[c-nsp] BGP Config

[Charles Wyble]

Ivan Pepelnjak wrote:
> I absolutely agree with Charles ... although not on the "provider will give
> you the necessary details" part. I've seen some service providers that were
> somewhat inadequate in that respect (trying to be diplomatic :).


Yes. That's quite true unfortunately. :(


> 
> You might find some of the links/videos on my BGP resource center useful:
> 
> http://wiki.nil.com/BGP

Ah yes. Excellent work your doing Ivan! Great blog and wiki. :)

> 
> The next starting point is Cisco's BGP page:
> 
> http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk365/tk80/tsd_technology_support_sub-protoc
> ol_home.html

Yep. Read up on Ivans page for theory/explanations etc, and then utilize 
the extensive reference documentation that cisco makes available.

They have always been very good at reference material, but seem to rely 
on 3rd parties to create tutorial/overview material.... either that or 
attend the CCNA/CCNP/CCIE courses. Navigating the docs is still 
something of an art form though. Cisco has 20 some years of history and 
an incredibly broad product matrix (and I thought Microsoft licensing 
was difficult!) So lists like c-nsp exist for when the finer parts of 
the art need to be discussed and reviewed.

In ciscos defense, it seems they have been  creating more and more 
tutorial/design material recently, and making it freely available via 
their website. Things like the chalk talks 
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/vpndevc/ps5707/ps8418/ps6128/prod_presentation0900aecd80549168.html


There are a wide variety of knobs that can be turned, and incorrect 
operation of a router that participates in BGP exchange can result in 
very nasty problems. ( 
http://asert.arbornetworks.com/2008/02/internet-routing-insecuritypakistan-nukes-youtube/
http://www.renesys.com/blog/2008/02/pakistan-hijacks-youtube-1.shtml
)