Experience with the BGP-4 Protocol
RFC 4277

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Network Working Group                                       D. McPherson
Request for Comments: 4277                                Arbor Networks
Category: Informational                                         K. Patel
                                                           Cisco Systems
                                                            January 2006

                   Experience with the BGP-4 Protocol

Status of This Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
   not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this
   memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).

Abstract

   The purpose of this memo is to document how the requirements for
   publication of a routing protocol as an Internet Draft Standard have
   been satisfied by Border Gateway Protocol version 4 (BGP-4).

   This report satisfies the requirement for "the second report", as
   described in Section 6.0 of RFC 1264.  In order to fulfill the
   requirement, this report augments RFC 1773 and describes additional
   knowledge and understanding gained in the time between when the
   protocol was made a Draft Standard and when it was submitted for
   Standard.

McPherson & Patel            Informational                      [Page 1]
RFC 4277           Experience with the BGP-4 Protocol       January 2006

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction .................................................  3
   2.  BGP-4 Overview ...............................................  3
       2.1.  A Border Gateway Protocol ..............................  3
   3.  Management Information Base (MIB) ............................  3
   4.  Implementation Information ...................................  4
   5.  Operational Experience .......................................  4
   6.  TCP Awareness ................................................  5
   7.  Metrics ......................................................  5
       7.1.  MULTI_EXIT_DISC (MED) ..................................  5
             7.1.1.  MEDs and Potatoes ..............................  6
             7.1.2.  Sending MEDs to BGP Peers ......................  7
             7.1.3.  MED of Zero Versus No MED ......................  7
             7.1.4.  MEDs and Temporal Route Selection ..............  7
   8.  Local Preference .............................................  8
   9.  Internal BGP In Large Autonomous Systems .....................  9
   10. Internet Dynamics ............................................  9
   11. BGP Routing Information Bases (RIBs) ......................... 10
   12. Update Packing ............................................... 10
   13. Limit Rate Updates ........................................... 11
       13.1. Consideration of TCP Characteristics ................... 11
   14. Ordering of Path Attributes .................................. 12
   15. AS_SET Sorting ............................................... 12
   16. Control Over Version Negotiation ............................. 13
   17. Security Considerations ...................................... 13
       17.1. TCP MD5 Signature Option ............................... 13
       17.2. BGP Over IPsec ......................................... 14
       17.3. Miscellaneous .......................................... 14
   18. PTOMAINE and GROW ............................................ 14
   19. Internet Routing Registries (IRRs) ........................... 15
   20. Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) and IRRs, A Bit
       of History ................................................... 15
   21. Acknowledgements ............................................. 16
   22. References ................................................... 17
       22.1. Normative References ................................... 17
       22.2. Informative References ................................. 17

McPherson & Patel            Informational                      [Page 2]
RFC 4277           Experience with the BGP-4 Protocol       January 2006

1.  Introduction

   The purpose of this memo is to document how the requirements for
   publication of a routing protocol as an Internet Draft Standard have
   been satisfied by Border Gateway Protocol version 4 (BGP-4).

   This report satisfies the requirement for "the second report", as
   described in Section 6.0 of [RFC1264].  In order to fulfill the
   requirement, this report augments [RFC1773] and describes additional
   knowledge and understanding gained in the time between when the
   protocol was made a Draft Standard and when it was submitted for
   Standard.

2.  BGP-4 Overview

   BGP is an inter-autonomous system routing protocol designed for
   TCP/IP internets.  The primary function of a BGP speaking system is
   to exchange network reachability information with other BGP systems.
   This network reachability information includes information on the