BGP Routing Policies Plugin

The bgp.policy plugin implements simple BGP routing policies :

  • Per-neighbor AS-path prepending, BGP link bandwidth, BGP local preference, BGP MED, and BGP weights

  • Default local preference

You can also use this plugin to apply inbound and outbound generic routing policies to EBGP neighbors.

Supported BGP Attributes

The plugin adds the following BGP attributes:

  • bgp.bandwidth link attribute sets the BGP Link Bandwidth extended community. It can be an integer (in Mbps), in which case the Link Bandwidth community is attached to inbound EBGP updates[1], a dictionary with in and out integer values if you want to set the Link Bandwidth community in both directions (or just on the outbound updates), or auto keyword if you’re going to copy interface bandwidth into incoming EBGP updates[2].

  • bgp.locpref is an integer attribute that sets default local preference when applied to a node, or sets local preference on BGP updates received from an EBGP neighbor.

  • bgp.med is an integer attribute that sets the MED attribute on BGP updates sent to an EBGP neighbor.

  • bgp.policy is a dictionary that applies predefined routing policies to inbound (in) or outbound (out) BGP updates.

  • bgp.prepend is a dictionary configuring outbound AS-path prepending. It can contain a count attribute (number of times the node AS is prepended) or a path attribute (the prepended AS-path as a string[3])

  • bgp.weight is an integer attribute that sets per-neighbor weight.

BGP policy attributes can be specified on a node or an interface (node-to-link attachment). The following table describes where you could apply individual attributes:

BGP policy

Node

Interface

bandwidth

❌

✅

locpref

✅

✅

med

❌

✅

policy

❌

✅

prepend

❌

✅

weight

❌

✅

Platform Support

The plugin implements BGP routing policies and individual BGP policy attributes on these devices:

Operating system

Routing
policies

Local
preference

MED

Weight

AS-path
prepend

Link
bandwidth

Arista EOS

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

Aruba AOS-CX

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

❌

Cisco IOSv/IOSvL2

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅❗

Cisco IOS-XE[4]

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅❗

Cumulus Linux

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

FRR

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

Nokia SR Linux

✅

✅

✅

❌

❌

❌

Nokia SR OS

✅

✅

✅

❌

❌

✅

VyOS

✅

✅

✅

❌

✅

❌

Tip

See BGP Policies Test Results for more details.

Notes:

  • Arista EOS and Aruba CX do not support node-level default local preference. Node-level bgp.locpref attribute (if specified) is thus applied to all interfaces that do not have an explicit bgp.locpref attribute. That might interfere with the bgp.policy interface attributes.

Applying Routing Policies to EBGP Neighbors

You can use bgp.policy.in and bgp.policy.out interface-level attributes to apply predefined global- or node-level routing policies to EBGP sessions.

The following lab topology contains a combination of these features:

defaults.device: frr
module: [ bgp, routing ]
plugin: [ bgp.policy ]

routing.policy:
  set_locpref:
    locpref: 120

nodes:
  r1:
    bgp.as: 65000
  r2:
    bgp.as: 65001
    routing.policy:
      set_med:
        med: 20

links:
- r1:
    bgp.policy.in: set_locpref
  r2:
    bgp.policy.out: set_med

Notes:

  • R1 uses set_locpref routing policy that is not defined on R1. The global set_locpref routing policy is copied into R1 node data.

  • R2 uses set_med routing policy that is defined locally.

The above lab topology results in the following FRRouting device configuration on R1[5]:

router bgp 65000
 bgp router-id 10.0.0.1
 neighbor 10.1.0.2 remote-as 65001
 neighbor 10.1.0.2 description r2
 !
 address-family ipv4 unicast
  network 10.0.0.1/32
  neighbor 10.1.0.2 activate
  no neighbor 10.1.0.2 send-community extended
  neighbor 10.1.0.2 route-map set_locpref in
 exit-address-family
exit
!
route-map set_locpref permit 10
 set local-preference 120

Applying Individual Policy Attributes

You could specify individual BGP policy attributes as interface-level attributes instead of defining and deploying a routing policy. This approach is probably easier to use in simple scenarios without route filters.

The plugin’s device-specific configuration templates try to apply as many BGP policy attributes as possible directly to EBGP neighbor sessions. For example, bgp.weight is usually applied directly to a neighbor, as illustrated by the following FRR configuration:

router bgp 65000
 neighbor 10.1.0.2 remote-as 65100
 neighbor 10.1.0.2 description r1
 !
 address-family ipv4 unicast
  neighbor 10.1.0.2 activate
  neighbor 10.1.0.2 weight 10

Most other policy attributes have to be applied through a route map. The plugin device-specific configuration templates create per-neighbor maps using names unique to each EBGP session and apply those route maps to EBGP neighbors:

router bgp 65000
 bgp default local-preference 37
 neighbor 10.1.0.2 remote-as 65100
 neighbor 10.1.0.2 description r1
 neighbor 10.1.0.6 remote-as 65100
 neighbor 10.1.0.6 description r1
 !
 address-family ipv4 unicast
  neighbor 10.1.0.2 route-map bp-r1-1-in in
  neighbor 10.1.0.2 route-map bp-r1-1-out out
  neighbor 10.1.0.6 activate
  neighbor 10.1.0.6 route-map bp-r1-2-out out
!
route-map bp-r1-1-in permit 10
 set local-preference 20
!
route-map bp-r1-1-out permit 10
 set metric 101
!
route-map bp-r1-2-out permit 10
 set metric 200

Warning

  • You cannot combine ‌bgp.policy routing policies with individual policy attributes that require a route map.

  • Some devices use route maps to implement the device-wide ‌bgp.locpref attribute. When combined with ‌bgp.policy routing policies, these auto-generated route maps generate errors.

Sample Topologies

The following topology illustrates a simple primary/backup scenario in which a CE-router uses weights and MED to select primary/backup uplinks.

---
defaults.device: frr

module: [ bgp ]
plugin: [ bgp.policy ]

nodes:
  ce:
    bgp.as: 65000
  pe:
    bgp.as: 65100

links:
- ce:
    bgp.weight: 100
    bgp.med: 50
  pe:
  name: Primary uplink
- ce:
    bgp.weight: 50
    bgp.med: 100
  pe:
  name: Backup uplink

The following topology illustrates AS-path prepending functionality. On the backup link, the CE router prepends its own AS three times, and on the primary link, it prepends another AS.

---
defaults.device: frr

module: [ bgp ]
plugin: [ bgp.policy ]

nodes:
  ce:
    bgp.as: 65000
  pe:
    bgp.as: 65100

links:
- ce:
    bgp.prepend.path: "65123"
  pe:
  name: Primary uplink
- ce:
    bgp.prepend.count: 3
  pe:
  name: Backup uplink