BGP Design and Implementation

Learn practical guidelines for designing and deploying a scalable BGP routing architecture

• Up-to-date coverage of BGP features like performance tuning, multiprotocol BGP, MPLS VPN, and multicast BGP
• In-depth coverage of advanced BGP topics to help design a complex BGP routing architecture
• Practical design tips that have been proven in the field
• Extensive configuration examples and case studies

BGP Design and Implementation focuses on real-world problems and provides not only design solutions, but also the background on why they are appropriate and a practical overview of how they apply into a top-down design. The BGP protocol is being used in both service provider and enterprise networks. The design goals of these two groups are different, leading to different architectures being used in each environment. The title breaks out the separate goals, and resulting solutions for each group to assist the reader in further understanding different solution strategies.

This book starts by identifying key features and functionality in BGP. It then delves into the topics of performance tuning, routing policy development, and architectural scalability. It progresses by examining the challenges for both the service provider and enterprise customers, and provides practical guidelines and a design framework for each. BGP Design and Implementation finishes up by closely looking at the more recent extensions to BGP through Multi-Protocol BGP for MPLS-VPN, IP Multicast, IPv6, and CLNS.

Each chapter is generally organized into the following sections: Introduction, Design and Implementation Guidelines, Case Studies, and Summary.

Table of Contents

Part I: Understanding Advanced BGP

Chapter 1 Advanced BGP Introduction

Chapter 2 Understanding BGP Building Blocks

Chapter 3 Tuning BGP Performance

Chapter 4 Effective BGP Policy Control

Part II: Designing BGP Enterprise Networks

Chapter 5 Enterprise BGP Core Network Design

Chapter 6 Internet Connectivity for Enterprise Networks

Part III: Designing BGP Service Provider Networks

Chapter 7 Scalable iBGP Design and Implementation Guidelines

Chapter 8 Route Reflection and Confederation Migration Strategies

Chapter 9 Service Provider Architecture

Part IV: Implementing BGP Multiprotocol Extensions

Chapter 10 Multiprotocol BGP and MPLS VPN

Chapter 11 Multiprotocol BGP and Interdomain Multicast

Chapter 12 Multiprotocol BGP Support for IPv6

Part V: Appendixes

Appendix A: Multiprotocol BGP Extensions for CLNS Support

Appendix B: Matrix of BGP Features and Cisco IOS Software Releases

Appendix C: Additional Sources of Information

Appendix D: Acronym Glossary

About the Author

Randy Zhang, Ph.D., CCIE No. 5659, is a network consulting engineer at Cisco Systems Advanced Services (AS), supporting Cisco strategic service provider and enterprise customers. He has helped many of these customers in large-scale BGP and MPLS designs, migrations, and implementations. Before joining the AS group, he was a senior software QA engineer for IP routing and MPLS for Cisco 6×00 series IP DSL switches, among many other projects. He has written more than 30 publications on a variety of subjects.

Micah Bartell, CCIE No. 5069, is a network consulting engineer at Cisco Systems. He is a member of the ISP Experts team in Advanced Services, providing support to Cisco strategic service provider and enterprise customers. He is a recognized expert in the area of large-scale IP network design, with a strong focus on BGP, IS-IS, and IP multicast. He is involved in standards work through the International Standards Organization (ISO) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). He most recently served as editor for ISO/IEC IS 10589.