BGP States/Stage:-

1. Idle
2. Connect
3. Active
4. Open Sent
5. Open Confirm
6. Established

Let's grasp from the below sample topology –

Idle state –

This is the first state of BGP and this state indicates that BGP process is either administratively down or
waiting for the next retry attempt or BGP waiting for the start event.

Connect state –

The BGP process is waiting for the TCP connection to be completed. If it is successful, then it jumps
towards open sent state. However, if there is a problem, it goes to ACTIVE state.

If the TCP connection is successful -

 1. Clears the connect Retry timer
2. Completes initialization

If the TCP connection is unsuccessful -

1. Continues to listen for a connection to be initiated by the neighbor.

2. Reset the connect Retry timer
3. Transitions to the Active state.

Active state –

In this state BGP will try another TCP 3-way handshake to establish a connection with the remote BGP
neighbor. If it is successful then it will jump next state and that state is called open sent state.

Open sent state –

In this state open messages are exchanged between the neighbor to ensure that whether open message
parameters are same with the neighbor or not.

In this state routers are compared following parameters.

1. BGP Versions must match.

2. The source IP address of the OPEN message must match the IP address that is configured for the
neighbor.
3. AS number in the OPEN message must match what is configured for the neighbor.
4. BGP Identifiers (RID) must be unique. If a RID does not exist, this condition is not met.
5. Security Parameters (Password, TTL, and the like).
If above these parameters get matched then will jump in next state – open confirm state, or else fail
then back to idle state.

Open confirm state –

BGP waits in this state for Keep alive from the peer (neighbors). If successful, then move next state -
Established otherwise if get any error then back to idle state.

Established state –

1. In this state, the peers send Update messages to exchange information about each route
being advertised to the BGP peer.

2. If there is any error in the Update message then a Notification message is sent to the peer,
and BGP transitions back to the Idle state.

Below are the every state in details-

On R1 router -
On R2 Router –

BGP neighbor ship is not coming up then check the below following parameters. -

1. Confirm that peer (neighbor) ip address is pingable or not.

2. TCP port 179 is open or not and check random TCP port over 1023 is opened or not.
3. Check TTL if your peer is EBGP.
4. Peer ip address is configured correctly on the peer.
5. As number is configured correctly on the peer router.
 6. Check neighbor source is correct or not (update source).

Note – – Please give your feedback on the above BGP states whether it is correct or not. If there is
any point error please feel free to comment so that I can reform that thing as well.

Thank you
Umesh Prajapti.