with the lowest MED metric attribute.
This comparison is only made if the neighboring autonomous system is the same for all routes considered, unless the bgp always-compare-med router configuration command is enabled.
Note
The most recent Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) decision regarding BGP MED assigns a value of infinity to the missing MED, making the route lacking the MED variable the least preferred. The default behavior of BGP routers running Cisco IOS software is to treat routes without the MED attribute as having a MED of 0, making the route lacking the MED variable the most preferred. To configure the router to conform to the IETF standard, use the bgp bestpath med missing-as-worst router configuration command.
9.
Prefer the external BGP (eBGP) path over the iBGP path.
All confederation paths are considered internal paths.
10.
Prefer the route that can be reached through the closest IGP neighbor (the lowest IGP metric).
The router will prefer the shortest internal path within the autonomous system to reach the destination (the shortest path to the BGP next hop).
11.
If the following conditions are all true, insert the route for this path into the IP routing table:
–
Both the best route and this route are external.
–
Both the best route and this route are from the same neighboring autonomous system.
–
The maximum-paths router configuration command is enabled.
Note
eBGP load sharing can occur at this point, which means that multiple paths can be installed in the forwarding table.
12.
If multipath is not enabled, prefer the route with the lowest IP address value for the BGP router ID.
The router ID is usually the highest IP address on the router or the loopback (virtual) address, but might be implementation-specific.
BGP Multipath Support
When a BGP speaker learns two identical eBGP paths for a prefix from a neighboring autonomous system, it will choose the path with the lowest route ID as the best path. This best path is installed in the IP routing table. If BGP multipath support is enabled and the eBGP paths are learned from the same neighboring autonomous system, instead of one best path being picked, multiple paths are installed in the IP routing table.
During packet switching, depending on the switching mode, either per-packet or per-destination load balancing is performed among the multiple paths. A maximum of six paths is supported. The maximum-paths router configuration command controls the number of paths allowed. By default, BGP will install only one path to the IP routing table.
Basic BGP Configuration Task List
The BGP configuration tasks are divided into basic and advanced tasks, which are described in the following sections. The basic tasks described in the first two sections are required to configure BGP; the basic and advanced tasks in the remaining sections are optional:
•
Enabling BGP Routing (Required)
•
Configuring BGP Neighbors (Required)
•
Managing Routing Policy Changes (Optional)
•
Verifying BGP Soft Reset (Optional)
•
Configuring BGP Interactions with IGPs (Optional)
•
Configuring BGP Weights (Optional)
•
Disabling Autonomous System Path Comparison (Optional)
•
Configuring BGP Route Filtering by Neighbor (Optional)
•
Configuring BGP Filtering Using Prefix Lists (Optional)
•
Configuring BGP Path Filtering by Neighbor (Optional)
•
Disabling Next Hop Processing on BGP Updates (Optional)
•
Configuring the BGP Version (Optional)
•
Configuring the MED Metric (Optional)
Advanced BGP Configuration Task List
Advanced, optional BGP configuration tasks are described in the following sections:
•
Using Route Maps to Modify Updates (Optional)
•
Resetting eBGP Connections Immediately upon Link Failure (Optional)
•
Configuring Aggregate Addresses (Optional)
•
Disabling Automatic Summarization of Network Numbers (Optional)
•
Configuring BGP Community Filtering (Optional)
•
Configuring BGP Conditional Advertisement (Optional)
•
Configuring a Routing Domain Confederation (Optional)
•
Configuring a Route Reflector (Optional)
•
Configuring BGP Peer Groups (Optional)
•
Disabling a Peer or Peer Group (Optional)
•
Indicating Backdoor Routes (Optional)
•
Modifying Parameters While Updating the IP Routing Table (Optional)
•
Setting Administrative Distance (Optional)
•
Adjusting BGP Timers (Optional)
•
Changing the Default Local Preference Value (Optional)
•
Redistributing Network 0.0.0.0 (Optional)
•
Configuring the Router to Consider a Missing MED as Worst Path (Optional)
•
Selecting Path Based on MEDs from Other Autonomous Systems (Optional)
•
Configuring the Router to Use the MED to Choose a Path from Subautonomous System Paths (Optional)
•
Configuring the Router to Use the MED to Choose a Path in a Confederation (Optional)
•
Configuring Route Dampening (Optional)
For information on configuring features that apply to multiple IP routing protocols (such as redistributing routing information), see the chapter "Configuring IP Routing Protocol-Independent Features."
Configuring Basic BGP Features
The tasks described in this section are for configuring basic BGP features.
Enabling BGP Routing
To enable BGP routing and establish a BGP routing process, use the following commands beginning in global configuration mode:
| |
Command
|
Purpose
|
Step 1
|
Router(config)# router bgp as-number
|
Enables a BGP routing process, which places the router in router configuration mode.
|
Step 2
|
Router(config-router)# network network-number [mask
network-mask] [route-map route-map-name]
|
Flags a network as local to this autonomous system and enters it to the BGP table.
|
Note
For exterior protocols, a reference to an IP network from the network router configuration command controls only which networks are advertised. This behavior is in contrast to IGP, such as IGRP, which also use the network command to determine where to send updates.
Note
The network command is used to inject IGP routes into the BGP table. The network-mask portion of the command allows supernetting and subnetting. The resources of the router, such as configured NVRAM or RAM, determine the upper limit of the number of network commands you can use. Alternatively, you could use the redistribute router configuration command to achieve the same result.
Configuring BGP Neighbors
Like other EGPs, BGP must completely understand the relationships it has with its neighbors. Therefore, this task is required.
BGP supports two kinds of neighbors: internal and external. Internal neighbors are in the same autonomous system; external neighbors are in different autonomous systems. Normally, external neighbors are adjacent to each other and share a subnet, while internal neighbors may be anywhere in the same autonomous system.
To configure BGP neighbors, use the following command in router configuration mode:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router(config-router)# neighbor {ip-address | peer-group-name}
remote-as as-number
|
Specifies a BGP neighbor.
|
See the "BGP Neighbor Configuration Examples" section at the end of this chapter for an example of configuring BGP neighbors.
Managing Routing Policy Changes
Routing policies for a peer include all the configurations such as route-map, distribute-list, prefix-list, and filter-list that may impact inbound or outbound routing table updates. Whenever there is a change in the routing policy, the BGP session must be soft cleared, or soft reset, for the new policy to take effect. Performing inbound reset enables the new inbound policy to take effect. Performing outbound reset causes the new local outbound policy take effect without resetting the BGP session. As a new set of updates is sent during outbound policy reset, a new inbound policy of the neighbor can also take effect.
There are two types of reset, hard reset and soft reset. Table 8 lists their advantages and disadvantages.
Table 8 Advantages and Disadvantages of Hard and Soft Resets
Type of Reset
|
Advantages
|
Disadvantages
|
Hard reset
|
No memory overhead.
|
The prefixes in the BGP, IP, and Forwarding Information Base (FIB) tables provided by the neighbor are lost. Not recommended.
|
Outbound soft reset
|
No configuration, no storing of routing table updates.
The procedure for an outbound reset is described in the section "Configuring BGP Soft Reset Using Stored Routing Policy Information."
|
Does not reset inbound routing table updates.
|
Dynamic inbound soft reset
|
Does not clear the BGP session and cache.
Does not require storing of routing table updates, and has no memory overhead.
|
Both BGP routers must support the route refresh capability (in Cisco IOS Release 12.1 and later releases).
|
Configured inbound soft reset (uses the neighbor soft-reconfiguration router configuration command)
|
Can be used when both BGP routers do not support the automatic route refresh capability.
|
Requires preconfiguration.
Stores all received (inbound) routing policy updates without modification; is memory-intensive.
Recommended only when absolutely necessary, such as when both BGP routers do not support the automatic route refresh capability.
|
Once you have defined two routers to be BGP neighbors, they will form a BGP connection and exchange routing information. If you subsequently change a BGP filter, weight, distance, version, or timer, or make a similar configuration change, you must reset BGP connections for the configuration change to take effect.
A soft reset updates the routing table for inbound and outbound routing updates. Cisco IOS software Release 12.1 and later releases support soft reset without any prior configuration. This soft reset allows the dynamic exchange of route refresh requests and routing information between BGP routers, and the subsequent re-advertisement of the respective outbound routing table. There are two types of soft reset:
•
When soft reset is used to generate inbound updates from a neighbor, it is called dynamic inbound soft reset.
•
When soft reset is used to send a new set of updates to a neighbor, it is called outbound soft reset.
To use soft reset without preconfiguration, both BGP peers must support the soft route refresh capability, which is advertised in the OPEN message sent when the peers establish a TCP session. Routers running Cisco IOS software releases prior to Release 12.1 do not support the route refresh capability and must clear the BGP session using the neighbor soft-reconfiguration router configuration command, described in "Configuring BGP Soft Reset Using Stored Routing Policy Information." Clearing the BGP session in this way will have a negative impact upon network operations and should only be used as a last resort.
Resetting a Router Using BGP Dynamic Inbound Soft Reset
If both the local BGP router and the neighbor router support the route refresh capability, you can perform a dynamic soft inbound reset. This type of reset has the following advantages over a soft inbound reset using stored routing update information:
•
Does not require preconfiguration
•
Does not require additional memory for storing routing update information
To determine whether a router supports the route refresh capability, use the show ip bgp neighbors command in EXEC mode:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router# show ip bgp neighbors
ip-address
|
Displays whether a neighbor supports the route refresh capability.
If the specified router supports the route refresh capability, the following message is displayed: Received route refresh capability from peer.
|
If all the BGP routers support the route refresh capability, you can use the dynamic soft reset method for resetting the inbound routing table. To perform a dynamic soft reset of the inbound routing table, use the following command in EXEC mode:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router# clear ip bgp {* |
neighbor-address | peer-group-name}
soft in
|
Performs a dynamic soft reset on the connection specified in the command.
The neighbor-address argument specifies the connection to be reset. Use the * keyword to specify that all connections be reset.
|
See the "BGP Soft Reset Examples" section at the end of this chapter for examples of both types of BGP soft resets.
Resetting a Router Using BGP Outbound Soft Reset
Outbound soft resets do not require any preconfiguration. Using the soft keyword specifies that a soft reset be performed. To perform an outbound soft reset, use the following command in EXEC mode:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router# clear ip bgp {* |
neighbor-address | peer-group-name}
soft out
|
Performs a soft reset on the connection specified in the command.
The neighbor-address argument specifies the connection to be reset. Use the * keyword to specify that all connections be reset.
|
Configuring BGP Soft Reset Using Stored Routing Policy Information
If all of the BGP routers in the connection do not support the route refresh capability, use the soft reset method that generates a new set of inbound routing table updates from information previously stored. To initiate storage of inbound routing table updates, you must first preconfigure the router using the neighbor soft-reconfiguration router configuration command. The clear ip bgp EXEC command initiates the soft reset, which generates a new set of inbound routing table updates using the stored information.
Remember that the memory requirements for storing the inbound update information can become quite large.To configure BGP soft reset using stored routing policy information, use the following commands beginning in router configuration mode:
| |
Command
|
Purpose
|
Step 1
|
Router(config-router)# neighbor {ip-address |
peer-group-name} soft-reconfiguration inbound
|
Resets the BGP session and initiates storage of inbound routing table updates from the specified neighbor or peer group. From that point forward, a copy of the BGP routing table for the specified neighbor or peer group is maintained on the router.
The Cisco implementation of BGP supports BGP Versions 2, 3, and 4. If the neighbor does not accept default Version 4, dynamic version negotiation is implemented to negotiate down to Version 2.
If you specify a BGP peer group by using the peer-group-name argument, all members of the peer group will inherit the characteristic configured with this command.
|
Step 2
|
Router# clear ip bgp {* | neighbor-address |
peer-group-name} soft in
|
Performs a soft reset on the connection specified in the command, using the stored routing table information for that connection.
|
See the "BGP Path Filtering by Neighbor Examples" section at the end of this chapter for an example of BGP path filtering by neighbor.
Verifying BGP Soft Reset
To verify whether a soft reset is successful and check information about the routing table and about BGP neighbors, perform the following steps:
Step 1
Enter the show ip bgp EXEC command to display entries in the BGP routing table. The following output shows that the peer supports the route refresh capability:
BGP table version is 5, local router ID is 10.0.33.34
Status codes: s suppressed, d damped, h history, * valid, > best, i - internal
Origin codes: i - IGP, e - EGP, ? - incomplete
Network Next Hop Metric LocPrf Weight Path
*> 1.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 0 32768 ?
* 2.0.0.0 10.0.33.35 10 0 35 ?
* 10.0.0.0 10.0.33.35 10 0 35 ?
*> 192.168.0.0/16 10.0.33.35 10 0 35 ?
Step 2
Enter the show ip bgp neighbors EXEC command to display information about the BGP and TCP connections to neighbors:
Router# show ip bgp neighbors 171.69.232.178
BGP neighbor is 172.16.232.178, remote AS 35, external link
BGP version 4, remote router ID 192.168.3.3
BGP state = Established, up for 1w1d
Last read 00:00:53, hold time is 180, keepalive interval is 60 seconds
Route refresh: advertised and received
Address family IPv4 Unicast: advertised and received
Address family IPv4 Multicast: advertised and received
Received 12519 messages, 0 notifications, 0 in queue
Sent 12523 messages, 0 notifications, 0 in queue
Route refresh request: received 0, sent 0
Minimum time between advertisement runs is 30 seconds
For address family: IPv4 Unicast
BGP table version 5, neighbor version 5
Index 1, Offset 0, Mask 0x2
Community attribute sent to this neighbor
Inbound path policy configured
Outbound path policy configured
Route map for incoming advertisements is uni-in
Route map for outgoing advertisements is uni-out
3 accepted prefixes consume 108 bytes
Prefix advertised 6, suppressed 0, withdrawn 0
For address family: IPv4 Multicast
BGP table version 5, neighbor version 5
Index 1, Offset 0, Mask 0x2
Inbound path policy configured
Outbound path policy configured
Route map for incoming advertisements is mul-in
Route map for outgoing advertisements is mul-out
3 accepted prefixes consume 108 bytes
Prefix advertised 6, suppressed 0, withdrawn 0
Connections established 2; dropped 1
Last reset 1w1d, due to Peer closed the session
Connection state is ESTAB, I/O status: 1, unread input bytes: 0
Local host: 172.16.232.178, Local port: 179
Foreign host: 172.16.232.179, Foreign port: 11002
Enqueued packets for retransmit: 0, input: 0 mis-ordered: 0 (0 bytes)
Event Timers (current time is 0x2CF49CF8):
Timer Starts Wakeups Next
iss: 273358651 snduna: 273596614 sndnxt: 273596614 sndwnd: 15434
irs: 190480283 rcvnxt: 190718186 rcvwnd: 15491 delrcvwnd: 893
SRTT: 300 ms, RTTO: 607 ms, RTV: 3 ms, KRTT: 0 ms
minRTT: 0 ms, maxRTT: 300 ms, ACK hold: 200 ms
Flags: passive open, nagle, gen tcbs
Datagrams (max data segment is 1460 bytes):
Rcvd: 24889 (out of order: 0), with data: 12515, total data bytes: 237921
Sent: 24963 (retransmit: 0), with data: 12518, total data bytes: 237981
Configuring BGP Interactions with IGPs
If your autonomous system will be passing traffic through it from another autonomous system to a third autonomous system, make sure that your autonomous system is consistent about the routes that it advertises. For example, if your BGP were to advertise a route before all routers in your network had learned about the route through your IGP, your autonomous system could receive traffic that some routers cannot yet route. To prevent this condition from occurring, BGP must wait until the IGP has propagated routing information across your autonomous system, thus causing BGP to be synchronized with the IGP. Synchronization is enabled by default.
In some cases, you need not synchronize. If you will not be passing traffic from a different autonomous system through your autonomous system, or if all routers in your autonomous system will be running BGP, you can disable synchronization. Disabling this feature can allow you to carry fewer routes in your IGP and allow BGP to converge more quickly. To disable synchronization, use the following command in router configuration mode:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router(config-router)# no synchronization
|
Disables synchronization between BGP and an IGP.
|
See the "BGP Path Filtering by Neighbor Examples" section at the end of this chapter for an example of BGP synchronization.
In general, you will not want to redistribute most BGP routes into your IGP. A common design is to redistribute one or two routes and to make them exterior routes in IGRP, or have your BGP speaker generate a default route for your autonomous system. When redistributing from BGP into IGP, only the routes learned using eBGP get redistributed.
In most circumstances, you also will not want to redistribute your IGP into BGP. List the networks in your autonomous system with network router configuration commands and your networks will be advertised. Networks that are listed this way are referred to as local networks and have a BGP origin attribute of "IGP." They must appear in the main IP routing table and can have any source; for example, they can be directly connected or learned via an IGP. The BGP routing process periodically scans the main IP routing table to detect the presence or absence of local networks, updating the BGP routing table as appropriate.
If you do perform redistribution into BGP, you must be very careful about the routes that can be in your IGP, especially if the routes were redistributed from BGP into the IGP elsewhere. Redistributing routes from BGP into the IGP elsewhere creates a situation where BGP is potentially injecting information into the IGP and then sending such information back into BGP, and vice versa. Incorrectly redistributing routes into BGP can result in the loss of critical information, such as the autonomous system path, that is required for BGP to function properly.
Networks that are redistributed into BGP from the EGP protocol will be given the BGP origin attribute "EGP." Other networks that are redistributed into BGP will have the BGP origin attribute of "incomplete." The origin attribute in the Cisco implementation is only used in the path selection process.
Configuring BGP Weights
A weight is a number that you can assign to a path so that you can control the path selection process. The administrative weight is local to the router. A weight can be a number from 0 to 65535. Any path that a Cisco router originates will have a default weight of 32768; other paths have weight 0. If you have particular neighbors that you want to prefer for most of your traffic, you can assign a higher weight to all routes learned from that neighbor.
Weights can be assigned based on autonomous system path access lists. A given weight becomes the weight of the route if the autonomous system path is accepted by the access list. Any number of weight filters are allowed. Weights can only be assigned via route maps.
Disabling Autonomous System Path Comparison
To prevent the router from considering the autonomous system path length when selecting a route, use the following command in router configuration mode:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router(config-router)# bgp bestpath as-path ignore
|
Configures the router to ignore autonomous system path length in selecting a route.
|
Configuring BGP Route Filtering by Neighbor
You can filter BGP advertisements in two ways:
•
Use autonomous system path filters, as with the ip as-path access-list global configuration command and the neighbor filter-list router configuration command
•
Use access or prefix lists, as with the neighbor distribute-list router configuration command.
Filtering using prefix lists is described in the "Configuring BGP Filtering Using Prefix Lists" section.
If you want to restrict the routing information that the Cisco IOS software learns or advertises, you can filter BGP routing updates to and from particular neighbors. You can either define an access list or a prefix list and apply it to the updates.
Note
Distribute-list filters are applied to network numbers and not autonomous system paths.
To filter BGP routing updates, use the following command in router configuration mode:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router(config-router)# neighbor {ip-address |
peer-group-name} distribute-list {access-list-number
| access-list-name} {in | out}
|
Filters BGP routing updates to and from neighbors as specified in an access list.
Note The neighbor prefix-list router configuration command can be used as an alternative to the neighbor distribute-list router configuration command, but you cannot use both commands to configure the same BGP peer in any specific direction. These two commands are mutually exclusive, and only one command (neighbor prefix-list or neighbor distribute-list) an be applied for each inbound or outbound direction.
|

Note
Although the neighbor prefix-list router configuration command can be used as an alternative to the neighbor distribute-list command, do not use attempt to apply both the neighbor prefix-list and neighbor distribute-list command filtering to the same neighbor in any given direction. These two commands are mutually exclusive, and only one command (neighbor prefix-list or neighbor distribute-list) can be applied for each inbound or outbound direction.
Configuring BGP Filtering Using Prefix Lists
Prefix lists can be used as an alternative to access lists in many BGP route filtering commands. The section "How the System Filters Traffic by Prefix List" describes the way prefix list filtering works. The advantages of using prefix lists are as follows:
•
Significant performance improvement in loading and route lookup of large lists.
•
Support for incremental updates. Filtering using extended access lists does not support incremental updates.
•
More user-friendly command-line interface (CLI). The command-line interface for using access lists to filter BGP updates is difficult to understand and use because it uses the packet filtering format.
•
Greater flexibility
Before using a prefix list in a command, you must set up a prefix list, and you may want to assign sequence numbers to the entries in the prefix list.
How the System Filters Traffic by Prefix List
Filtering by prefix list involves matching the prefixes of routes with those listed in the prefix list. When there is a match, the route is used. More specifically, whether a prefix is permitted or denied is based upon the following rules:
•
An empty prefix list permits all prefixes.
•
An implicit deny is assumed if a given prefix does not match any entries of a prefix list.
•
When multiple entries of a prefix list match a given prefix, the longest, most specific match is chosen.
The router begins the search at the top of the prefix list, with the sequence number 1. Once a match or deny occurs, the router need not go through the rest of the prefix list. For efficiency, you may want to put the most common matches or denies near the top of the list, using the seq argument in the ip prefix-list global configuration command. The show commands always include the sequence numbers in their output.
Sequence numbers are generated automatically unless you disable this automatic generation. If you disable the automatic generation of sequence numbers, you must specify the sequence number for each entry using the sequence-value argument of the ip prefix-list global configuration command.
Regardless of whether the default sequence numbers are used in configuring a prefix list, a sequence number need not be specified when removing a configuration entry.
show commands include the sequence numbers in their output.
Creating a Prefix List
To create a prefix list, use the following command in router configuration mode:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router(config-router)# ip prefix-list list-name [seq
sequence-value] {deny | permit network/length} [ge
ge-value] [le le-value]
|
Creates a prefix list with the name specified for the list-name argument.
|
Note
To create a prefix list you must enter at least one permit or deny clause.
To remove a prefix list and all of its entries, use the following command in router configuration mode:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router(config-router)# no ip prefix-list list-name
[seq sequence-value] {deny | permit network/length}
[ge ge-value] [le le-value]
|
Removes a prefix list with the name specified for list-name.
|
Configuring a Prefix List Entry
You can add entries to a prefix list individually. To configure an entry in a prefix list, use the following command in router configuration mode:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router(config-router)# ip prefix-list list-name [seq
sequence-value] {deny | permit network/length} [ge
ge-value] [le le-value]
|
Creates an entry in a prefix list and assigns a sequence number to the entry.
|
The optional ge and le keywords can be used to specify the range of the prefix length to be matched for prefixes that are more specific than the network/length argument. An exact match is assumed when neither ge nor le is specified. The range is assumed to be from ge-value to 32 if only the ge attribute is specified, and from len to le-value if only the le attribute is specified.
A specified ge-value or le-value must satisfy the following condition:
len < ge-value <= le-value <= 32
For example, to deny all prefixes matching /24 in 128.0.0.0/8, use the following command:
ip prefix-list abc deny 128.0.0.0/8 ge 24 le 24
Note
You can specify sequence values for prefix list entries in any increments you want (the automatically generated numbers are incremented in units of 5). If you specify the sequence values in increments of 1, you cannot insert additional entries into the prefix list. If you choose very large increments, you could run out of sequence values.
Configuring How Sequence Numbers of Prefix List Entries Are Specified
By default, the sequence numbers are automatically generated when you create a prefix list entry. Sequence numbers can be suppressed with the no ip prefix-list sequence-number global configuration command. Sequence values are generated in increments of 5. The first sequence value generated in a prefix list would be 5, then 10, then 15, and so on. If you specify a value for an entry and then do not specify values for subsequent entries, the assigned (generated) sequence values are incremented in units of five. For example, if you specify that the first entry in the prefix list has a sequence value of 3, and then do not specify sequence values for the other entries, the automatically generated numbers will be 8, 13, 18, and so on.
To disable the automatic generation of sequence numbers, use the following command in router configuration mode:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router(config-router)# no ip prefix-list
sequence-number
|
Disables the automatic generation of the sequence numbers for prefix list entries.
|
To re-enable automatic generation of the sequence numbers of prefix list entries, use the ip prefix-list sequence number command in router configuration mode:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router(config-router)# ip prefix-list
sequence-number
|
Enables the automatic generation of the sequence numbers of prefix list entries. The default is enable.
|
If you disable automatic generation of sequence numbers in a prefix list, you must specify the sequence number for each entry using the sequence-value argument of the ip prefix-list global configuration command.
Regardless of whether the default sequence numbers are used in configuring a prefix list, a sequence number need not be specified when deconfiguring an entry. show commands include the sequence numbers in their output.
Deleting a Prefix List or Prefix List Entries
To delete a prefix list, use the following command in router configuration mode:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router(config-router)# no ip prefix-list list-name
|
Deletes a prefix list.
|
You can delete entries from a prefix list individually. To delete an entry in a prefix list, use the following command in router configuration mode:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router(config-router)# no ip prefix-list seq
sequence-value
|
Deletes an entry in a prefix list.
|
Note
The sequence number of an entry need not be specified when you delete the entry.
Displaying Prefix Entries
To display information about prefix tables, prefix table entries, the policy associated with a node, or specific information about an entry, use the following commands in EXEC mode as needed:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router# show ip prefix-list [detail | summary]
|
Displays information about all prefix lists.
|
Router# show ip prefix-list [detail | summary]
prefix-list-name
|
Displays a table showing the entries in a prefix list.
|
Router# show ip prefix-list prefix-list-name
[network/length]
|
Displays the policy associated with the node.
|
Router# show ip prefix-list prefix-list-name [seq
sequence-number]
|
Displays the prefix list entry with a given sequence number.
|
Router# show ip prefix-list prefix-list-name
[network/length] longer
|
Displays all entries of a prefix list that are more specific than the given network and length.
|
Router# show ip prefix-list prefix-list-name
[network/length] first-match
|
Displays the entry of a prefix list that matches the given prefix (network and length of prefix).
|
Clearing the Hit Count Table of Prefix List Entries
To clear the hit count table of prefix list entries, use the following command in EXEC mode:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router# clear ip prefix-list prefix-list-name
[network/length]
|
Clears the hit count table of the prefix list entries.
|
Configuring BGP Path Filtering by Neighbor
In addition to filtering routing updates based on network numbers, you can specify an access list filter on both incoming and outbound updates based on the BGP autonomous system paths. Each filter is an access list based on regular expressions. To specify the access list filter, define an autonomous system path access list and apply it to updates to and from particular neighbors. See the "Regular Expressions" appendix in the Cisco IOS Terminal Services Configuration Guide for more information on forming regular expressions.
To configure BGP path filtering, use the following commands beginning in global configuration mode:
| |
Command
|
Purpose
|
Step 1
|
Router# ip as-path access-list access-list-number
{permit | deny} as-regexp
|
Defines a BGP-related access list.
|
Step 2
|
Router# router bgp as-number
|
Enters router configuration mode.
|
Step 3
|
Router(config-router)# neighbor {ip-address |
peer-group-name} filter-list access-list-number {in
| out}
|
Establishes a BGP filter.
|
See the "BGP Path Filtering by Neighbor Examples" section at the end of this chapter for an example of BGP path filtering by neighbor.
Disabling Next Hop Processing on BGP Updates
You can configure the Cisco IOS software to disable next hop processing for BGP updates to a neighbor. Disabling next hop processing might be useful in nonmeshed networks such as Frame Relay or X.25, where BGP neighbors might not have direct access to all other neighbors on the same IP subnet. There are two ways to disable next hop processing:
•
Provide a specific address to be used instead of the next hop address (manually configuring each address).
•
Use a route map to specify that the address of the remote peer for matching inbound routes, or the local router for matching outbound routes (automatic method).
Disabling Next Hop Processing Using a Specific Address
To disable next hop processing and provide a specific address to be used instead of the next hop address, use the following command in router configuration mode:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router(config-router)# neighbor {ip-address |
peer-group-name} next-hop-self
|
Disables next hop processing on BGP updates to a neighbor.
|
Configuring this command causes the current router to advertise its peering address as the next hop for the specified neighbor. Therefore, other BGP neighbors will forward to it packets for that address. This configuration is useful in a nonmeshed environment because you know that a path exists from the present router to that address. In a fully meshed environment, this configuration is not useful because it will result in unnecessary extra hops and because there might be a direct access through the fully meshed cloud with fewer hops.
Disabling Next Hop Processing Using a Route Map
To override the inbound next hop setting for BGP routes and specify that the next hop of the matching routes is to be the IP address of the remote peer, or to set the peering address of the local router to be the next hop of the matching routes, use the neighbor next-hop-self router configuration command.
To configure the neighbor peering address to be used for the next hop address, use the following command in route map configuration mode:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router(config-route-map)# set ip next-hop ip-address
[...ip-address] [peer-address]
|
In an inbound route map of a BGP peer, sets the next hop of the matching routes to be the neighbor peering address, overriding any third-party next hops and allowing the same route map to be applied to multiple BGP peers to override third-party next hops.
With an outbound route map of a BGP peer, sets the next hop of the received address to the peering address of the local router, disabling the next hop calculation.
The next hop must be an adjacent router.
|
Configuring BGP Next Hop Propagation
The BGP Next Hop Propagation feature provides additional flexibility when designing and migrating networks. The BGP Next Hop Propagation feature allows a route reflector to modify the next hop attribute for a reflected route and allows BGP to send an update to an eBGP multihop peer with the next hop attribute unchanged.
Caution 
Incorrectly setting BGP attributes for a route reflector can cause inconsistent routing, routing loops, or a loss of connectivity. Setting BGP attributes for a route reflector should be attempted only by an experienced network operator.
The configuration of this feature in conjunction with the iBGP Multipath Load Sharing feature allows you to use an outbound route map to include BGP route reflectors in the forwarding path.
The BGP Next Hop Propagation feature allows you to perform the following tasks:
•
Bring the route reflector into the forwarding path, which can be used with the iBGP Multipath Load Sharing feature to configure load balancing.
•
Configure interprovider Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) by not modifying the next hop attribute when advertising routes to an eBGP peer.
•
Turn off the next hop calculation for an eBGP peer. This feature is useful for configuring the end-to-end connection of a label-switched path.
To configure an eBGP multihop peer to propagate the next hop unchanged, use the following command in router configuration mode:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router(config-router)# neighbor ip-address
next-hop-unchanged
|
Configures the router to send BGP updates to BGP peers without modifying the next hop attribute.
Caution  This command should be configured only on route-reflector clients and not on a route reflector.
|
Configuring the BGP Version
By default, BGP sessions begin using BGP Version 4 and negotiating downward to earlier versions if necessary. To prevent negotiation and force the BGP version used to communicate with a neighbor, use the following command in router configuration mode:
Command
|
Purpose
|
Router(config-router)# neighbor {ip-address |
peer-group-name} version number
|
Specifies the BGP version to use when communicating with a neighbor.
|
Configuring the MED Metric
BGP uses the MED metric as a hint to external neighbors about preferred paths. (The name of this metric for BGP Versions 2 and 3 is INTER_AS_METRIC.) To set the MED of the redistributed routes, Use the following command in router configuration mode. All the routes without a MED will also be set to this value.