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Configuring BGP

May 2, 2023

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The NetScaler appliance supports BGP (RFC 4271). The features of BGP on the NetScaler are:

The NetScaler advertises routes to BGP peers.
The NetScaler injects host routes to virtual IP addresses (VIPs), as determined by the health of the underlying virtual servers.
The NetScaler generates configuration files for running BGP on the secondary node after failover in an HA configuration.
This protocol supports IPv6 route exchanges.
As-Override Support in Border Gateway Protocol

After enabling BGP, you need to configure advertisement of BGP routes. For troubleshooting, you can limit BGP propagation. You can display BGP settings to verify the configuration.

Enabling and Disabling BGP

To enable or disable BGP, you must use either the CLI or the GUI. When BGP is enabled, the NetScaler appliance starts the BGP process. When BGP is disabled, the appliance stops the BGP process.

To enable or disable BGP routing by using the CLI:

At the command prompt, type one of the following commands:

enable ns feature BGP
disable ns feature BGP

To enable or disable BGP routing by using the GUI:

Navigate to System > Settings, in Modes and Features group, click Change advanced features.
Select or clear the BGP Routing option.

Advertising IPv4 Routes

You can configure the NetScaler appliance to advertise host routes to VIPs and to advertise routes to downstream networks.

To configure BGP to advertise IPv4 routes by using the VTYSH command line:

At the command prompt, type the following commands, in the order shown:

Command	Specifies
VTYSH	Display VTYSH command prompt.
configure terminal	Enter global configuration mode.
router BGP < ASnumber>	BGP autonomous system. < ASnumber> is a required parameter. Possible values: 1 to 4,294,967,295.
Neighbor < IPv4 address> remote-as < as-number>	Update the IPv4 BGP neighbor table with the link local IPv4 address of the neighbor in the specified autonomous system.
Address-family ipv4	Enter address family configuration mode.
Neighbor < IPv4 address> activate	Exchange prefixes for the IPv4 router family between the peer and the local node by using the link local address.
redistribute kernel	Redistribute kernel routes.
redistribute static	Redistribute static routes.

Example:

>VTYSH
NS# configure terminal
NS(config)# router BGP 5
NS(config-router)# Neighbor 10.102.29.170 remote-as 100
NS(config-router)# Address-family ipv4
NS(config-router-af)# Neighbor 10.102.29.170 activate
NS(config-router)# redistribute kernel
NS(config-router)# redistribute static
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Advertising IPv6 BGP Routes

Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) enables an upstream router to load balance traffic between two identical virtual servers hosted on two standalone NetScaler appliances. Route advertising enables an upstream router to track network entities located behind the NetScaler.

Prerequisites for IPv6 BGP

Before you begin configuring IPv6 BGP, do the following:

Make sure that you understand the IPv6 BGP protocol.
Enable the IPv6 feature.

Configuration steps

To configure BGP to advertise IPv6 routes by using the VTYSH command line:

At the command prompt, type the following commands, in the order shown:

Command	Specifies
VTYSH	Display VTYSH command prompt.
configure terminal	Enter global configuration mode.
router BGP < ASnumber>	BGP autonomous system. < ASnumber> is a required parameter. Possible values: 1 to 4,294,967,295.
Neighbor < IPv6 address> remote-as < as-number>	Update the IPv6 BGP neighbor table with the link local IPv6 address of the neighbor in the specified autonomous system.
Address-family ipv6	Enter address family configuration mode.
Neighbor < IPv6 address> activate	Exchange prefixes for the IPv6 router family between the peer and the local node by using the link local address.
redistribute kernel	Redistribute kernel routes.
redistribute static	Redistribute static routes.

Example:

>VTYSH
NS# configure terminal
NS(config)# router BGP 5
NS(config-router)# Neighbor a1bc::102 remote-as 100
NS(config-router)# Address-family ipv6
NS(config-router-af)# Neighbor a1bc::102 activate
NS(config-router)# redistribute kernel
NS(config-router)# redistribute static
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Verifying the BGP Configuration

You can use VTYSH to display BGP settings.

To view the BGP settings using the VTYSH command line

At the command prompt, type:

VTYSH
You are now in the VTYSH command prompt. An output similar to the following appears:
NS170#
At the VTYSH command prompt, type:
NS170# sh ip BGP
NS170# sh BGP
NS170# sh ip BGP neighbors
NS170# sh ip BGP summary
NS170# sh ip BGP route-map <map-tag>
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As-Override Support in Border Gateway Protocol

As a part of BGP loop prevention functionality, if a router receives a BGP packet containing the router’s Autonomous System Number (ASN) in the Autonomous Systems (AS) path, the router drops the packet. The assumption is that the packet originated from the router and has reached the place from where it originated.

If an enterprise has several sites with a same ASN, BGP loop prevention causes the sites with an identical ASN to not get linked by another ASN. Routing updates (BGP packets) are dropped when another site receives them.

To solve this issue, BGP AS-Override functionality has been added to the ZebOS BGP routing module of the NetScaler.

With AS-Override enabled for a peer device, when the NetScaler appliance receives a BGP packet for forwarding to the peer, and the ASN of the packet matches that of the peer, the appliance replaces the ASN of the BGP packet with its own ASN number before forwarding the packet.

You can enable AS-Override for a specific neighbor or a group of neighbors (peer group) by using the VTYSH command line.

To configure BGP AS-Override for a IPv4 neighbor by using the VTYSH command line:

Command	Specifies
configure terminal	Enter global configuration mode.
router BGP < ASnumber>	BGP autonomous system. < ASnumber> is a required parameter.
Neighbor < IPv4 address> remote-as < as-number>	Update the IPv4 BGP neighbor table with the IPv4 address of the neighbor in the specified autonomous system.
Neighbor as-override	Enable BGP as-override for the specified neighbor.

    > VTYSH NS# configure terminal
    NS(config)# router BGP 200
    NS(config-router)# Neighbor 192.0.2.100 remote-as 100
    NS(config-router)# Neighbor 10.102.29.100 as-override
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To configure BGP AS-Override for a IPv4 BGP peer group by using the VTYSH command line:

Command	Specifies
configure terminal	Enter global configuration mode.
router BGP < ASnumber>	BGP autonomous system. < ASnumber> is a required parameter.
Neighbor peer-group	Create a BGP peer group.
Neighbot peer-group	Associate neighbors to the specified peer group.
Neighbor remote-as < as-number>	Update the IPv4 BGP neighbor table with the IPv4 address of the neighbor in the specified autonomous system.
Neighbor as-override	Enable BGP as-override for all the neighbors that are associated with the specified peer group.

    > VTYSH NS# configure terminal
    NS(config)# router BGP 200
    NS(config-router)# neighbor external-peers-1 peer-group
    NS(config-router)# neighbor 192.0.2.101 peer-group external-peers-1
    NS(config-router)# neighbor 192.0.2.102 peer-group external-peers-1
    NS(config-router)# neighbor 192.0.2.103 peer-group external-peers-1
    NS(config-router)# Neighbor external-peers-1 remote-as 100
    NS(config-router)# Neighbor external-peers-1 as-override
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To configure BGP AS-Override for an IPv6 neighbor by using the VTYSH command line:

Command	Specifies
configure terminal	Enter global configuration mode.
router BGP < ASnumber>	BGP autonomous system. < ASnumber> is a required parameter.
Neighbor < IPv6 address> remote-as < as-number>	Update the IPv4 BGP neighbor table with the IPv4 address of the neighbor in the specified autonomous system.
Neighbor as-override	Enable BGP as-override for the specified neighbor.
Address-family ipv6	Enter address family configuration mode.
Neighbor < IPv6 address> activate	Exchange prefixes for the IPv6 router family between the specified neighbor and the NetScaler by using the link local address.
Neighbor as-override	Enable BGP as-override for the specified neighbor.

    > VTYSH NS# configure terminal
    NS(config)# router BGP 200
    NS(config-router)# Neighbor a1bc::102 remote-as 100
    NS(config-router)# Neighbor a1bc::102 as-override
    NS(config-router)# Address-family ipv6
    NS(config-router-af)# Neighbor a1bc::102 activate
    NS(config-router)# Neighbor a1bc::102 as-override
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To configure BGP AS-Override for IPv6 peer group by using the VTYSH command line:

Command	Specifies
configure terminal	Enter global configuration mode.
router BGP < ASnumber>	BGP autonomous system. < ASnumber> is a required parameter.
Neighbor peer-group	Create a BGP peer group.
Neighbor peer-group	Associate a neighbor with the specified peer group.
Neighbor remote-as < as-number>	Update the IPv4 BGP neighbor table with the IPv4 address of the neighbor in the specified autonomous system.
Neighbor as-override	Enable BGP as-override for all the neighbors that are associated with the specified peer group.
Address-family ipv6	Enter address family configuration mode.
Neighbor activate	Exchange prefixes for the IPv6 router family between the neighbors of the specified peer group and the NetScaler by using the link local address.
Neighbor as-override	Enable BGP as-override for all the neighbors that are associated with the specified peer group.

    > VTYSH NS# configure terminal
    NS(config)# router BGP 200
    NS(config-router)# neighbor external-peers-2 peer-group
    NS(config-router)# neighbor 2001::1 peer-group external-peers-2
    NS(config-router)# neighbor 2001::2 peer-group external-peers-2
    NS(config-router)# Neighbor external-peers-2 remote-as 100
    NS(config-router)# Neighbor external-peers-2 as-override
    NS(config-router)# Address-family ipv6
    NS(config-router-af)# Neighbor external-peers-2 activate
    NS(config-router)# Neighbor external-peers-2 as-override
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Graceful Restart

In a non-INC high availability (HA) setup in which a routing protocol is configured, after a failover, routing protocols are converged and routes between the new primary node and the adjacent neighbor routers are learned. Route learning take some time to complete. During this time, forwarding of packets is delayed, network performance might get disrupted, and packets might get dropped.

Graceful restart enables an HA setup during a failover to direct its adjacent routers to not remove the old primary node’s learned routes from their routing databases. Using the old primary node’s routing information, the new primary node and the adjacent routers immediately start forwarding packets, without disrupting network performance.

Note:

Graceful restart is not supported for high availability setups in INC mode.

Configuring Graceful Restart for BGP

To configure graceful restart for BGP by using the VTYSH command line, at the command prompt, type the following commands, in the order shown:

Command	Example	Command Description
VTYSH	VTYSH	Enters VTYSH command prompt.
configure terminal	NS# configure terminal	Enters global configuration mode.
router-id	NS(config)# router-id 1.1.1.1	A router identifier for the NetScaler appliance. This identifier is set for all the dynamic routing protocols. The same identifier must be specified on the other node in a high availability setup for graceful restart to work properly.
router bgp	NS(config)# router bgp 5	Enters BGP configuration mode.
bgp graceful-restart	NS(config)# bgp graceful-restart	Enables graceful restart on the BGP routing process.
bgp graceful-restart restart-time <1-1800>	NS(config-router)# bgp graceful-restart restart-time 170	Specifies the grace period, in seconds, that the helper routers waits for a TCP connection from the new primary node after a failover. For this amount of time, the helper routers preserve the routes.
bgp graceful-restart stalepath-time <1-1800>	NS(config-router)# bgp graceful-restart stalepath-time 180	Specifies the time, in seconds, that the NetScaler appliance in helper mode retains the stale routes for restarting neighbor routers. The default value is 360 seconds.
neighbor remote-as	NS(config-router)# neighbor 192.0.2.30 remote-as 2	Establishes BGP peering with the specified neighbor router device.
neighbor capability graceful-restart	NS(config-router)# neighbor 192.0.2.30 capability graceful-restart	Enables graceful restart with the specified neighbor.
redistribute kernel	NS(config-router)# redistribute kernel	Redistributes kernel routes.

Configuring Graceful Restart for IPv6 BGP

To configure graceful restart for IPv6 BGP by using the VTYSH command line, at the command prompt, type the following commands, in the order shown:

Command	Example	Command Description
VTYSH	VTYSH	Enters VTYSH command prompt.
configure terminal	NS# configure terminal	Enters global configuration mode.
router-id	NS(config)# router-id 1.1.1.1	Sets a router identifier for the NetScaler appliance. This identifier is set for all the dynamic routing protocols. The same ID must be specified in the other node in a high availability setup for graceful restart to work properly.
router bgp	NS(config)# router bgp 5	Enters configuration mode for BGP protocol.
bgp graceful-restart	NS(config)# bgp graceful-restart	Enables graceful restart on the BGP routing process.
bgp graceful-restart restart-time <1-1800>	NS(config-router)# bgp graceful-restart restart-time 170	Specifies the grace period, in seconds, that the helper routers waits for a TCP connection from the new primary node after a failover. For this amount of time, the helper routers preserve the routes. The default value is 360 seconds.
bgp graceful-restart stalepath-time <1-1800>	NS(config-router)# bgp graceful-restart stalepath-time 180	Specifies the time, in seconds, that the NetScaler appliance in helper mode retains the stale routes for restarting neighbor routers. The default value is 360 seconds.
neighbor remote-as	NS(config-router)# neighbor 2001:db8::10 remote-as 2	Establishes BGP peering with the specified neighbor router device.
address-family ipv6	NS(config-router)#address-family ipv6	Enters address family configuration mode.
neighbor activate	NS(config-router-af)#neighbor 2001:db8::10 activate	Enables the exchange of address family routes with the specified neighbor router device.
neighbor capability graceful-restart	NS(config-router-af)#neighbor 2001:db8::10 capability graceful-restart	Enables graceful restart with the specified neighbor router device.
redistribute kernel	NS(config-router-af)#redistribute kernel	Redistributes kernel routes.
exit-address-family	NS(config-router-af)#exit-address-family	Exits address family configuration mode.

Configuring MD5 Authentication for IPv4 BGP

The NetScaler appliance supports MD5 authentication for Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). When authentication is enabled, any TCP segment belonging to BGP exchanged between the NetScaler appliance and its peer device is verified and accepted only if authentication is successful. For authentication to be successful, both the peers must be configured with the same MD5 password. If authentication fails, the BGP neighbor relationship is not being established. MD5 authentication support for BGP in the NetScaler appliance is compliant with RFC 2385.

Before you Begin

Before you start configuring BGP MD5 authentication, consider the following points:

Make sure that you understand the different components of BGP MD5 authentication, described in RFC 2385.
BGP MD5 authentication is not supported for NetScaler admin partitions.
BGP MD5 authentication is not supported for IPv6 BGP configurations.
BGP MD5 authentication is supported for NetScaler cluster configurations as well as for high availability configurations.
Because of the following issue in FreeBSD, Citrix recommends to set a low keep-live and hold-time values (for example, 5 and 15) and configure graceful restart for a BGP session in a Layer 2 high availability configuration. Otherwise, with MD5 authentication enabled, BGP might take a longer time to re-establish a connection with the neighbour after a failover.
- Last ACK from FreeBSD does not contain md5 digest:
  - https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/11170/
  - http://support.pfsense.narkive.com/povrH5HI/bgp-md5-weird-behavior-when-connection-closes

Configuration steps

To configure MD5 authentication for IPv4 BGP by using the VTYSH command line, at the command prompt, type the following commands, in the order shown:

Command	Specifies
vtysh	Displays VTYSH command prompt.
configure terminal	Enters global configuration mode.
router bgp	Enters configuration mode for BGP protocol. is a BGP autonomous system number and is a required parameter.
neighbor remote-as < AS-number >	Updates the IPv4 BGP table with the IPv4 address of the neighbor in the specified autonomous system.
neighbor < neighbour IPv4 address > password < password in double quotes>	Configures MD5 authentication for the specified neighbour with the specified MD5 password. For MD5 authentication to be successful, you must configure the same MD5 password on the NetScaler appliance and the neighbour appliance.

> vtysh

ns# configure terminal

ns(config)#router bgp 5

ns(config-router)#neighbor 20.20.20.138 remote-as 1

ns(config-router)#neighbor 20.20.20.138 password “secret”

ns(config-router)#redistribute kernel

ns(config-router)#exit

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Configure 4-byte BGP ASNs in asplain and asdot formats

The NetScaler appliance supports configuring and displaying 4-byte BGP autonomous system numbers (ASN) in asplain or asdot format as defined in RFC 5396.

asplain. Decimal value notation where both 2-byte and 4-byte ASNs are represented in decimal value. For example, 65527 is a 2-byte ASN and 234567 is a 4-byte ASN.
asdot Autonomous system dot notation where 2-byte ASNs are represented in decimal value (same as in asplain) and 4-byte ASNs are represented in a dot notation. For example, 65527 is a 2-byte ASN and 3.37959 is a 4-byte ASN. (3.37959 is asdot format for the 234567 decimal number).

Examples of BGP ASN configuration in asplain and asdot formats

By default, the NetScaler appliance displays the BGP ASNs in asplain format, but you can configure to display in asdot format. You can configure local and remote BGP ASNs in asplain or asdot format.

The following lists some examples of BGP ASN configuration in asplain and asdot formats:

Display BGP AS number in asplain format. By default, the NetScaler appliance displays the BGP AS number in asplain format.

 ns#conf t
 ns(config)# router bgp 196908
 ns(config-router)# end
 ns#
 ns# sh run router bgp
 !
 router bgp 196908
 !
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Display BGP AS number in asdot format. Run the bgp asnotation-dot command to display the BGP AS number in asdot format.

 ns#conf t
 ns(config)#router bgp 196908
 ns(config-router)#bgp asnotation-dot
 ns(config-router)#end
 ns#
 ns#sh run router bgp
 !
 router bgp 3.300
 bgp asnotation-dot
 !
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Configure and display BGP AS number in asdot format. Run the bgp asnotation-dot command to display the BGP AS number in asdot format.

 ns# conf t
 ns(config)# router bgp 3.300
 ns(config-router)# bgp asnotation-dot
 ns#
 ns# sh run router bgp
 !
 router bgp 3.300
 bgp asnotation-dot
 !
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Display the BGP AS number back to asplain format from asdot format. Run the bgp no asnotation-dot command to display the BGP AS number back to asplain format.

 ns#conf t
 ns(config)#router bgp 3.300
 ns(config-router)#no bgp asnotation-dot
 ns(config-router)#end
 ns#

 ns#sh run router bgp
 !
 router bgp 196908
 !
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Configure and display remote as-number in asdot format. Run the bgp asnotation-dot command. In the sample configuration, remote as-number 80000 is configured in asdot format 1.14464.

 ns# conf t
 ns(config)# router bgp 3.300
 ns(config-router)# bgp asnotation-dot
 ns(config-router)# neighbor 192.168.1.2 remote-as 1.14464
 ns(config-router)#end
 ns#
 ns#
 ns#sh run router bgp
 !
 router bgp 3.300
 bgp asnotation-dot
 neighbor 192.168.1.2 remote-as 1.14464
 !
 ns#
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Display the BGP local and remote AS numbers back to the asplain format from the asdot format. Run the bgp no asnotation-dot command.

 ns#conf t
 ns(config)#router bgp 3.300
 ns(config-router)#no bgp asnotation-dot
 ns(config-router)#end
 ns#

 ns#sh run router bgp
 !
 router bgp 196908
 neighbor 192.168.1.2 remote-as 80000
 !
 ns#
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Note:

Instead of configuring for individual BGP neighbors, the same asplain or asdot configuration can be used for BGP peer-groups as well.

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Configuring BGP

May 2, 2023

Contributed by:

May 2, 2023

Contributed by:

Configuring BGP

Enabling and Disabling BGP

Advertising IPv4 Routes

Advertising IPv6 BGP Routes

Prerequisites for IPv6 BGP

Configuration steps

Verifying the BGP Configuration

As-Override Support in Border Gateway Protocol

Graceful Restart

Configuring Graceful Restart for BGP

Configuring Graceful Restart for IPv6 BGP

Configuring MD5 Authentication for IPv4 BGP

Before you Begin

Configuration steps

Configure 4-byte BGP ASNs in asplain and asdot formats

Examples of BGP ASN configuration in asplain and asdot formats

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