BGP Update Source

If you have started to look at BGP you will very soon come across the BGP update-source command. This command tells BGP which interface to source the BGP packets out of. The short demo below will highlight the problem.

I have a very simple setup with 2 routers connected with a serial interface and an ethernet interface

Step 1:

I have setup BGP and set the the neighbor statements on each router to point to the ethernet address.

R1#sh run | beg router bgp
 router bgp 1
 no synchronization
 bgp router-id 10.0.0.3
 bgp log-neighbor-changes
 neighbor 10.0.0.2 remote-as 1

R2#sh run | beg router bgp
 router bgp 1
 no synchronization
 bgp log-neighbor-changes
 neighbor 10.0.0.1 remote-as 1

BGP comes up fine

 R2#sh ip bgp summary
 BGP router identifier 10.0.0.2, local AS number 1
 BGP table version is 1, main routing table version 1

Neighbor        V    AS MsgRcvd MsgSent   TblVer  InQ OutQ Up/Down  State/PfxRcd
 10.0.0.1        4     1      24      24        1    0    0 00:20:15        0

However if we now setup ip addresses on the Serial interfaces and then change the neighbor statement on R1 to try and peer to the Serial address while the neighbor statement on R2 is trying to peer with the ethernet interface the BGP neighborship will fail.

As the router is receiving a BGP request on an interface that is not configured to to receive a reply on.

*Mar  1 06:43:13.138: BGP: 10.0.0.2 open active, local address 10.0.0.1
 *Mar  1 06:43:13.146: BGP: 10.0.0.2 open failed: Connection refused by remote host, open active delayed 200ms

To fix this we need to use the command neighbor update-source

This tells BGP to send the update out the other interface and thus R2 will receive the BGP request on the interface it is expecting to hear on and the BGP relationship will come up.

R1
router bgp 1
 no synchronization
 bgp log-neighbor-changes
 neighbor 31.0.0.1 remote-as 1
 neighbor 31.0.0.1 update-source Serial0/0

R1#
 *Mar  1 06:49:11.430: %BGP-5-ADJCHANGE: neighbor 10.0.0.2 Up
 R1#

Now because we are telling the router to source the BGP packets out of serial interface the BGP neighborship comes up.

More info here

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/11_3/np1/configuration/guide/1cbgp.html

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Roger Perkin - CCIE #50038 is a Network Automation Engineer & CCIE Consultant based in the UK, currently working for Softcat Plc as a Senior Network & Security Consultant.
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