BGP Communities Peering

Control your routes with BGP Communities

Traffic over the NL-ix Route Server can be managed via BGP communities or the Route Server Configurator (filter.nl-ix.net). Please note that you should make a choice for either the communities or the GUI of the Route Server Configurator. Using both may result in unexpected behaviour. The GUI will not show any communities that are set manually.

BGP communities:

With BGP communities you can control which routes sent to the Route Servers are announced to other peers. If no community tags are specified, routes are advertised to all peers by default.

Routes are marked with standard communities (16-bit ASNs) or large communities (16-bit and 32-bit ASNs).

Traffic over the NL-ix Route Server can be managed with the following communities:

Action Communities
Action BGP communities have direct impact on your routing policy. Setting action tags changes the way prefix announcements are handled.

Action Format Standard communities Large communities
Don't advertise to specific AS 0:peer-as 0:as-number 34307:0:peer-as
Announce a prefix (only) to a certain peer exchange-as:peer-as exchange-as:peer-as 34307:1:peer-as
Do not announce a prefix to any peer* 0:exchange-as 0:34307 34307:0:0
Announce a prefix to all peers exchange-as:exchange-as 34307:34307 34307:1:0
NO_EXPORT** Well-known 65535:65281
NO_ADVERTISE** Well-known 65535:65282
GRACEFUL_SHUTDOWN*** Well-known 65535:0

* Only one of standard or large BGP communities has to be applied
** Prefixes marked with this community are redistributed to Route Server peers
*** Route Server selects another instance of prefix. If none available this one goes to peers. Requires them to match on community as well

Prepending
Prepending makes the route you advertise over the Route Server less attractive. Other routes (like your IP-transit upstream) may be preferred

Action Standard Communities Large communities
Prepend 1 time to all peers 65001:0
Prepend 1 time to as number 65001:peer-as 34307:101:peer-as
Prepend 2 times to all peers 65002:0
Prepend 2 times to as number 65002:peer-as 34307:102:peer-as
Prepend 3 times to all peers 65003:0
Prepend 3 times to as number 65003:peer-as 34307:103:peer-as

Actions per region

Action Standard Communities
Do not advertise to peers connected in the Netherlands 34307:65151
Do not advertise to peers connected in Belgium 34307:65152
Do not advertise to peers connected in France 34307:65153
Do not advertise to peers connected in the United Kingdom 34307:65154
Do not advertise to peers connected in Denmark 34307:65155
Do not advertise to peers connected in Germany 34307:65156
Do not advertise to peers connected in Luxemburg 34307:65157
Action Standard Communities
Advertise to the Netherlands 34307:65251
Advertise to Belgium 34307:65252
Advertise to France 34307:65253
Advertise to United Kingdom 34307:65254
Advertise to Denmark 34307:65255
Advertise to Germany 34307:65256
Advertise to Luxemburg 34307:65257
Action Standard Communities
Don't advertise to Amsterdam 34307:65101
Don't advertise to Antwerp 34307:65102
Don't advertise to Brussels 34307:65103
Don't advertise to Berlin 34307:65104
Don't advertise to Eindhoven 34307:65105
Don't advertise to Arnhem 34307:65106
Don't advertise to Copenhagen 34307:65107
Don't advertise to Groningen 34307:65108
Don't advertise to Rotterdam 34307:65109
Don't advertise to London 34307:65110
Don't advertise to Paris 34307:65111
Don't advertise to Luxembourg 34307:65112
Don't advertise to Marseille 34307:65113
Don't advertise to Dusseldorf 34307:65114
Don't advertise to Frankfurt 34307:65115
Action Standard Communities
Advertise to Amsterdam 34307:65201
Advertise to Antwerp 34307:65202
Advertise to Brussels 34307:65203
Advertise to Berlin 34307:65204
Advertise to Eindhoven 34307:65205
Advertise to Arnhem 34307:65206
Advertise to Copenhagen 34307:65207
Advertise to Groningen 34307:65208
Advertise to Rotterdam 34307:65209
Advertise to London 34307:65210
Advertise to Paris 34307:65211
Advertise to Luxembourg 34307:65212
Advertise to Marseille 34307:65213
Advertise to Dusseldorf 34307:65214
Advertise to Frankfurt 34307:65215

Informational Communities
Informational BGP communities pass on information about how and where a route was learned. The marks are assigned by the Route Servers. Each prefix received from Route Servers is marked with various communities.

Informational Standard communities
Learned in Netherlands 65000:65151
Learned in Belgium 65000:65152
Learned in France 65000:65153
Learned in United Kingdom 65000:65154
Learned in Denmark 65000:65155
Learned in Germany 65000:65156
Learned in Luxemburg 65000:65157
Informational Standard communities
Prefix from Amsterdam 65000:65101
Prefix from Antwerp 65000:65102
Prefix from Brussels 65000:65103
Prefix from Berlin 65000:65104
Prefix from Eindhoven 65000:65105
Prefix from Arnhem 65000:65106
Prefix from Copenhagen 65000:65107
Prefix from Groningen 65000:65108
Prefix from Rotterdam 65000:65109
Prefix from London 65000:65110
Prefix from Paris 65000:65111
Prefix from Luxembourg 65000:65112
Prefix from Marseille 65000:65113
Prefix from Dusseldorf 65000:65114
Prefix from Frankfurt 65000:65115