Category: BGP

Worth Exploring: BGP from Theory to Practice

My good friend Tiziano Tofoni finally created an English version of his evergreen classic BGP from theory to practice with co-authors Antonio Prado and Flavio Luciani.

I had the Italian version of the book since the days I was running SDN workshops with Tiziano in Rome, and it’s really nice to see they finally decided to address a wider market.

Also, you know what would go well with that book? Free open-source BGP configuration labs of course 😉

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BGP Labs: Multivendor External Routers

A quick update BGP Labs project status update: now that netlab release 1.6.4 is out I could remove the dependency on using Cumulus Linux as the external BGP router.

You can use any device that is supported by bgp.session and bgp.policy plugins as the external BGP router. You could use Arista EOS, Aruba AOS-CX, Cisco IOSv, Cisco IOS-XE, Cumulus Linux or FRR as external BGP routers with netlab release 1.6.4, and I’m positive Jeroen van Bemmel will add Nokia SR Linux to that list.

If you’re not ready for a netlab upgrade, you can keep using Cumulus Linux as external BGP routers (I’ll explain the behind-the-scenes magic in another blog post, I’m at the Deep Conference this week).

For more details read the updated BGP Labs Software Installation and Lab Setup guide.

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Video: History of BGP Route Leaks

I’ll be talking about Internet routing security at the Deep conference in a few days, and just in case you won’t be able to make it1 ;) here’s the first bit of my talk: a very brief history of BGP route leaks2.

Note: you’ll find more Network Security Fallacies videos in the How Networks Really Work webinar.

You need at least free ipSpace.net subscription to watch videos in this webinar.
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Will Network Devices Reject BGP Sessions from Unknown Sources?

TL&DR: Violating the Betteridge’s Law of Headlines, the answer is “Yes, but the devil is in the details.

It all started with the following observation by Minh Ha left as a comment to my previous BGP session security blog post:

I’d think it’d be obvious for BGP routers to only accept incoming sessions from configured BGP neighbors, right? Because BGP is the most critical infrastructure, the backbone of the Internet, why would you want your router to accept incoming session from anyone but KNOWN sources?

Following my “opinions are good, facts are better” mantra, I decided to run a few tests before opinionating1.

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BGP Labs: Protect EBGP Sessions

I published another BGP labs exercise a few days ago. You can use it to practice EBGP session protection, including Generalized TTL Security Mechanism (GTSM) and TCP MD5 checksums1.

I would strongly recommend to run BGP labs with netlab, but if you like extra work, feel free to use any system you like including physical hardware.


  1. I would love to add TCP-AO to the mix, but it’s not yet supported by the Linux kernel, and so cannot be used in Cumulus Linux or FRR containers. ↩︎

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Case Study: BGP Routing Policy

Talking about BGP routing policy mechanisms is nice, but it’s even better to see how real Internet Service Providers use those tools to implement real-life BGP routing policy.

Getting that information is incredibly hard as everyone considers their setup a secret sauce. Fortunately, there are a few exceptions; Pim van Pelt described the BGP Routing Policy of IPng Networks in great details. The article is even more interesting as he’s using Bird2 configuration language that looks almost like a programming language (as compared to the ancient route-maps used by vendors focused on “industry-standard” CLI).

Have fun!

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BGP Labs: Simple Routing Policy Tools

The first set of BGP labs covered the basics, the next four will help you master simple routing policy tools (BGP weights, AS-path filters, prefix filters) using real-life examples:

The labs are best used with netlab (it supports BGP on almost 20 different devices), but you could use any system you like (including GNS3 and CML/VIRL). If you’re stubborn enough it’s possible to make them work with the physical gear, but don’t ask me for help. For more details, read the Installation and Setup documentation.

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BGP Labs: The Basics

The first BGP labs are online. They cover the basic stuff (one has to start with the basics, right?):

The labs are supposed to be run on virtual devices, but if you’re stubborn enough it’s possible to make them work with the physical gear. In theory, you could use any system you like to set up the virtual lab (including GNS3 and CML/VIRL), but your life will be way easier if you use netlab – it supports BGP on almost 20 different devices. For more details, read the Installation and Setup documentation.

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New Project: BGP Hands-On Labs

Approximately 30 years ago I managed to persuade the powers-that-be within Cisco’s European training organization that they needed a deep-dive BGP course, resulting in a 3 (later 5) day Advanced BGP Configuration and Troubleshooting (ABCT) course1. I was delivering that course for close to a decade, and gradually built a decent story explaining the reasoning and use cases behind most of (then available) BGP features, from simple EBGP sessions to BGP route reflectors and communities2.

Now imagine having more than a dozen hands-on labs that go with the “BGP from rookie to hero” story available for any platform of your choice3. I plan to make that work (eventually) as an open-source project that you’ll be able to download and run free-of-charge.

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