BGP Configuration Guide for Cisco 8000 Series Routers, Cisco IOS XR Releases

BGP Link-State Mechanisms and Update Groups

Updated: February 28, 2026

Overview

Describes BGP Link-State fundamentals and update group mechanisms, including configuration tasks for exchanging IGP link-state information and optimizing BGP update generation and neighbor management.

You will learn the fundamentals of BGP Link-State, step-by-step configuration for exchanging and distributing IGP link-state data, and how update group mechanisms streamline BGP operations across diverse network environments.

BGP Link-State

Explains the protocol extension that distributes IGP link-state information via BGP, improves network topology visibility, and uses a dedicated AFI/SAFI to encode link-state attributes.

BGP update groups

Describes the mechanism that groups BGP neighbors with similar outbound policies to optimize update message generation and improve network performance.

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