Five things you should know about Cisco

IOS BGP configuration

Takeaway: The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is the routing protocol oI the Internet.
However, routers usually only use BGP when there are multiple connections to the Internet.
But iI you did have a BGP router conIiguration, would you know what to look Ior? Let`s look
at a sample conIiguration and discuss what you need to know. II you |...|
The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is the routing protocol oI the Internet. However, routers
usually only use BGP when there are multiple connections to the Internet.
But iI you did have a BGP router conIiguration, would you know what to look Ior? Let`s look
at a sample conIiguration and discuss what you need to know.
II you used the show running-configuration command or the show runn'beg bgp command.
would you know what you were looking at in the output? Below is an example oI a BGP
router conIiguration Irom an actual working router. (I`ve changed the passwords, IP
addresses, and AS numbers Ior security purposes.)
name-Router# show running-configuration | beg bgp
router bgp 55555
no synchronization
bgp log-neighbor-changes
bgp dampening
network 3.3.3.0
neighbor 1.1.1.1 remote-as 1234
neighbor 1.1.1.1 description Provider1
neighbor 1.1.1.1 password 7 09823490822093482F
neighbor 1.1.1.1 update-source Loopback1
neighbor 1.1.1.1 version 4
neighbor 1.1.1.1 route-map Provider1 out
neighbor 2.2.2.2 remote-as 5678
neighbor 2.2.2.2 description Provider2
neighbor 2.2.2.2 password 7 09823490822093482F
neighbor 2.2.2.2 update-source Loopback2
neighbor 2.2.2.2 version 4
neighbor 2.2.2.2 weight 50
What can we tell Irom this output? We can tell that this router connects to two ISPs, and it`s
probably perIorming dynamic, shortest AS path routing between the two. In addition, we can
tell that passwords exist on each connection, and there are descriptions to help identiIy each
connection. Now that you have an idea what we`re working with, here are the Iive most
important things you need to know about BGP conIiguration.

What is the AS number?
A very important number in this conIiguration is the autonomous system (AS) number. In
this example, it`s 55555, in the line route bgp 55555.
This number uniquely identiIies the routing domain under your control that connects to the
Internet. BGP is a 'path vector routing protocol. In its most basic sense, BGP`s iob is to
choose the shortest path through the Internet cloud oI autonomous systems.
You can obtain the BGP AS number Irom the American Registry Ior Internet Numbers
(ARIN). The AS number uniquely identiIies you in the BGP cloud oI the Internet.
What is the minimum needed to configure a BGP
neighbor?
The minimum BGP conIiguration that a router needs to communicate with a BGP peer (i.e., a
neighbor) is a neighbor statement and a route to that neighbor. The conIiguration could be as
small as this:
router bgp 55555
neighbor 1.1.1.1 remote-as 1234
However, more realistically, you`re also advertising a network. For example:
network 3.3.3.0
With this command, you`re telling BGP neighbors which IP network you`re advertising to
them. That way, when you send traIIic out, they know how to get the response back to you. In
addition, you should conIigure a password to perIorm secure MD5 encryption on BGP
transactions.
Which BGP show commands should I use?
Here are the two most important BGP show commands:
O $how ip bgp summarv: This command displays the status oI your BGP peering
relationships.
O $how ip bgp: This command displays all routes received Irom your BGP peers.
You`ll use these commands over and over again when using BGP. In Iact, I`ve used them so
much that I created command shortcuts. Here`s an example:
alias exec sib show ip bgp
alias exec sibs show ip bgp summary
Now, I can iust type sibor sibs to get this important BGP command output.
Which metrics does BGP use?
When using BGP, you need to know how BGP makes its decisions. I mentioned that BGP
chooses the shortest AS path through the Internet. While this is true, it also uses a number oI
other important metrics to make decisions.
To Iind out, read Cisco`s BGP Best Path Selection Algorithm documentation. For example,
the metric oI 'shortest AS path is actually Iourth in the list oI metrics used. BGP only uses it
iI there`s a 'tie when comparing the weight, local preIerence, and locally originated vs.
aggregate addresses.
What`s with the no synchronization command?
One oI the more conIusing BGP commands is the no svnchronization command. By deIault,
BGP only advertises routes (i.e., networks) to neighbors iI it already has an internal route
with that route in the routing table. Many times, this is one oI the Iirst things that admins do
when conIiguring BGP simply because they don`t have a dynamic internal routing
protocol running on their Internet router.
But there`s a purpose Ior this command to only advertise networks that the router can
communicate with. However, you can still disable it. Here`s an example:
Router bgp 55555
no synchronization