Route Filtering and

Route Selection in BGP

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc.

 Objectives
Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able
to perform the following tasks:
• Configure AS-path filters, prefix lists and route-
maps
• Filter incoming and outgoing BGP updates with
AS-path filters, prefix lists and route-maps
• Influence BGP route selection
• Monitor and troubleshoot BGP filters
• Implement non-disruptive BGP policy changes
• Limit the number of routes received from a BGP
neighbor
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-2
 Multi-Homed BGP
Networks

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. www.cisco.com Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-3
 Objectives

Upon completion of this section, you will be

able to perform the following tasks:
• Describe the issues in multi-homed BGP
networks
• Describe the need to influence BGP route
selection
• Describe the need for BGP filters

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-4
 Multi-homed Customers
Business Requirements
Internet
Service Provider #1

Multi-homed
Customer
Service Provider #2

• Some customers need redundant Internet access for their

mission-critical applications
• Full redundancy is only achieved by connecting to two
independent Service Providers

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-5
 Multi-homed Customers
Technical Requirements
Internet
Service Provider #1

Multi-homed P
BG
Customer
Service Provider #2
BGP

• Multi-homed customers have to run BGP with

the Internet Service Providers
• They usually need public AS-number and
provider-independent address space
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-6
 Multi-homed Customers
Simple-Minded Approach
Internet
Service Provider #1

Multi-homed P
BG
Customer
Service Provider #2
BGP

router bgp my-AS-number

neighbor provider-A remote-as ISP-A
neighbor provider-B remote-as ISP-B
network my-network

• Configure two BGP sessions and announce

your address space
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-7
 The Results of Simple-Minded
Approach
as123#show
as123#show ip
ip bgp
bgp
BGP
BGP table
table version
version is
is 16,
16, local
local router
router ID
ID is
is 1.2.3.4
1.2.3.4
Status
Status codes:
codes: ss suppressed,
suppressed, hh history,
history, ** valid,
valid, >> best,
best, ii -- internal
internal
Origin codes: i - IGP, e - EGP, ? - incomplete
Origin codes: i - IGP, e - EGP, ? - incomplete

Network
Network Next
Next Hop
Hop Metric
Metric LocPrf
LocPrf Weight
Weight Path
Path
*>
*> 1.0.0.0
1.0.0.0 0.0.0.0
0.0.0.0 00 32768
32768 ii
** 21.0.0.0
21.0.0.0 3.4.5.6
3.4.5.6 00 37
37 21
21 ii
*>
*> 2.3.4.5
2.3.4.5 00 00 21 i
21 i
*>
*> 37.0.0.0
37.0.0.0 3.4.5.6
3.4.5.6 00 00 37
37 ii
** 2.3.4.5
2.3.4.5 00 21
21 37
37 ii
** 40.0.0.0
40.0.0.0 3.4.5.6
3.4.5.6 00 00 37
37 40
40 ii
*>
*> 2.3.4.5
2.3.4.5 00 21
21 40
40 ii

• BGP routes are selected based on AS-path length

• The default BGP route selection does not always
result in optimum routing

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-8
 Routing Policies for Multi-
Homed Customers
Multi-homed customers could require a
number of routing policies, for example:
• One provider is primary, the other is backup
• Traffic to direct customers of the ISPs go
direct, all other traffic goes through the
primary provider
• All transatlantic traffic goes through one ISPs
• Traffic toward a specific destination goes only
through one of the ISPs

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-9
 Primary/Backup Provider
Another Internet
Customer Backup ISP Upstream AS

Multi-homed k
lin
Customer k up Primary ISP
c
Ba
Primary
link

• Internet traffic always flows over primary ISP

• Routes received from primary ISP should be preferred
over routes received from backup ISP
• A route selection tool is needed in BGP - weights or
local preference
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-10
 Local Traffic Goes Direct
Another Internet
Customer Backup ISP Upstream AS

Multi-homed k
lin
Customer k up Primary ISP
c
Ba
Primary
link

• Internet traffic flows over primary ISP, traffic to

customers of backup ISP goes direct
• Route selection has to be performed based on AS-
numbers in the AS-path

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-11
 Transit Traffic Issue
Internet
Service Provider #1

Multi-homed
Customer
Service Provider #2

• Customers could become transit AS for the

Service Providers
• Requirement: do not propagate provider
routes to other providers
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-12
 Routing Update Reliability
Issue
Internet
Service Provider #1

Multi-homed P
BG
Customer
AS123 Service Provider #2
21.0.0.0/8 BGP

Network=10.0.0.0/8
AS-Path=123

• Customers running BGP could announce any

route to the Service Providers
• Requirement: Service Providers have to filter
IP prefixes in incoming updates
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-13
 Return Traffic Issue
Another Internet
Customer Backup ISP Upstream AS

Multi-homed k
lin
Customer k up Primary ISP
c
Ba
Primary
link

• Customers can only influence their outgoing

traffic, not the return traffic
• Return traffic can take any path - Backup ISP
must also perform proper route selection
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-14
 Multi-Homed Customer
Requirement Summary
BGP must support the following
mechanisms:
• Route selection based on BGP neighbors
• Route selection based on AS-numbers in the
AS-path
• Filters based on AS-numbers in the AS-path
• Filters on IP prefixes

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-15
 Summary

After completing this section, you should be

able to perform the following tasks:
• Describe the issues in multi-homed BGP
networks
• Describe the need to influence BGP route
selection
• Describe the need for BGP filters

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-16
 Review Questions
• Why would a customer want connection to two
service providers?
• What are the technical requirements for multi-
homed customers?
• Which routing protocol needs to be deployed
between multi-homed customers and the ISP?
• Why do we need to influence BGP route selection
rules?
• List three potential customer routing policies
• What are the issues an ISP with multi-homed
customers is facing?

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-17
 AS-Path Filters

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. www.cisco.com Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-18
 Objectives

Upon completion of this section, you will be

able to perform the following tasks:
• Describe the applications of AS Path Filters
• Describe AS Path regular expression syntax
• Use AS Path regular expressions to match
BGP routes
• Configure AS-path filters
• Configure filtering of inbound or outbound
updates with AS-path filters

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-19
 AS Path Filtering
Several scenarios require BGP route filtering
based on AS-path
• Announce only local routes to the ISP - AS-
path needs to be empty
• Select routes based on a specific AS-number
in the AS-path
• Accept routes for specific AS only from some
BGP neighbors
AS-path filters use regular expressions

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-20
 AS Path Regular Expressions

27 31 23 317 223

AS path converted to string

|27 31 23 317 223|

String matched with regexp

ip as-path access-list 1 permit 31

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-21
 Regular Expressions
Simple String Matches
• String of characters in regular expression
matches any equivalent substring in AS
path

how many times does 31 match

|213 317 2316 31|
answer:
|213 317 2316 31|

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-22
 Regular Expressions
Alternatives
• Expression
expr1|expr2
matches the string if either subexpression
matches the string

how many times does 21|31 match

|213 317 2316 31|
answer:
|213 317 2316 31|

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-23
 Regular Expressions
Ranges and Wildcard Characters
• A range of characters matches any single
character in the range
examples:[1234] or [1-4]
• dot (.) matches any single character
how many times does [1-3].[34] match
|213 317 2316 31|
answer:
|213 317 2316 31|
|213 317 2316 31|

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-24
 Regular Expressions
Matching Delimiters
^ matches beginning of string
$ matches end of string
_ matches any delimiter (beginning,
end, whitespace, tab, comma)
how many times does ^21, 31$, _31_ match
|213 317 218 31 731|
answer:
|213 317 218 31 731|

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-25
 Regular Expressions
Grouping
Parenthesis can be used to group smaller
regular expressions into larger expressions

how many times does (213|218)_31 match

|213 317 1218 316 31|
answer:
|213 317 1218 316 31|

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-26
 Regular Expressions
Special Characters

\ To use the special characters as single-character patterns,

remove the special meaning by preceding each character
with a backslash (\)

how do you match AS 213 in beginning of string

|(213 317) 1218 316 31|
answer:
^\(213_

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-27
 Regular Expressions
Repeating Operators
* matches zero or more atoms
? matches zero or one atom
+ matches one or more atoms

Atom is a single character or a grouping

how do you match AS sequences “23 45” and

“23 78 45” in single regular expression
answer:
_23(_78)?_45_

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-28
 Sample Regular Expressions

_100_ Going through AS 100

^100$ Directly connected to AS 100
_100$ Originated in AS 100
^100_. networks behind AS 100
^ [0-9]+$ AS paths one AS long
^$ networks originated in local AS
.* matches everything

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-29
 Configuring BGP AS-path
Filters
router(config)#
ip as-path access-list number permit|deny regexp

• Configures AS-path access list

router(config-router)#
neighbor ip-address filter-list as-path-filter in|out

• Configures inbound or outbound AS-path filter for

specified BGP neighbor

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-30
 AS-path BGP Filters

My router

BGP
table
Incoming neighbor Outgoing neighbor

filter-list in filter-list out

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-31
 Testing your Regular
Expressions
router#
show ip bgp regexp expression

• Displays all routes in BGP table matching regular

expression
router#
show ip bgp filter filter-list

• Displays all routes in BGP table permitted by the

specified AS-path access list
router#
show ip as-path-access-list [filter-list]

• Displays one or all filter lists

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-32
 Display the Filter Lists
Configured in the Router

wg6r1#show ip as-path-access-list
AS path access list 6
permit ^$
AS path access list 7
deny _213_
permit .*
AS path access list 8
permit _214_
AS path access list 25
permit _42_
AS path access list 27
deny _22_|_51$
permit .*

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-33
 Display the Routes Matched
by a Regular Expression
wg6r1#show ip bgp regexp ^\(65002_
BGP table version is 85, local router ID is 197.6.2.1
Status codes: s suppressed, d damped, h history, * valid, > best, i -
internal
Origin codes: i - IGP, e - EGP, ? - incomplete

Network Next Hop Metric LocPrf Weight Path

*> 128.20.0.0 192.168.21.7 100 0 (65002 65003 65004)
99 7 22 i
*> 128.22.0.0 192.168.21.7 100 0 (65002 65003 65004)
99 7 22 i
*> 128.26.0.0 192.168.21.7 100 0 (65002 65003 65004)
99 7 22 26 i
*> 128.37.0.0 192.168.21.2 100 0 (65002 65003 65004)
99 2 20 42 37 i
*> 128.42.0.0 192.168.21.7 100 0 (65002 65003 65004)
99 7 20 42 i
*> 128.51.0.0 192.168.21.7 100 0 (65002 65003 65004)
99 7 22 26 51 i
*> 128.213.0.0 192.168.21.7 100 0 (65002 65003 65004)
99 7 20 213 i

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-34
 Display the Routes Matched
by a Filter List
wg6r1#show ip as-path-access-list 25
AS path access list 25
permit _42_

wg6r1#show ip bgp filter-list 25

BGP table version is 81, local router ID is 197.6.2.1
Status codes: s suppressed, d damped, h history, * valid, >
best, i - internal
Origin codes: i - IGP, e - EGP, ? - incomplete

Network Next Hop Metric LocPrf Weight Path

*> 128.37.0.0 192.168.21.2 100 0 (65002
65003 65004) 99 2 20 42 37 i
*> 128.42.0.0 192.168.21.7 100 0 (65002
65003 65004) 99 7 20 42 i
*> 192.26.11.0 192.168.20.20 0 0 20 42 26 i
*> 192.37.11.0 192.168.20.20 0 0 20 42 37 i
*> 192.42.11.0 192.168.20.20 0 0 20 42 i

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-35
 Example: Filter Transit Routes
Internet
Service Provider #1

Multi-homed
Customer
Service Provider #2

router bgp customer-as

neighbor ISP-router filter-list 1 out
!
ip as-path access-list 1 permit ^$

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-36
 Summary

After completing this section, you should be

able to perform the following tasks:
• Describe the applications of AS Path Filters
• Describe AS Path regular expression syntax
• Use AS Path regular expressions to match
BGP routes
• Configure AS-path filters
• Configure filtering of inbound or outbound
updates with AS-path filters

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-37
 Regular Expressions Review
Questions
• What does a regular expression 27 match?
• List at least one AS-path matched by the regular
expression $27_
• What is the difference between regular expressions
76 and _76_
• What is the difference between _100_ and _100$
• What is the difference between _100$ and [ ]100$
• How do you match AS-paths that contain exactly
two AS-numbers?

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-38
 AS-path Filters Review
Questions
• How can you test your regular expression?
• How can you test your AS-path filter before
using it?
• What are the steps needed to apply new
inbound routing policy to a neighbor?
• What is the recommended AS-path filter to be
used by multi-homed customers?
• What is the recommended AS-path filter to be
used by ISP with multi-homed customers?

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-39
 Prefix-List Filters

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. www.cisco.com Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-40
 Objectives

Upon completion of this section, you will be

able to perform the following tasks:
• List the benefits of prefix lists versus IP
access lists
• Describe the applications of prefix lists in
BGP networks
• Configure prefix lists filters
• Configure filtering of inbound or outbound
updates with prefix list

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-41
 Requirements for Prefix-Based
Filters
Internet
Service Provider #1

Multi-homed P
BG
Customer
AS123 Service Provider #2
21.0.0.0/8 BGP

Network=10.0.0.0/8
AS-Path=123

• Service Providers have to filter customer

updates to ensure that the customers only
announce their assigned address space

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-42
 Traditional Prefix Filters
• Traditional IP prefix filters were
implemented with IP access-lists
configured on distribute-list command
• IP access-lists used as route filters have
several drawbacks:
• Subnet mask cannot be matched
• Access-list is evaluated sequentially for
every IP prefix in the routing update
• Access-lists are hard to edit
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-43
 Prefix Lists - New Route
Filtering Mechanism
• Significant performance improvement on long filters
• Inside IOS the prefix list is a tree structure and is not scanned
sequentially
• Support for incremental updates
• Individual entries in prefix lists can be inserted or deleted
• More user-friendly command-line interface
• The command-line interface for using access lists to filter
BGP updates is difficult to understand and use, since it uses
the packet filtering format.
• Greater flexibility — can match on subnet masks

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-44
 Prefix Lists Compared to IP
Access Lists
• Key access list features are preserved:
• Filtering using “permit” or “deny”
• Order dependency (first match wins)
• Security-focused: no match means deny
• The matching mechanism has changed
• Match routes in a part of address space with
subnet mask longer or shorter than a set
number

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-45
 Prefix List Syntax
router(config)#

ip prefix-list list-name [seq seq] permit|deny address/prefix [ge value]

[le value]

• Prefix lists have names and sequence numbers

(like route maps)
• An entry with no le or ge parameter matches
exactly the specified prefix
• An entry with le or ge parameter matches any route
within the address space of address/prefix with
prefix longer or equal to ge value and shorter or
equal to le value

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-46
 Prefix List Matching Rules

Prefix list entries with no ge or le option

match only the specified route
• Similar to IP access lists with no wildcard bits
• The matching process also considers subnet
mask
Which of the following routes will be matched by the
ip prefix-list MyList permit 192.168.0.0/16


192.168.0.0/16 192.168.0.0/20 192.168.2.0/24

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-47
 Prefix List Matching Rules
A prefix list entry with ge or le option matches
any prefix within specified address space where
the subnet mask falls within specified limits

Which of the following routes will be matched by:

ip prefix-list MyList permit 192.168.0.0/16 le 20

 192.168.0.0/16  192.168.17.0/20  192.168.2.0/24

ip prefix-list MyList permit 192.168.0.0/16 ge 18

 192.168.0.0/16  192.168.17.0/20  192.168.2.0/24

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-48
 More Prefix-list Examples

What will be matched by

ip prefix-list A permit 0.0.0.0/0 ge 32
ip prefix-list B permit 128.0.0.0/2 ge 17
ip prefix-list C permit 0.0.0.0/0 le 32
ip prefix-list D permit 0.0.0.0/0
ip prefix-list E permit 0.0.0.0/1 le 24
A) All host routes
B) Any subnet in class-B address space
C) All routes
D) Just the default route
E) Any prefix in class-A address space covering at least 256
addresses
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-49
 Prefix List Usage in the BGP
Process
router(config-router)#
neighbor ip-address prefix-list list in

• Filter inbound BGP routing updates from the

neighbor
router(config-router)#
neighbor ip-address prefix-list list out

• Filter outbound BGP routing updates to the

neighbor
router(config-router)#
distribute-list prefix-list prefix-list out routing-process

• Filters routes redistributed from specified routing

process into BGP
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-50
 BGP Filters — Overview

BGP
table
Incoming neighbor Outgoing neighbor

prefix-list in prefix-list out

filter-list in filter-list out

IGP
(OSPF, EIGRP)

Distribute list out

My router

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-51
 Displaying Prefix Lists
router#
show ip prefix-list [list-name] [detail|summary]

• Displays all or specified prefix list

Barney#show ip prefix-list detail

Prefix-list with the last deletion/insertion: InFilter
ip prefix-list InFilter:
count: 4, range entries: 3, sequences: 5 - 20, refcount: 2
seq 5 deny 128.0.0.0/2 le 15 (hit count: 0, refcount: 2)
seq 10 deny 192.0.0.0/3 ge 25 (hit count: 0, refcount: 1)
seq 15 deny 193.0.0.0/8 ge 21 (hit count: 0, refcount: 1)
seq 20 permit 0.0.0.0/0 (hit count: 0, refcount: 1)

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-52
 Modifying Prefix Lists
router#
show ip prefix-list list-name

• Displays the prefix list and the sequence numbers

router(config-route-map)#
no ip prefix-list seq seq condition

• Erases the line with specified sequence number

from the prefix list
router(config-route-map)#
ip prefix-list seq seq condition

• Inserts the line into the prefix list at the specified

point
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-53
 Prefix-List Example
Filtering Customer Prefixes
• Requirement: the customer shall only announce Internet
prefixes from assigned address space
Backup ISP
(172.16.0.0/16), with subnet masks no longer
than /24
Multi-homed k
lin
Customer k up Primary ISP
c
AS123 Ba
172.16.0.0
Primary
link

router bgp Primary-ISP-as

neighbor Customer prefix-list Cust-A in
!
ip prefix-list Cust-A permit
172.16.0.0/16 le 24

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-54
 Prefix-List Example
Filtering Peer Prefixes
• Requirement: the ISP will not accept routes with Internet
subnet masks longer than /24, subnet masks
Backup ISP
from class-B address space shall be no longer
than /20
Multi-homed k
lin
Customer k up Primary ISP
c
Ba
Primary
link

router bgp Primary-ISP-as

neighbor Backup-ISP prefix-list Peer in
!
ip prefix-list Peer permit 128.0.0.0/2 le 20
ip prefix-list Peer permit 0.0.0.0/0 le 24

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-55
 Summary

After completing this section, you should be

able to perform the following tasks:
• List the benefits of prefix lists versus IP
access lists
• Describe the applications of prefix lists in BGP
networks
• Configure prefix lists filters
• Configure filtering of inbound or outbound
updates with prefix list

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-56
 Review Questions
• What are the benefits of prefix-lists as
compared to IP access lists?
• Why would an ISP with multi-homed
customers need prefix lists?
• Why would an ISP deploy prefix lists against
updates from another ISP?
• How are the prefix lists and the AS-path filters
combined?

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-57
 Route-Maps as BGP
Filters

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. www.cisco.com Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-58
 Objectives

Upon completion of this section, you will be

able to perform the following tasks:
• Configure route maps as BGP filters
• Describe the applications of BGP filtering
based on route maps

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-59
 Route Maps as BGP Filters
• Some scenarios require complex filters
• Filters on IP prefixes coming from
specific AS-number
• Filters on other BGP attributes
• In some cases, we even need to modify
BGP attributes
• Route-maps provide solution to both
requirements

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-60
 Route Maps — Review
Route maps are very complex access lists:
• lines in access-lists  statements in route maps
• addresses and masks in access-lists  match
conditions in route maps
• access-list number  route-map name
• statements in route-maps are numbered
– you can insert and delete statements in a route-map
– you can edit match conditions in a statement
• route-map statement can modify matched route
with ‘set’ option

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-61
 Route-map Syntax

route-map name [permit|deny sequence]

match condition
match condition
set parameter
!
...
• Default statement action is ‘permit’
• Route not matched by any statement is dropped
• ‘Permit all’ is achieved by specifying permit without
‘match’ clause (no need to use artificial no-op)
• Match conditions in one statement are ANDed together
• First matching statement permits or denies the route
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-62
 Route-map Conditions
• Route-map conditions are specified in the match
statement.
• Route-maps can match on:
• Route’s network number and subnet mask matched with IP
prefix-list
• Route originator
• BGP next-hop address
• BGP origin
• Tag attached to IGP route
• AS-path
• BGP community attached to BGP route
• IGP route type (internal/external …)

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-63
 Route-map Set Options
Route-maps can also change the attributes
of BGP routes:
• origin
• BGP next-hop
• weight
• BGP community
• Local Preference
• Multi-exit-discriminator (MED)

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-64
 Prefix List Usage in the Route
Maps
router(config-route-map)#
match ip address prefix-list list-name

• Use prefix list to match routes in route-map match

condition
router(config-route-map)#
match ip next-hop prefix-list list-name

• Match routes where the next hop matches the

conditions in the prefix list
router(config-route-map)#
match ip route-source prefix-list list-name

• Match routes received from BGP peer that matches

the prefix list
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-65
 Using Route-Maps as BGP
Filters
router(config-router)#
neighbor ip-address route-map name in | out

• Applies a route-map to incoming or outgoing BGP

updates
• Prefixes not permitted by route-map are discarded
• Route-maps can also change BGP attributes in
incoming or outgoing updates
• Route-maps, filter-lists and prefix-lists are
evaluated in sequence (effectively and-ed together)

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-66
 BGP Filters

My router
BGP
table
Incoming neighbor Outgoing neighbor

prefix-list in prefix-list out

filter-list in IGP filter-list out

(OSPF, EIGRP) route-map out
route-map in
filter, set attributes
filter, set attributes

Route-map on Distribute list out

redistribution

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-67
 Summary

After completing this section, you should be

able to perform the following tasks:
• Configure route maps as BGP filters
• Describe the applications of BGP filtering
based on route maps

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-68
 Review Questions
• Why would you use route-maps on BGP neighbors?
• Which BGP attributes can you match with a route-
map?
• Which BGP attributes can you set with a route-map?
• Where can you use a route-map in BGP?
• How does a set statement in an outgoing route-map
affect the BGP table?
• How are the route-maps combined with prefix-lists
and AS-path filters?

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-69
 Influencing BGP Route
Selection with Weights

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. www.cisco.com Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-70
 Objectives

Upon completion of this section, you will be

able to perform the following tasks:
• Describe the usage of BGP weights to
influence BGP route selection process
• Influence BGP route selection process by
configuring weights
• Change BGP weights with AS-path filters
• Change BGP weights with a route-map
• Monitor BGP route selection process

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-71
 BGP Route Selection Criteria
• Prefer highest weight (local to router)
• Prefer highest local-preference (global within AS)
• Prefer routes that the router originated
• Prefer shorter AS paths (only length is compared)
• Prefer lowest origin code (IGP < EGP < Unknown)
• Prefer lowest MED
• Prefer external (EBGP) paths over internal (IBGP)
• For IBGP paths, prefer path through closest IGP
neighbor
• For EBGP paths, prefer oldest (most stable) path
• Prefer paths from router with the lower BGP router ID
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-72
 Influencing BGP Route
Selection
BGP routing policy can be specified by
using:
• Weights, which provide local routing policy (within
a router)
• Local-preference, which provides AS-wide routing
policy
BGP weights are specified per neighbor
• default weight
• as-path based weight
• complex criteria with route-maps

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-73
 Applying BGP Weights

BGP
table
Incoming neighbor

default weight

filter-list weight
My router

route-map in
(filters, weights)

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-74
 Configuring Per-Neighbor
Weights
router(config-router)#
neighbor ip-address weight weights
• All routes from the BGP neighbor get the specified
weight
• BGP routes with higher weight are preferred
• Weights are only applied to new incoming updates
• To enforce new weights, reestablish BGP sessions
with your neighbors by using clear ip bgp command

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-75
 Primary/Backup Provider
Customer Configuration
Another Internet
Customer Backup ISP Upstream AS

Multi-homed k
lin
Customer k up Primary ISP
c
Ba
Primary
link

router bgp Customer-AS

neighbor Primary-ISP weight 150
neighbor Backup-ISP weight 100

• Routes received from primary ISP should be

preferred over routes received from backup ISP
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-76
 Primary/Backup Provider
Routing Policy Results
Customer#show ip bgp
BGP table version is 16, local router ID is 1.2.3.4
Status codes: s suppressed, h history, * valid, > best, i - internal
Origin codes: i - IGP, e - EGP, ? - incomplete

Network Next Hop Metric LocPrf Weight Path

*> 1.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 0 32768 i
*> 21.0.0.0 3.4.5.6 150 37 21 i
* 2.3.4.5 0 100 21 i
*> 37.0.0.0 3.4.5.6 0 150 37 i
* 2.3.4.5 100 21 37 i
*> 40.0.0.0 3.4.5.6 0 150 37 40 i
* 2.3.4.5 100 21 40 i

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-77
 Configuring Weights Based on
AS-path Filters
router(config-router)#
neighbor ip-address filter-list as-path-acl weight weights
• All routes from BGP neighbor that match specified
AS-path filter get the configured weight
• The AS-path filter is applied after the default weight
• Several AS-path filters can be configured and are
applied in sequence
• Incoming routes not matched by the filter-list AS-
path filter with weight option are not discarded, only
the weight is not affected
• Weights are only applied to new incoming updates

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-78
 Local Traffic Goes Direct
Customer Configuration
Another Internet
Customer AS 21 Upstream AS

Multi-homed k
lin
Customer k up AS 37
c
Ba
Primary
link
router bgp Customer-AS
neighbor Primary-ISP weight 150
neighbor Backup-ISP weight 100
neighbor Backup-ISP filter-list 7 weight 200
!
ip as-path access-list 7 permit _21$
• Traffic to customers of backup ISP goes direct
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-79
 Local Traffic Goes Direct
Routing Policy Results
Customer#show ip bgp
BGP table version is 16, local router ID is 1.2.3.4
Status codes: s suppressed, h history, * valid, > best, i - internal
Origin codes: i - IGP, e - EGP, ? - incomplete

Network Next Hop Metric LocPrf Weight Path

*> 1.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 0 32768 i
* 21.0.0.0 3.4.5.6 150 37 21 i
*> 2.3.4.5 0 200 21 i
*> 37.0.0.0 3.4.5.6 0 150 37 i
* 2.3.4.5 100 21 37 i
*> 40.0.0.0 3.4.5.6 0 150 37 40 i
* 2.3.4.5 100 21 40 i

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-80
 Configuring Weights with
Route-Maps
router(config)#
router bgp as-number
neighbor ip-address route-map route-map-name in
!
route-map route-map-name permit sequence
match condition
set weight weight

• Weights can be set with route-maps in complex

scenarios
• Routes can be matched on any combination of
prefix-lists, AS-path filters or other BGP attributes
• Routes not matched by the route-map are discarded.

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-81
 Complex Route Selection
Example
• Set weight 200 to networks coming from
2.3.4.5 originated in AS 21
router bgp 123
neighbor 2.3.4.5 route-map w200 in
!
route-map w200 permit 10
match as-path 47
set weight 200
!
route-map w200 permit 20
set weight 100
!
ip as-path access-list 47 permit _21$

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-82
 Monitoring BGP Route
Selection and Weights
router>
show ip bgp
• Displays all BGP routes, best routes are marked with
>, weight associated with every route is displayed

router>
show ip bgp prefix [mask]
• Displays all paths for specific BGP routes

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-83
 Monitoring BGP Table
router>
show ip bgp
• Displays weights associated with all routes in BGP
table. Indicates the best route with “>”

Fred#show ip bgp
BGP table version is 11, local router ID is 12.1.2.3
Status codes: s suppressed, d damped, h history, * valid, > best, i -
internal
Origin codes: i - IGP, e - EGP, ? - incomplete

Network Next Hop Metric LocPrf Weight Path

*> 10.0.0.0 1.2.0.1 500 100 37 213 i
* 1.1.0.1 1000 0 213 i
*> 11.0.0.0 1.2.0.1 500 100 37 48 i
* 1.1.0.1 1000 0 213 48 i
*> 12.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 0 32768 i
*> 14.0.0.0 1.1.0.3 0 0 387 i

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-84
 Displaying Entries in BGP
Table
router>
show ip bgp ip-prefix [mask subnet-mask]
• Displays detailed information about all paths for a
single prefix

Fred#show ip bgp 11.0.0.0

BGP routing table entry for 11.0.0.0/8, version 5
Paths: (2 available, best #1, advertised over EBGP)
213
1.2.0.1 from 1.2.0.1 (10.1.1.1)
Origin IGP, metric 500, localpref 100, valid, external, best
213
1.1.0.1 from 1.1.0.1 (11.0.0.1)
Origin IGP, metric 1000, localpref 100, valid, external

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-85
 Summary: All BGP Route-
Selection and Filtering Tools
BGP
table
Incoming neighbor Outgoing neighbor

prefix-list in prefix-list out

filter-list in filter-list out

IGP
route-map out
default weight (OSPF, EIGRP) (filters, ...)

filter-list weight

Distribute list out

route-map in
(filters, weights)

Route-map on
redistribution
My router
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-86
 Summary

After completing this section, you should be

able to perform the following tasks:
• Describe the usage of BGP weights to
influence BGP route selection process
• Influence BGP route selection process by
configuring weights
• Change BGP weights with AS-path filters
• Change BGP weights with a route-map
• Monitor BGP route selection process

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-87
 Review Questions
• What is the difference between local-preference and
weight?
• How can you set BGP weights?
• What is the default weight for routes received from a
BGP neighbor?
• How would you implement primary/backup ISP
routing policy?
• When are the weights configured on a neighbor
enforced?
• What is the difference between filter-list in and filter-
list weight configuration command?

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-88
 Implementing Changes
in BGP Policy

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. www.cisco.com Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-89
 Objectives

Upon completion of this section, you will be

able to perform the following tasks:
• Explain the need for explicit actions when
changing BGP policy
• Use soft reconfiguration to prevent disruptive
changes of BGP policies
• Identify whether the routers are BGP route-
refresh capable
• Use BGP route-refresh to minimize memory
usage
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-90
 Filter Caveats

• All filters apply only to new incoming and

outgoing updates
• To change outbound routing policy you have
to resend BGP updates to your neighbors
• To change inbound routing policy you have to
force your neighbor to resend the updates to
you
• Traditional mechanism: clear BGP sessions
• IOS 11.2 enhancement — soft reconfiguration
• IOS 12.1 enhancement — route refresh
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-91
 Clearing the BGP Session
router#
clear ip bgp * | ip-adress | peer-group-name
• Tears down the BGP session with all neighbors,
specific neighbor or all neighbors in a peer-group
• All BGP routes are lost after the session is torn
down, connectivity through the BGP neighbor is lost
• New session is reestablished within 30 - 60 seconds
• Full routing update is exchanged once the session is
reestablished, resulting in enforcement of new
routing policy
• Processing the full Internet routing table can take a
long time — clearing the BGP session is a very
disruptive way to implement routing policies
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-92
 BGP Soft Reconfiguration
• Soft reconfiguration was introduced in IOS
11.2 to facilitate non-disruptive changes in
BGP routing policies
• Outbound soft-reconfiguration resends
complete BGP table
Always enabled, not configurable
• Inbound soft-reconfiguration stores
complete BGP table of your neighbor in
router memory

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-93
 Using Soft Reconfiguration
router(config-router)#
neighbor ip-address soft-reconfiguration in

• Configures inbound soft-reconfiguration for a BGP neighbor

• Consumes memory for an extra copy of neighbor routes

router#
clear ip bgp * | ip-address | peer-group soft out

• Resends all BGP routes to the neighbors

• Always enabled, no additional memory consumption

router#
clear ip bgp * | ip-address | peer-group soft in

• Replays stored neighbor routes through inbound BGP filters

• Only works with soft reconfiguration enabled
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-94
 Configuring Soft
Reconfiguration Inbound
router(config-router)#
neighbor ip-address soft-reconfiguration in

BGP table
Incoming neighbor

route-map in
(filters, weights)
Copy of updates
received from
neighbor filter-list weight

default weight

Distribute list in
My router
filter-list in

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-95
 Using Soft Reconfiguration
Inbound
router#
clear ip bgp ip-address soft in

BGP table

route-map in
(filters, weights)
Copy of updates
received from
neighbor filter-list weight

default weight

Distribute list in
My router
filter-list in

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-96
 Soft Reconfiguration
Outbound
router#
clear ip bgp ip-address soft out

BGP table
replay
Outgoing neighbor

Distribute list out

filter-list out

route-map out
(filters, ...)
My router

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-97
 Soft Reconfiguration-Related
Show Commands
Filters and route Filters and route
maps maps

BGP
table
Incoming neighbor Outgoing neighbor

show ip bgp neighbor show ip bgp neighbor

address received address advertised
My router

show ip bgp neighbor

show ip bgp
address routes

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-98
 BGP Route Refresh
• Inbound soft reconfiguration consumes
memory on the receiving router
It’s only needed because there is no
mechanism in standard BGP to request
retransmission of BGP routes
• BGP route refresh is an optional BGP
capability that allows a BGP router to
request retransmission of BGP routes from
a neighbor

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-99
 BGP Route Refresh Operation

BGP session
RTR-A Route Refresh message RTR-B

BGP routes are resent

Router#clear ip bgp address soft in

Step #1 - Route refresh is negotiated when the BGP session is established

Step #2 - Inbound routing policy is changed on RTR-B
Step #3 - Operator requests inbound soft reconfiguration
Step #4 - RTR-B sends route refresh message to RTR-A
Step #5 - RTR-A resends all BGP routes to RTR-B
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-100
 Using BGP Route Refresh
router#
clear ip bgp * | ip-address | peer-group [ soft ] in 12.1

• For neighbors that support BGP route refresh, sends route

refresh requests
• For neighbors with inbound soft reconfiguration configured
replays stored routes
• Fails for all other neighbors

router#
show ip bgp neighbor [address]

• Displays whether route refresh is negotiated with the neighbor

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-101
 Show ip bgp neighbor
Cisco IOS 12.1 Printout
Router#show ip bgp neighbor 192.168.3.101
BGP neighbor is 192.168.3.101, remote AS 3, internal link
BGP version 4, remote router ID 192.168.3.101
BGP state = Established, up for 02:15:33
Last read 00:00:33, hold time is 180, keepalive interval is 60 seconds
Neighbor capabilities:
Route refresh: advertised and received
Address family IPv4 Unicast: advertised and received
Received 1417 messages, 0 notifications, 0 in queue
Sent 1729 messages, 2 notifications, 0 in queue
Route refresh request: received 9, sent 29
Minimum time between advertisement runs is 5 seconds

For address family: IPv4 Unicast

BGP table version 188, neighbor version 188
Index 2, Offset 0, Mask 0x4
1 accepted prefixes consume 36 bytes
Prefix advertised 322, suppressed 0, withdrawn 230

... Rest deleted …

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-102
 Summary

After completing this section, you should be

able to perform the following tasks:
• Explain the need for explicit actions when
changing BGP policy
• Use soft reconfiguration to prevent disruptive
changes of BGP policies
• Identify whether the routers are BGP route-
refresh capable
• Use BGP route-refresh to minimize memory
usage
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-103
 Review Questions
• How can you enforce a new BGP routing policy?
• Why is clearing a BGP session a disruptive change in
routing policy?
• Which mechanisms can you use for non-disruptive changes
in BGP routing policy?
• What is the impact of inbound soft reconfiguration?
• What is the memory and CPU impact of outbound soft
reconfiguration?
• When would you prefer inbound soft reconfiguration over
route refresh?
• How do you determine whether a BGP neighbor supports
route refresh?

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-104
 Limiting the Number of
Prefixes Received from
a BGP Neighbor

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. www.cisco.com Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-105
 Objectives

Upon completion of this section, you will be

able to perform the following tasks:
• Describe the need for limiting the number of
routes received from a BGP neighbor
• Configure BGP maximum-prefix function
• Monitor BGP maximum-prefix function

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-106
 Limiting the Number of Routes
Received from a Neighbor
Problem definition:
• A misconfigured BGP neighbor can send a
huge number of prefixes that exhaust router’s
memory or overload the CPU (several Internet-
wide incidents have already occurred)
• All other filtering mechanisms only specify
what we’re willing to accept but not how much
• A new tool is needed to establish a hard limit
on the number of prefixes received from a
neighbor

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-107
 Maximum-Prefix Command
router(config-router)#

neighbor ip-address maximum-prefix maximum [threshold] [warning-

only]

• Controls how many prefixes can be received from a

neighbor
• Optional threshold parameter specifies the
percentage where a warning message is logged
(default is 75%)
• Optional warning-only keyword specifies the action
on exceeding the maximum number (default is to
drop neighborship)

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-108
 Monitoring Maximum-Prefix
Operation
router#
show ip bgp neighbor [address]
• For neighbors with maximum-prefix configured
displays the maximum number of prefixes and the
warning threshold
• For neighbors exceeding the maximum number of
prefixes displays the reason the BGP session is idle

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-109
 Monitoring Maximum-Prefix
Settings
Barney#show ip bgp neighbors 1.3.0.3
BGP neighbor is 1.3.0.3, remote AS 387, external link
Index 2, Offset 0, Mask 0x4
Community attribute sent to this neighbor
BGP version 4, remote router ID 14.1.2.3
BGP state = Established, table version = 6, up for 20:55:10
Last read 00:00:08, hold time is 180, keepalive is 60
seconds
Minimum time between advertisement runs is 30 seconds
Received 1262 messages, 0 notifications, 0 in queue
Sent 1262 messages, 0 notifications, 0 in queue
Inbound path policy configured
Outbound path policy configured
Route map for incoming advertisements is LocPref
Route map for outgoing advertisements is BackupComm
Connections established 1; dropped 0
Last reset never
No. of prefix received 2, maximum limit 5
Threshold for warning message 70%

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-110
 Actions on Exceeding
Maximum Number of Prefixes
Barney#
%BGP-4-MAXPFX: No. of prefix received from 1.3.0.3 reaches 4, max 5
%BGP-3-MAXPFXEXCEED: No. of prefix received from 1.3.0.3: 6 exceed limit 5

Barney#show ip bgp sum

BGP table version is 22, main routing table version 22
9 network entries (9/27 paths) using 1920 bytes of memory
5 BGP path attribute entries using 572 bytes of memory
0 BGP route-map cache entries using 0 bytes of memory
0 BGP filter-list cache entries using 0 bytes of memory

Neighbor V AS MsgRcvd MsgSent TblVer InQ OutQ Up/Down State/PfxRcd

1.0.0.1 4 213 1269 1268 22 0 0 21:02:19 8
1.3.0.3 4 387 1272 1274 0 0 0 00:00:08 Idle

Barney#show ip bgp neighbor 1.3.0.3

BGP neighbor is 1.3.0.3, remote AS 387, external link
...
Last reset 00:00:18, due to : Peer exceeding maximum prefix limit
Peer had exceeded the max. no. of prefixes configured.
Reduce the no. of prefix and clear ip bgp 1.3.0.3 to restore peering
No active TCP connection
Barney#

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-111
 Summary

After completing this section, you should be

able to perform the following tasks:
• Describe the need for limiting the number of
routes received from a BGP neighbor
• Configure BGP maximum-prefix function
• Monitor BGP maximum-prefix function

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-112
 Review Questions
• Why would you want to limit number of BGP
prefixes received from a neighbor?
• What happens when the number of configured
prefixes is exceeded?
• What happens after the BGP session with an
offending neighbor is torn down?
• When would a directly-connected BGP
neighbor stay in idle state?

© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-113
 Summary
After completing this lesson, you should be able
to perform the following tasks:
• Configure AS-path filters, prefix lists and route-
maps
• Filter incoming and outgoing BGP updates with AS-
path filters, prefix lists and route-maps
• Influence BGP route selection
• Monitor and troubleshoot BGP filters
• Implement non-disruptive BGP policy changes
• Limit the number of routes received from a BGP
neighbor
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-114
© 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Route Filtering and Route Selection in BGP-115