BGP Attributes Query

Hello Keith,

From your BGP videos I got a very good understanding of how we can influence traffic from remote-as into our AS. I had a couple of questions.

Question-1]

What are some of the disadvantages of using AS-PATH PREPEND?

Question-2]

Apart from MED and AS-PATH Prepend, is there any other way we can influence traffic from remote-as into our AS ?

Question-3]

Similarly to influence traffic outbound from our AS to remote-as, Apart from weight and Local Pref can we use anything else?

Questions-4]

What are some of the limitations of BGP split Horizon rule ?

Kindly advise.

Best,

Abhishek Gupta.

Hi Abhishek,
Question-1

What are some of the disadvantages of using AS-PATH PREPEND?

-----The most common disadvantage is that many ISPs have a policy that they do not accept prepended prefixes. So if you weren’t aware of this policy and sent a prepended prefix it would be dropped by your peer.

Question-2

Apart from MED and AS-PATH Prepend, is there any other way we can influence traffic from remote-as into our AS ?

----You could try modifying the BGP Origin Code. “IGP” is always preferred over “Incomplete”.

Question-3

Similarly to influence traffic outbound from our AS to remote-as, Apart from weight and Local Pref can we use anything else?

—I haven’t tried this myself, but I believe received routes can also be prepended

Questions-4

What are some of the limitations of “BGP split Horizon rule” ?

----If you don’t use Route-Reflectors or BGP Confederations the BGP Split-Horizon rule will force you to have a full-mesh of iBGP peers within your autonomous system. This could result in a LOT of TCP connections to create this full-mesh of iBGP peering.