EXTERIOR

ROUTING
PROTOCOLS
BY: KUNWAR PARTAP SINGH
2016 ECB 1010

INTERNET STRUCTURE

Internet

changed from a tree like

structure, with a single backbone
to a multi backbone structure run
by different private corporations
today.

AUTONOMOUS SYSTEM

AS = collection of networks under a single technical

administration & sharing the same routing policy
A group of networks and routers controlled by a
single administrative authority is called an
autonomous system (AS)
AS is given an Autonomous Number (ASN) by the
ICANN(The Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers). Each ASN is a 16 bit
unsigned integer that uniquely defines an AS.
Internal Gateway Protocols (IGPs) operate within an
AS to ensure IP connectivity within it
Exterior Gateway Protocols (EGPs) run between ASs
to enable routing policies between them

TYPES OF AUTONOMOUS
SYSTEMS
Stub

AS- As has only one connection to

another AS. The data traffic can be
either initiated or terminated in a stub
AS; the data cannot pass through it.
Multihomed AS- It can have more than
one connection to other ASs but it does
not allow data traffic to pass through it.
Transient AS- A transient AS is
connected to more than one AS and
also allows the traffic to pass through.

INTRODUCTION
Each ISP is considered as an AS.
The Global Routing Protocol is
referred to as inter-AS routing
protocol , interdomain routing
protocol or exterior gateway
protocol(EGP)
We should have only one
interdomain protocol that handles
routing between these entities.
The protocol used is BGP (BORDER
GATEWAY PROTOCOL)

BORDER GATEWAY PROTOCOL

VERSION 4 (BGP4)
EGP

is a general term for protocols

used in passing routing information
between ASs
TCP/IP uses the Border Gateway
Protocol version 4 (BGP4)
BGP4 is the only interdomain routing
protocol used in the Internet today.
BGP4 is based on the Path Vector
Algorithm and is a complex protocol.

Each

router in each AS knows how to reach a

network that is in its own AS, but it does not
know how to reach a network in another AS.
To enable each router to route a packet to
any other network in the internet we install
a version of BGP4, called external BGP
(eBGP) on each border router.
Then we install the second variation of BGP,
called internal BGP (iBGP), on all routers.
Border Routers will be running three routing
protocols (intradomain(RIP, OSPF), eBGp,
iBGP)
Other routers are running two protocols
(intradomain, iBGP)

OPERATION OF EXTERNAL BGP

(eBGP)
BGP

is a kind of point to point protocol

Two routers try to create a TCP connection
using well known port 179.
The two routers that run the BGP processes
are called BGP peers or BGP speakers.
The eBGP variation of BGP allows two
physically connected border routers in two
different ASs to form pairs of eBGP speakers
and exchange messages.
R1-R5, R2-R6, R4-R9 . The connection
between these pairs is established over three
physical WANs (N5, N6 and N7)
Each logical connection in BGP is referred to as
a session.

The

figure shows update messages

sent by routers involved in the eBGP
sessions.
Message number 1 is sent by router R1
and tells router R5 that N1, N2, N3, N4
can be reached through router R1.
R5 adds these pieces of info at the end
of its forwarding table.
Messages exchanged during three
eBGP sessions help some routers know
how to route packets to some
networks in the internet but the
reachability info is not complete.

Problem

that need to be
addressed.
Some border routers do not know
how to route a packet destined for
non neighbor ASs.
Ex: R5 does not know how to route
packets destined for networks in AS3
and AS4.
None of the nonborder routers know
how to route a packet destined for
any networks in other ASs.
To address the above problem we
need to allow all pairs of routers
(border or non border) to run the

OPERATION OF INTERNAL BGP

(iBGP)
Similar

to the eBGP protocol but it creates a

session between any possible pairs of routers
inside an AS.
If an AS has only one router there cannot be
an iBGP session. For example: We cannot
create an iBGP session inside AS2 or AS4 in
our internet.
If there are n routers in an AS there should be
[n(n-1)/2] iBGP sessions in that AS to
prevent loops.
In other words each router needs to advertise
its own reachability to the peer in the session
instead of flooding what it receives from
another peer in another session.

The

first message is sent by R1 announcing

that n/ws N8 and N9 are reachable through
path AS1-AS2 but the next router is R1. The
message is sent through separate sessions to
R2, R3 and R4.
Routers R2, R4 and R6 do the same thing but
send different messages to different
destinations.
All border routers do the same thing.
Each router receives the update message
and updates the routing table
At one point of time there are no changes in
the previous updates and thus all info is
propagated through all ASs.
All ASs are interconnected now.

MESSAGES
BGP

defines 4 message types

1. OPEN MESSAGE

.Two BGP peers establish a TCP

connection
.They send each other an OPEN with
their ASN
.a value for a hold timer for the maximum
time to wait
.a BGP identifier IP address (a router must
choose one of its IP addresses to use with
all BGP peers

2.

UPDATE MESSAGE

Indicates:
Destinations to be withdrawn (variable, not
required if there are none)
Advertisement of new destinations (also
variable)
Lengths for both of the above - size zero if none
Routers need to advertise a next hop that

is optimal from the outsiders perspective

3. NOTIFICATION MESSAGE
o. This message type is used when errors
occur
o. Once an error is detected, the TCP
connection is closed

KEEPALIVE

MESSAGE

Verifies

that two peers are continually

functioning
Consists of the header and no data (19 octets)
Standards

recommend keepalive timer = 1/3 hold timer

Marker

field 16 bytes - a value that both sides

agree to use to mark the beginning of a
message
initial message consists of all ones
since TCP does not preserve message boundaries, this
is necessary

Length

field - length of total message in bytes

Type field - indicates message type (1 to 4)

PATH ATTRIBUTES
It

has the information about how to reach the final destination

Path Attributes of two types:
Well Known It must be recognised by all routers. It can be
mandatory.
Optional It need not be recognised by all routers. It can further be
transitive which means it can pass on to next AS or intransitive
which means it cannot.
The first byte in each attribute defines the four attribute flags.
The next byte defines the types of attributes assigned by ICANN(seven
types)
The attribute value length defines the length of the attribute value
field (not the length of the whole attributes section)

TYPES
ORIGIN

(type 1) A well known mandatory

attribute, which defines the source of the
routing information. Defined by one of the three
values 1, 2, 3. 1 means that info about the path
has been taken from an intradomain protocol
(RIP or OSPF). 2 means that info comes from
BGP. 3 means that info comes from an unknown
source.
AS-PATH (type 2) Well Known mandatory
attribute, defines the list of autonomous
systems through which the destination can be
reached. It helps prevent a loop. It is used in
route selection.

TYPES
NEXT-HOP(type

3) Well known mandatory

attribute, defines the next router to which
the data packet should be forwarded.
MULTI-EXIT-DISC(type 4) Multiple Exit
Discriminator is an optional intransitive
attribute, which discriminates among
multiple exit paths to a destination.
LOCAL-PREF(type 5) Well known
discretionary attribute. Set by
administrator, based on organization policy.
The routes the admin prefers are given a
higher local preference value

ROUTE SELECTION
When

multiple routes are received to a

destination in a routing table, BGP needs
to select one among them.
Router extracts the routes which meet the
criteria. If only one route is extracted, it is
selected and the process stops.
Otherwise process continues with the next
step.
First choice is related to the LOCAL-PREF
attribute, which reflects the policy imposed
by the administration on the route.

THANKS