How to configure EBGP (External BGP)

In this lesson I will show you how to configure EBGP (External BGP) and how to advertise
networks. I will be using the following topology:

Lets start with a simple topology. Just two routers and two autonomous systems. Each router
has a network on a loopback interface which we are going to advertise in BGP.

Emma(config)#router bgp 1
Emma(config-router)#neighbor 192.168.12.2 remote-as 2
Marie(config)#router bgp 2
Marie(config-router)#neighbor 192.168.12.1 remote-as 1

Use the router bgp command with the AS number to start BGP. Neighbors are not configured
automatically this is something youll have to do yourself with the neighbor x.x.x.x remote-as
command. This is how we configure external BGP.

Emma# %BGP-5-ADJCHANGE: neighbor 192.168.12.2 Up

Marie# %BGP-5-ADJCHANGE: neighbor 192.168.12.1 Up

If everything goes ok you should see a message that we have a new BGP neighbor adjacency.

Emma(config)#router bgp 1
Emma(config-router)#neighbor 192.168.12.2 password MYPASS
Marie(config)#router bgp 2
Marie(config-router)#neighbor 192.168.12.1 password MYPASS

If you like you can enable MD5 authentication by using the neighbor password command. Your
router will calculate a MD5 digest of every TCP segment that is being sent.

Emma#show ip bgp summary

BGP router identifier 1.1.1.1, 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

192.168.12.2 4 2 10 10 1 0 0 00:07:12 0
Marie#show ip bgp summary
BGP router identifier 2.2.2.2, local AS number 2
BGP table version is 1, main routing table version 1

Neighbor V AS MsgRcvd MsgSent TblVer InQ OutQ Up/Down State/PfxRcd

192.168.12.1 4 1 11 11 1 0 0 00:08:33 0

Show ip bgp summary is an excellent command to check if you have BGP neighbors. You also
see how many prefixes you received from each neighbor.

Emma(config)#router bgp 1
Emma(config-router)#network 1.1.1.0 mask 255.255.255.0
Marie(config)#router bgp 2
Marie(config-router)#network 2.2.2.0 mask 255.255.255.0

Lets advertise the loopback interface by using the network command. If you want to advertise
something with BGP you need to make sure you type the exact subnet mask for the network
you want to advertise. If I would type network 1.0.0.0 mask 255.0.0.0 on router Emma it will not
work since this entry is not in the routing table.

Emma#show ip bgp
BGP table version is 3, local router ID is 1.1.1.1
Status codes: s suppressed, d damped, h history, * valid, > best, i -
internal,
r RIB-failure, S Stale
Origin codes: i - IGP, e - EGP, ? - incomplete

Network Next Hop Metric LocPrf Weight Path

*> 1.1.1.0/24 0.0.0.0 0 32768 i
*> 2.2.2.0/24 192.168.12.2 0 0 2 i

Use show ip bgp to look at the BGP database. You can see that router Emma has learned about
network 2.2.2.0 /24 and the next hop IP address is 192.168.12.2. It also shows the path
information. You can see that network 2.2.2.0 /24 is from AS 2.

Marie#show ip bgp
BGP table version is 3, local router ID is 2.2.2.2
Status codes: s suppressed, d damped, h history, * valid, > best, i -
internal,
r RIB-failure, S Stale
Origin codes: i - IGP, e - EGP, ? - incomplete

Network Next Hop Metric LocPrf Weight Path

*> 1.1.1.0/24 192.168.12.1 0 0 1 i
*> 2.2.2.0/24 0.0.0.0 0 32768 i

Router Marie learned about network 1.1.1.0/24 with a next hop IP address of 192.168.12.1.

Emma#show ip route bgp

2.0.0.0/24 is subnetted, 1 subnets
B 2.2.2.0 [20/0] via 192.168.12.2, 00:16:13
Marie#show ip route bgp
1.0.0.0/24 is subnetted, 1 subnets
B 1.1.1.0 [20/0] via 192.168.12.1, 00:16:59

In the routing table we can find an entry for BGP with an administrative distance of 20 for
external BGP.
[tabby title=Configurations]

Want to take a look for yourself? Here you will find the configuration of each device.

[tabby title=Emma]

hostname Emma
!
interface Loopback 0
ip address 1.1.1.1 255.255.255.0
!
interface fastEthernet0/0
ip address 192.168.12.1 255.255.255.0
!
router bgp 1
neighbor 192.168.12.2 remote-as 2
neighbor 192.168.12.2 password MYPASS
network 1.1.1.0 mask 255.255.255.0
!
end

[tabby title=Marie]

hostname Marie
!
interface Loopback 0
ip address 2.2.2.2 255.255.255.0
!
interface fastEthernet0/0
ip address 192.168.12.2 255.255.255.0
!
router bgp 2
neighbor 192.168.12.1 remote-as 1
neighbor 192.168.12.1 password MYPASS
network 2.2.2.0 mask 255.255.255.0
!
end

Thats all for now! I will add more BGP lessons later. If you have any questions feel free to ask.