Chapter 5

Network
Layer:
Control
Plane Computer
Networking: A Top-
Down Approach
8th edition
Jim Kurose, Keith Ross
Pearson, 2020
Network layer: “control plane” roadmap
 introduction
 routing protocols
 intra-ISP routing: OSPF
 routing among ISPs:
BGP
 SDN control plane  network management,
 Internet Control configuration
Message Protocol • SNMP
• NETCONF/YANG

Network Layer: 5-2

Internet inter-AS routing: BGP
 BGP (Border Gateway Protocol): the de facto inter-domain routing
protocol
• “glue that holds the Internet together”
 allows subnet to advertise its existence, and the destinations it can
reach, to rest of Internet: “I am here, here is who I can reach, and how”
 BGP provides each AS a means to:
• eBGP: obtain subnet reachability information from neighboring ASes
• iBGP: propagate reachability information to all AS-internal routers.
• determine “good” routes to other networks based on reachability
information and policy

Network Layer: 5-3

eBGP, iBGP connections
2b

2a 2c
∂
1b 3b
2d
1a 1c ∂
3a 3c
AS 2
1d 3d

AS 1 eBGP connectivity AS 3
logical iBGP connectivity

1c gateway routers run both eBGP and iBGP protocols

Network Layer: 5-4

BGP basics
 BGP session: two BGP routers (“peers”) exchange BGP messages over
semi-permanent TCP connection:
• advertising paths to different destination network prefixes (BGP is a
“path vector” protocol)

 when AS3 gateway 3a advertises path AS3,X to AS2 gateway 2c:

• AS3 promises to AS2 it will forward datagrams towards X
AS 3 3b
AS 1 1b 3a 3c
1a 1c AS 2 3d
2b
1d BGP advertisement:
2a 2c X
AS3, X
2d
Network Layer: 5-5
Path attributes and BGP routes
 BGP advertised route: prefix + attributes
• prefix: destination being advertised
• two important attributes:
• AS-PATH: list of ASes through which prefix advertisement has
passed
• NEXT-HOP: indicates specific internal-AS router to next-hop AS
 policy-based routing:
• gateway receiving route advertisement uses import policy to
accept/decline path (e.g., never route through AS Y).
• AS policy also determines whether to advertise path to other
other neighboring ASes

Network Layer: 5-6

BGP path advertisement
AS 3 3b
AS 1 1b 3a 3c
1a 1c AS 2 3d X
2b
1d AS3, X
AS2,AS3,X 2a 2c

2d

 AS2 router 2c receives path advertisement AS3,X (via eBGP) from AS3
router 3a
 based on AS2 policy, AS2 router 2c accepts path AS3,X, propagates (via iBGP)
to all AS2 routers
 based on AS2 policy, AS2 router 2a advertises (via eBGP) path AS2, AS3, X
to AS1 router 1c

Network Layer: 5-7

BGP path advertisement (more)
AS 3 3b
AS 1 1b AS3,X 3a 3c
AS3,X
AS3,X
1a 1c AS 2 3d X
2b
AS3,X
1d AS3, X
AS2,AS3,X 2a 2c

2d

gateway router may learn about multiple paths to destination:

 AS1 gateway router 1c learns path AS2,AS3,X from 2a
 AS1 gateway router 1c learns path AS3,X from 3a
 based on policy, AS1 gateway router 1c chooses path AS3,X and advertises
path within AS1 via iBGP

Network Layer: 5-8

BGP messages
 BGP messages exchanged between peers over TCP connection
 BGP messages:
• OPEN: opens TCP connection to remote BGP peer and
authenticates sending BGP peer
• UPDATE: advertises new path (or withdraws old)
• KEEPALIVE: keeps connection alive in absence of UPDATES; also
ACKs OPEN request
• NOTIFICATION: reports errors in previous msg; also used to close
connection

Network Layer: 5-9

 BGP path advertisement
AS 3 3b
AS 1 1b AS3,X 3a 3c
AS3,X
1
AS3,X
1a 1c AS 2 3d X
2 2b
local AS3,X
2 1 AS3, X
link 1d
interfac AS2,AS3,X 2a 2c
es
at 1a, 2d
1d

dest interface  recall: 1a, 1b, 1d learn via iBGP from 1c: “path to X goes through 1c”
… …  at 1d: OSPF intra-domain routing: to get to 1c, use interface 1
1c 1
 at 1d: to get to X, use interface 1
X 1
… …

Network Layer: 5-10

 BGP path advertisement
AS 3 3b
AS 1 1b 3a 3c
1
1a 1c AS 2 3d X
2 2b
1d
2a 2c

2d

dest interface
… …  recall: 1a, 1b, 1d learn via iBGP from 1c: “path to X goes through 1c”
1c 2  at 1d: OSPF intra-domain routing: to get to 1c, use interface 1
X 2
… …  at 1d: to get to X, use interface 1
 at 1a: OSPF intra-domain routing: to get to 1c, use interface 2
 at 1a: to get to X, use interface 2
Network Layer: 5-11
Why different Intra-, Inter-AS routing ?
policy:
 inter-AS: admin wants control over how its traffic routed, who
routes through its network
 intra-AS: single admin, so policy less of an issue
scale:
 hierarchical routing saves table size, reduced update traffic
performance:
 intra-AS: can focus on performance
 inter-AS: policy dominates over performance

Network Layer: 5-12

Hot potato routing
AS 3 3b
AS 1 1b 3a 3c
1a 1c AS 2 3d X
2b 112
1d AS1,AS3,X AS3,X
2a 2c
201 263

2d
OSPF link weights

 2d learns (via iBGP) it can route to X via 2a or 2c

 hot potato routing: choose local gateway that has least intra-domain cost
(e.g., 2d chooses 2a, even though more AS hops to X): don’t worry about
inter-domain cost!

Network Layer: 5-13

 BGP: achieving policy via advertisements
A,w
B provider
x network
w A legend:
A,w C y customer
network:

ISP only wants to route traffic to/from its customer networks (does not want
to carry transit traffic between other ISPs – a typical “real world” policy)
 A advertises path Aw to B and to C
 B chooses not to advertise BAw to C!
 B gets no “revenue” for routing CBAw, since none of C, A, w are B’s
customers
 C does not learn about CBAw path
 C will route CAw (not using B) to get to w
Network Layer: 5-14
 BGP: achieving policy via advertisements (more)

B provider
x network
w A legend:
C y customer
network:

ISP only wants to route traffic to/from its customer networks (does not want
to carry transit traffic between other ISPs – a typical “real world” policy)

 A,B,C are provider networks

 x,w,y are customer (of provider networks)
 x is dual-homed: attached to two networks
 policy to enforce: x does not want to route from B to C
via x
 .. so x will not advertise to B a route to C
Network Layer: 5-15
BGP route selection
 router may learn about more than one route to destination AS,
selects route based on:
1. local preference value attribute: policy decision
2. shortest AS-PATH
3. closest NEXT-HOP router: hot potato routing
4. additional criteria

Network Layer: 5-16