Example: Configuring BGP Confederations

Requirements

• Configure network interfaces.
• Configure external peer sessions. See Example: Configuring External BGP Point-to-Point Peer Sessions.
• Configure interior gateway protocol (IGP) sessions between peers.
• Configure a routing policy to advertise the BGP routes.

Overview

Within a BGP confederation, the links between the confederation member autonomous systems (ASs) must be external BGP (EBGP) links, not internal BGP (IBGP) links.

Similar to route reflectors, BGP confederations reduce the number of peer sessions and TCP sessions to maintain connections between IBGP routing devices. BGP confederation is one method used to solve the scaling problems created by the IBGP full mesh requirement. BGP confederations effectively break up a large AS into subautonomous systems. Each sub-AS must be uniquely identified within the confederation AS by a sub-AS number. Typically, sub-AS numbers are taken from the private AS numbers between 64512 and 65535. Within a sub-AS, the same IBGP full mesh requirement exists. Connections to other confederations are made with standard EBGP, and peers outside the sub-AS are treated as external. To avoid routing loops, a sub-AS uses a confederation sequence, which operates like an AS path but uses only the privately assigned sub-AS numbers.

Figure 1 shows a sample network in which AS 17 has two separate confederations: sub-AS 64512 and sub-AS 64513, each of which has multiple routers. Within a sub-AS, an IGP is used to establish network connectivity with internal peers. Between sub-ASs, an EBGP peer session is established.

Figure 1: Typical Network Using BGP Confederations

Configuration

CLI Quick Configuration

To quickly configure this example, copy the following commands, paste them into a text file, remove any line breaks, change any details necessary to match your network configuration, and then copy and paste the commands into the CLI at the [edit] hierarchy level.

Step-by-Step Procedure

1. Set the sub-AS number for the device.
   [edit routing-options]user@host# set autonomous-system 64512
2. In the confederation, include all sub-ASs in the main AS.

   The number 17 represents the main AS. The members statement lists all the sub-ASs in the main AS.

   [edit routing-options confederation]user@host# set 17 members 64512user@host# set 17 members 64513
3. On the border device in sub-AS 64512, configure an EBGP connection to the border device in AS 64513.
   [edit protocols bgp group to-sub-AS-64513]user@host# set type externaluser@host# set neighbor 192.168.5.2user@host# set peer-as 64513
4. Configure an IBGP group for peering with the devices within sub-AS 64512.
   [edit protocols bgp group sub-AS-64512]user@host# set type internaluser@host# set local-address 192.168.5.1user@host# neighbor 192.168.8.1user@host# neighbor 192.168.15.1

Results

From configuration mode, confirm your configuration by entering the show routing-options and show protocols commands. If the output does not display the intended configuration, repeat the instructions in this example to correct the configuration.

If you are done configuring the device, enter commit from configuration mode.
Repeat these steps for sSub-AS 64513.

Verification

Confirm that the configuration is working properly.

• Verifying BGP Neighbors
• Verifying BGP Groups
• Verifying BGP Summary Information

Verifying BGP Neighbors

Purpose

Verify that BGP is running on configured interfaces and that the BGP session is active for each neighbor address.

Action

From the CLI, enter the show bgp neighbor command.

Sample Output

Peer: 10.255.245.12+179 AS 35  Local: 10.255.245.13+2884 AS 35
  Type: Internal    State: Established  (route reflector client)Flags: Sync
  Last State: OpenConfirm   Last Event: RecvKeepAlive
  Last Error: None
  Options: Preference LocalAddress HoldTime Cluster AddressFamily Rib-group Refresh
  Address families configured: inet-vpn-unicast inet-labeled-unicast
  Local Address: 10.255.245.13 Holdtime: 90 Preference: 170
  Flags for NLRI inet-vpn-unicast: AggregateLabel
  Flags for NLRI inet-labeled-unicast: AggregateLabel
  Number of flaps: 0
  Peer ID: 10.255.245.12    Local ID: 10.255.245.13    Active Holdtime: 90
  Keepalive Interval: 30
  NLRI advertised by peer: inet-vpn-unicast inet-labeled-unicast
  NLRI for this session: inet-vpn-unicast inet-labeled-unicast
  Peer supports Refresh capability (2)
Restart time configured on the peer: 300
  Stale routes from peer are kept for: 60
  Restart time requested by this peer: 300
  NLRI that peer supports restart for: inet-unicast inet6-unicast
  NLRI that restart is negotiated for: inet-unicast inet6-unicast
  NLRI of received end-of-rib markers: inet-unicast inet6-unicast
  NLRI of all end-of-rib markers sent: inet-unicast inet6-unicast
  Table inet.0 Bit: 10000
    RIB State: restart is complete
    Send state: in sync
    Active prefixes: 4
    Received prefixes: 6
    Suppressed due to damping: 0
  Table inet6.0 Bit: 20000
    RIB State: restart is complete
    Send state: in sync
    Active prefixes: 0
    Received prefixes: 2
    Suppressed due to damping: 0
  Last traffic (seconds): Received 3    Sent 3    Checked 3
  Input messages:  Total 9      Updates 6       Refreshes 0     Octets 403
  Output messages: Total 7      Updates 3       Refreshes 0     Octets 365
  Output Queue[0]: 0
  Output Queue[1]: 0
  Trace options: detail packets
  Trace file: /var/log/bgpgr size 131072 files 10

Meaning

The output shows a list of the BGP neighbors with detailed session information. Verify the following information:

• Each configured peering neighbor is listed.
• For State, each BGP session is Established.
• For Type, each peer is configured as the correct type (either internal or external).
• For AS, the AS number of the BGP neighbor is correct.

Verifying BGP Groups

Purpose

Verify that the BGP groups are configured correctly.

Action

From the CLI, enter the show bgp group command.

Sample Output

Group Type: Internal    AS: 10045       Local AS: 10045
  Name: pe-to-asbr2                                     Flags: Export Eval
  Export: [ match-all ]
  Total peers: 1        Established: 1
  10.0.0.4+179
  bgp.l3vpn.0: 1/1/0
  vpn-green.inet.0: 1/1/0

Groups: 1   Peers: 1    External: 0    Internal: 1    Down peers: 0   Flaps: 0
Table          Tot Paths  Act Paths Suppressed    History Damp State    Pending
bgp.l3vpn.0            1          1          0          0          0          0

Meaning

The output shows a list of the BGP groups with detailed group information. Verify the following information:

• Each configured group is listed.
• For AS, each group's remote AS is configured correctly.
• For Local AS, each group's local AS is configured correctly.
• For Group Type, each group has the correct type (either internal or external).
• For Total peers, the expected number of peers within the group is shown.
• For Established, the expected number of peers within the group have BGP sessions in the Established state.
• The IP addresses of all the peers within the group are present.

Verifying BGP Summary Information

Purpose

Verify that the BGP configuration is correct.

Action

From the CLI, enter the show bgp summary command.

Sample Output

Groups: 1 Peers: 3 Down peers: 0
Table          Tot Paths  Act Paths Suppressed    History Damp State    Pending
inet.0                 6          4          0          0          0          0
Peer               AS      InPkt     OutPkt    OutQ   Flaps Last Up/Dwn State|#Active/Received/Damped...
10.0.0.2        65002      88675      88652       0       2       42:38 2/4/0                0/0/0
10.0.0.3        65002      54528      54532       0       1     2w4d22h 0/0/0                0/0/0
10.0.0.4        65002      51597      51584       0       0     2w3d22h 2/2/0                0/0/0

Meaning

The output shows a summary of BGP session information. Verify the following information:

• For Groups, the total number of configured groups is shown.
• For Peers, the total number of BGP peers is shown.
• For Down Peers, the total number of unestablished peers is 0. If this value is not zero, one or more peering sessions are not yet established.
• Under Peer, the IP address for each configured peer is shown.
• Under AS, the peer AS for each configured peer is correct.
• Under Up/Dwn State, the BGP state reflects the number of paths received from the neighbor, the number of these paths that have been accepted, and the number of routes being damped (such as 0/0/0). If the field is Active, it indicates a problem in the establishment of the BGP session.