Policies by Country, as part of the Flowspec Policies functionality, provides IRP users with the geo-blocking capability at the BGP level. Such policies allow network operators to restrict internet traffic by manipulating routing decisions based on geographic regions, particularly countries. Network administrators can define packet filtering rules based on additional parameters, such as protocols, port numbers, and destination prefixes, enabling a more granular approach. Moreover, users can access lists of affected prefixes and ASNs associated with each specific country for every policy, facilitating more informed routing decisions.
Figure 3.8.3: Policies by Country
Once enabled, each policy contains statistics on the number of affected prefixes that can be viewed for specific details on the actual list of prefixes as well as ASNs that the prefixes belong to. The history of changes is maintained for each policy.
Figure 3.8.4: Policies by Country – Affected Prefixes view
To avoid routers overflowing with multiple policies, there are some limitations to the number of Country/ASN policies one can create. A maximum of three policies for a particular Country/ASN can be created, with each of them being different from the other two by having an IPv4 destination prefix, an IPv6 destination prefix, or no destination prefix at all