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North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Re: using gated for multi-home BGP
On Sat, 16 Oct 1999 12:12:42 -0400 (EDT) Jim Mercer wrote: > > the configs are based on a few factoids derived from the examples and alot > of trial and error. > > i wonder if there is a site or some sample configs that i can use to learn > about using gated/BGP in the following contexts: > > - filters (rejecting/dropping specific routes RFC1918, default, sub/24, etc) > - combining AS's (we have 3+ AS's behind our network) > - raising/lowering preferences on routes/AS's Major caveat: I haven't used gated in about six months and haven't used any version of gated released since say, 1997. I don't know of any other than the Merit gated site. I thought that the Merit site was pretty good. If you are familar with the underlying concepts and technologies, I find the gated configuration file BNF more intuitive than say, Cisco. > > also, if using an intel platform, with FreeBSD, what would your recommendations > be for processor/RAM with two full peers? Gosh, one of the nice things about PC routers is that this is essentially a non-issue. You are going to be able to max out the PCI bus with just about any configuration of RAM and CPU. We have been very happy with multi-homed BGP systems with a Pentium 166mHz CPU and 128MB of RAM holding three full views. Here is a great secret One PC based routers: Given the prices for PC systems, I strongly recommend you get one PC router per uplink and run IBGP between them *and* always have one running IBGP as a hot-swap/spare. The problem with PC routers is that unlike say Ciscos, it is significant downtime to swap in/out boards or upgrade the OS. Using IBGP, you can get around this problem by always having at least one of your links up. The advantage of PC routers is that they are so cheap, you can have complete redundancy. This will allow you to do things like rotate in during off hours, your spare router, which has the latest version of the OS or gated or whatever, without causing significant downtime. Great secret two is to be aware of what features the PC routers lack in terms of routing protocols and inteface cards. Trust not the interface card vendors to give you accurate information (or working cards/drivers.) All of the routing daemons I know of lack features that you will end up wanting at some point. You gotta know what is there, what will be there and what is missing. MLPS, high quality multiple path load balancing, OSPF NSSA, etc. You may not need any of these features now, but when conteplating future designs, you need to know when to swap out other technologies. Don't bet the farm on any interface card that you have not installed in your spare/sandbox router and really beat on. Some of the interface card vendors are really strange people. Expect to be your own support organization.... Unix based routers are really a great tool to have in your toolbox. I have basically been using them on and off for 15 years. No matter what size your network, there are definitely jobs for which they make sense. There are a much greater set of jobs for which they make no sense at all.... It is great to be able to understand the advantages/disadvantages and optimally deploy them. Good luck! Have fun! regards, fletcher
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