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BGP Network Optimization with Intelligent Routing Platform
Noction Intelligent Routing Platform is designed to improve the performance and reduce operational costs of a multi-homed BGP network. By adding intelligence to internet routing decisions, Noction IRP leverages a company’s existing internet connectivity to deliver substantial network performance improvements.
Balance traffic and keep bandwidth levels below the present thresholds for all your providers at all times. Learn More >
White Papers & Datasheets
White Papers & Datasheets
White Paper
Learn how IRP can help you boost network performance and reduce operational costs by intelligently rerouting traffic across the internet.
Product Datasheet
This document provides software and hardware technical specifications of Noction Intelligent Routind Platform.
ROI White Paper
This research unveils the return on investment that a typical Service Provider achieves as a result of deploying Noction IRP in its infrastructure.
IRP Global Management Interface:
Operating a large network with multiple locations and a varying degree of integration? Learn about the IRP Global Management Interface – a single pane of glass that allows administrators to manage multiple Noction IRP instances from one, easy to access application.
IRP has been a great asset to our business. It is paying for itself by saving us money on overages and at the same time providing optimal performance for our customers in outbound routing. It is like a little robot that works for us 24/7.
Tim Smith ATMC Data Services Foreman
IRP is saving us man hours and is providing a peace of mind, knowing that our internet links are not getting saturated, with inbound and outbound traffic being distributed across all our links as improvements are being made.
Paul Chunn Vice President at Bandwidth.com
Noction gave us the three requirements that we seek with all solutions: optimization, scalability and extended SLA. Intelligent Routing Platform provides better ISP management by automatically choosing the best path for all BGP routes in real-time.
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is a distance-vector routing protocol that is used on the Internet and allows information sent from one Internet point to another to find the right path and reach the recipient.
Protocol terminology:
When it comes to BGP, the first thing to explain is the concept of an Autonomous System (AS). An Autonomous System is a collection of routing points and the connection between them, united by a common interaction policy, which allows this system to exchange data with the nodes that are outside of the system.
An Autonomous System is characterized by a 16-bit or 32-bit Autonomous System Number (ASN) and a pool of IP addresses. Both are issued by IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority), which in its turn delegates control over the distribution of ASNs and other Internet resources to regional registrars.
The connectivity of Autonomous Systems is achieved through static or dynamic routing.
Static routing is quite simple and requires an engineer to manually set the route to the nearest neighbor. In practice, however, connecting even 10 routers to each other becomes a real challenge.
Therefore, dynamic routing was invented for large networks, where devices automatically share information about the available routes with each other and adjust to any topology changes.
Dynamic routing protocols are classified according to the two main characteristics:
1) The way the protocol works in relation to the Autonomous Systems:
IGP (Interior Gateway Protocol) – working inside the Autonomous System. These include: RIP, OSPF, EIGRP, IS-IS
EGP (Exterior Gateway Protocol) – working outside of the Autonomous Systems and ensure their connectivity. This includes BGP
2) The protocol’s operation algorithm:
Distance-Vector – knows the routes only to the nearest neighbors and exchanges a routing table with them. (RIP, EIGRP)
Link State – knows the entire topology of the network and exchanges the topology table with its neighbors (OSPF, IS-IS)
Clearly, BGP can not be a Link State protocol. Just imagine how many Autonomous Systems are out there on the Internet! Any router will simply fail if it receives this great amount of information.
Thus, BGP is a distance vector exterior gateway protocol that connects Autonomous Systems. A simplified scheme looks something like this:
Since BGP is entrusted with the task of connecting Autonomous Systems throughout the Internet, it must be very reliable. Nevertheless, the protocol does not have a reliable transport method. Instead it leverages TCPs reliability to ensure that the messages and updates are received. At the very beginning, the BGP router initiates the establishment of a TCP session on port 179 to its neighbor. The standard exchange of SYN and ACK takes place.
BGP connections must be carefully coordinated by the administrators of the Autonomous Systems willing to connect. If, for instance, the administrator of AS20 has initiated the BGP process on BR2 (Border Router), specifying BR1 and its ASN as a neighbor, but the AS30 administrator has not done anything, the TCP session will not be established and the systems will remain disconnected. Moreover, the following conditions must be met:
port 179 is not blocked by the ACL (Access Control List)
routers can ping each other
the ASN of the distant Autonomous System was specified correctly
RouterIDs do not match
If the TCP session is established successfully, the BGP routers start exchanging OPEN messages, in which they report their ASN, RouterID and Hold time. Hold timer is the time during which the TCP session will be supported. In case the conditions listed above are not met, for example, the information about the AS number does not match, then the router receiving the incorrect ASN will notify its neighbor by sending a NOTIFICATION message and will end the TCP session.
If all the conditions are met, the routers start sending each other KEEPALIVE messages with a certain interval, meaning they confirm the parameters accepted in OPEN and sending the notification “I’m still alive”.
Finally, the routers can begin to exchange routing information using the UPDATE message.
The structure of this message consists of the following parts:
Unfeasible routes length indicates the length of the Withdrawn Routes field
Withdrawn routes contains IP address prefixes for the routes being withdrawn
Total path attribute length indicates the length of the path attributes field
Path attributes contains the properties of the routes: the path origin, preference for the route, the multi-exit discriminator (MED), as well as the information about confederations, communities, aggregation, and route reflection.
NRLI (Network Layer Reachability Information) contains the information about the networks which are to be added into the routing table – the IP address of the network and its mask.
The UPDATE message is transmitted each time one of the routers receives information about the new networks, while the KEEPALIVE message throughout the entire TCP session.
NOTIFICATION Message is sent when an error is detected. The BGP connection closes immediately after the message is sent. Such message includes error code, its subcode, and also data related to the error.
BGP is most certainly the most complex IP routing protocol currently deployed in the internet. The information above is aimed to provide only the basic understanding of how the protocol works. For more in depth information please consult our Blog or the Resource Center guides.
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