Inter-domain Routing Basics

► Exterior routing protocols created to:

™ controlthe expansion of routing tables
Border Gateway Protocol ™ provide a structured view of the Internet by
segregating routing domains into separate
administrations called “Autonomous systems”
(AS)
™ each AS can have an independent routing
policy

Inter-domain Routing Basics Inter-domain Routing Basics

► Autonomous system (AS):
™ set of routers have a single routing policy running
under a single administration
™ could be a collection of IGPs working together to
provide interior routing
► Outside world AS looks like a single entity –
identified by a AS#
► Routing information between ASs exchanged by
the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)

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 Inter-domain Routing Basics
Stub AS:
► An AS is considered “stub” when it reaches
networks outside it domain via a single exit point
► Stub AS is single-homed with respect to its
provider
► Stub AS uses from the “private pool” 65412-
65535
► Stub AS need not learn any AS-level routes –
just use a default route to provider AS
Inter-domain Routing Basics
► Other ASs can force traffic through a nontransit
multihomed AS – AS must filter traffic to prevent
this
Inter-domain Routing Basics
Multihomed Nontransit AS
► AS is multihomed if it has more than one exit
point to outside
► AS can be multihomed to a single or multiple
providers
► Nontransit AS does not allow transit traffic to go
through it
► Transit traffic has source and destination outside
the AS
► A nontransit AS would only advertise its own
routes and not routes it learned from others
Inter-domain Routing Basics
Multihomed Transit AS
► Allows transit traffic to pass through
► BGP can be used as a “pipe” to exchange
BGP updates within an AS – Internal BGP
(IBGP)
► BGP connections between ASs called
External BGP (EBGP)
► Routers running EBGP called border
routers and IBGP called transit routers
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 Inter-domain Routing Basics Inter-domain Routing Basics
► BGP is a path vector protocol used to carry
routing information between ASs
► Path refers to a sequence of AS#s – indicating
the path traversed
► Two BGP routers forming a transport level
connection to exchange information is called
peers

Inter-domain Routing Basics Inter-domain Routing Basics

► Initially, all candidate routes are exchanged ► Marker field (16-bytes) used to
► Incremental updates (deltas) are sent as authenticate the incoming BGP message
network information changes
► BGP message length can be in [19-4096]
► BGP message header is given below bytes
► BGP message types:
™ OPEN:
™ UPDATE
™ NOTIFICATION
™ KEEPALIVE

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 Inter-domain Routing Basics
► OPEN message: ► NOTIFICATION
™ opens a connection between BGP peers –
should be completed for successful BGP
operation
™ exchanges the following information – AS# (2
byte field), hold time (maximum amount of
time in seconds that can elapse between
successive KEEPALIVE or UPDATE
message), BGP identifier, optional
parameters, optional parameter length
Inter-domain Routing Basics
► KEEPALIVE message: ► UPDATE
™ these messages are exchanged between
peers to determine reachability
™ keepalive messages are sent at a rate that
ensures that the hold time will not expire
Inter-domain Routing Basics
message:
™ when an error is detected after a BGP
connection is established, a BGP peer sends
a NOTIFICATION message before closing the
peer connection
™ administrators need to examine the
NOTIFICATION message to determine the
cause of the error
Inter-domain Routing Basics
message:
™ update messages use the following:
• network layer reachability information (NLRI)
• path attributes
• unreachable routes
™ NLRIis given using IP prefixes to be
compatible with CIDR
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 Inter-domain Routing Basics Inter-domain Routing Basics
► BGP path attributes are used to keep track
of route specific information:
™ degree of preference
™ next hop value of a route
™ aggregation information

NLRI – network layer reachability information

Building Peer Sessions Building Peer Sessions

► When neighbor sessions are established during ► Normally external BGP routers are restricted to
OPEN be connected by the same network segment
™ peer routers use AS#s to determine whether they are
in the same AS or not
™ IBGP or EBGP is used based on this information

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 Building Peer Sessions
► Synchronization within an AS
™ BGP must be synchronized with IGP such that
it waits until the IGP has propagated routing
information across AS before advertising
transit routes to other ASs
™ if advertised before, the AS may receive traffic
that cannot be routed!
™ when a router receives updates from an IBGP
peer it should verify the reachability using IGP
before advertising to other EBGP peers
Sources of Routing Updates
► Injecting information statically into BGP:
™ proves to be most effective in ensuring route stability
™ IGP routes (or aggregates) that need to be advertised
are manually defined as static routes
™ static routes have the disadvantage that the routes
may not accurately reflect the current state
™ not much of a problem for “single point” updates
™ for “multiple point” updates, black holes can be
created – destination actually reachable but routes
are incorrect
Building Peer Sessions
► Injecting BGP routes into AS is costly:
™ distributing routes from BGP into IGP results
in major overhead on internal routers
™ carrying all external routes into an AS is
unnecessary
™ internal non-BGP routers can use default exit
BGP (border or transit) routers to leave AS –
this may be suboptimal
Sources of Routing Updates
► Injecting information dynamically into
BGP:
™ can be divided into purely dynamic – where all
IGP routes are redistributed into BGP
™ semidynamic – where only certain IGP routes
are injected into BGP
™ semidynamic allows the administrators to
choose which routes should be advertised
™ distributing the whole of IGP routes into BGP
can cause information leakage
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 Sources of Routing Updates BGP Routing Process
► Dynamic approach can lead to unstable ► Routing process involves the following:
routes ™ pool of routes that the router receives from its
™ routedampening is used to reduce the peer
fluctuations ™ input policy engine that filter routes or
manipulate their attributes
™ decision process that decides which routes
the router itself will use
™ output policy engine the can filter routes or
manipulate their attributes
™ pool of routes that are advertised to other
peers

BGP Routing Process BGP Routing Process

► Input policy engine:
™ filteringis done on different parameters such
as IP prefixes, AS_path information, and
attribute information
™ input policy engine also manipulates the path
attributes to influence its own decision – filter
certain network numbers, give certain route a
better local preference, etc

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 BGP Routing Process
NEXT_HOP Attribute:
► For EBGP next hop is the IP address of
the neighbor announcing the route
► For IBGP sessions, for routes originated
inside the AS, the next hop is the IP
address of the neighbor that announced
the route
► Routes injected in AS via EBGP, next hop
is carried unaltered

BGP Routing Process BGP Routing Process

► AS_path attribute is a mandatory attribute
™ sequence of AS#s a route has traversed to reach a
destination
™ AS originating the route adds its own AS number
when sending the route to its external BGP peers
™ Each AS that transmits the sequence prepends its
own AS# to the sequence – originating AS will be at
the “end” of the sequence
► BGP uses AS_path as part of the routing
updates

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 BGP Routing Process BGP Routing Process
► If route is advertised to the AS that originated it (loop), ► Private ASs:
the AS_path attribute will contain the AS#, the AS will ™ to conserve AS numbers, InterNIC, generally does
reject the route not assign a legal AS# to customers whose policies
are extensions of providers

BGP Routing Process BGP Routing Process

► Route aggregation involves summarizing
ranges of routes into one or more CIDR
blocks
™ drawback is the loss of granularity that existed
in the specific routes that form the aggregate
™ if AS_path information that existed in multiple
routes are lost, routing loops can be created

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 BGP Routing Process BGP Routing Process
► AS_path can be manipulated to affect
interdomain routing behavior – BGP
prefers shorter path over larger ones
™ includedummy AS#s to increase path lengths
and influence the traffic

BGP Routing Process Path Vectors

► Route aggregation:
™ BGP-4 supports “supernetting” to fully exploit
CIDR
™ Instead of representing addresses as 32-bit
numbers 9.0.0.0, 128.96.0.0, or 192.4.18.0
™ a prefix notation is used: 9/8 (8-bit prefix),
128.96/16 (16-bit prefix), or 192.4.18/24 (24-
bit prefix)
™ to reduce the size of the routing tables -- route
aggregation is performed

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 Path Vectors Path Vectors
► AS T manages two class C networks ► With route aggregation
™ 197.8.0/24 and 197.8.1/24 -- this can be ™ Path 1: reaches 197.8.0/22
represented by a 23-bit prefix 197.8.0/23 ► What is the path?
™ if there are two more ASs X and Y that use T
™ we cannot just list T, loop detection need the
as transit AS and they are allocated complete path
197.8.3/24 and 197.8.4/24 respectively
™ listing a complete path like T, X, Y is
► Withoutroute aggregation, AS T misleading -- implies a three hop path
announces 3 routes to its neighbor Z ► AS path attribute into two components:
™ Path 1: through T, reaches 197.8.0/23
™ ordered list -- AS sequence
™ Path 2: through T, X, reaches 197.8.2/24
™ unordered set -- AS set
™ Path 3: through T, Y, reaches 197.8.3/24
™ Path: (Sequence (T), Set (X, Y))

Path Vectors Path Vectors

► IfZ wants to forward this path to one of its ► “Path vectors” is an important concept of
neighbors, it will place its own AS # in the the BGP
front
™ Path: (Sequence (Z, T), Set (X, Y)) ► It provides for loop-free routing in complex

► Sequence and set components are used topologies

for loop detection
► Rule for path aggregation:
™ sequence components should be the
intersection of all sequences
™ set of components contain all the ASs
mentioned in any of the paths to aggregate
yet are not present in the aggregated
sequence

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 Path Vectors
► Can we use link state ideas?
™ by distributing to all external routers a complete map
of the Internet (aggregated of course)
™ let the routers compute the shortest paths
™ Inter Domain Policy Routing (IDPR) is based on this
idea
™ a problem with this approach is updating the
distributed maps
™ OSPF recommends 200 routers for an OSPF area
and there are definitely more than 200 ASs
Internal and External Peers
► An external (border) router that learned
about a path towards a network should
update the local AS routing table
Path Vectors
► In distance vector protocol, all information about
the route to a destination is concentrated in the
“metric” value -- insufficient for fast loop
resolution
► BGP approach:
™ routing update carries a full list of ASs traversed
between source and dest -- a loop occurs if an AS is
listed twice in this list
™ loop prevention: external router checks whether it is
already listed on a path -- if so refuses to use it
™ listing the complete path (list of AS numbers) causes
the size of routing messages and memory needed for
running the protocol to increase
Internal and External Peers
► The AS path announced by D to C should
include X and Z
► The information available to D through IGP is
that routes are available to X’s networks
™ this may not be enough to propagate useful BGP
update message to C
► BGP establishes an “internal” BGP connection
will all the external routers in a AS -- connecting
the external routers in a fully connected graph
independent of the IGP
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 Internal and External Peers
► Maintaining a fully connected graph is a
very heavy requirement if the number of
external (border) routers is large
► Route reflectors are used to alleviate this
problem – share the routes within the
domain – need not have a full mesh.
Border Gateway Protocol
► Because BGP uses TCP -- reliable
protocol, it can exchange data
incrementally
BGP header:
► BGP protocol includes a “delimitation”
function that separates the byte stream
into a set of independent messages
Border Gateway Protocol
► BGP runs over the TCP -- delegating error
control to TCP makes BGP design simpler
► Drawbacks of using TCP:
™ susceptible to congestion related problems
™ this in turn could make the congestion even
worse when BGP is carrying routing
information needed to cure congestion
™ could use “high” priority for such datagrams to
reduce this types of problems
Border Gateway Protocol
► The 16-byte marker is designed for security
purposes
™ could be a cryptographic sum of the message and
can only be checked after complete reception
► Routers supporting BGP wait for BGP
connections on port 179
™ a routing wanting to establish a connection first
creates a TCP connection
™ once connection established, OPEN message is sent
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 Border Gateway Protocol
™ OPEN message is used to negotiate
association’s parameters
► AS is set to the AS of the sending router
► BGP identifier is one of the IP interface
addresses of the BGP router
Border Gateway Protocol
► Hold time -- amount of time (in seconds) used by
the “keep alive” procedure
► Initialization could fail:
™ if the version is not supported by the peer
™ if the authentication fails
™ connection collision occurs when both BGP peers
attempt to set up a connection simultaneously
► Hold time defines the time that may elapse
between two consecutive KEEPALIVE or
UPDATE messages

Border Gateway Protocol

► BGP Updates:
► Once connection is established, BGP
stations start exchanging “updates”
► Updates can
™ advertise“unfeasible” routes -- routes that are
withdrawn since the last update

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