All INX operated Internet Exchange Points offer a BGP Route Server (BGP-RS) service to make the process of sharing prefixes between peers easy. Our route servers are secure; we do both IRR, and RPKI invalid filtering, and update these hourly daily. There's more detail about how the BGP-RS service operates here: https://www.inx.net.za/display/pub/INX+Services#INXServices-BGPRouteServer
Most networks connect to the IX, peer with the BGP-RS and send all their prefixes and accept all the prefixes that the route server sends. This is a quick, easy, and secure way to get some traffic on your IX port and improve latency to some destinations. INX route servers perform strict filtering, and, so, for networks that have an open peering policy, using the BGP-RS service is a Good Idea. To check that all your advertised prefixes to the route servers are being accepted have a look at this article https://support.inx.net.za/en/kb/article/checking-the-route-servers-are-accepting-your-prefixes. You should also feel free to reach out to the INX Ops team if you need assistance, or have a question.
However, some peers, may peer with the BGP-RS and send a subset of their prefixes only for reasons that they believe best serve their network. In cases like this, it is best to reach out to these networks to request a bilateral peering session with them, as, there may be a chance that they will send more prefixes over the bilateral session. "Receiving more prefixes" is the generally desirable situation; in fact, our recommendation is, that you always try to setup bilateral BGP sessions with peers that you feel are important to your network. This gives you a "belt-and-braces" approach to making sure that you maximise the chance of traffic exchange.
Some peers, peer with the BGP-RS but do not send any prefixes to the BGP-RS. They use the data they receive from the BGP-RS for their own analystics, and to decide where and how to route traffic. For networks that operate in this manner, you MUST setup bilateral peering sessions with each other, in order to receive traffic from them. Failure to setup these bilateral sessions, will mean that your traffic to this network, will not flow over the IX, and via an alternate path instead (ie. via IP transit).
There are other peers that do not peer with the BGP-RS for their own various reasons. Some of these networks are happy to setup bilateral sessions if you meet their peering policy criteria.
INX makes it easy for you to request peering with other participants at the exchanges, through the INX portal at https://portal.inx.net.za. Without having to lookup the details (eg. email address) of the party that you want to peer with, you can click on Peering Management, to see who you need to setup BGP session to! If you are having problems logging into the portal, you can read our article on "How to login to the INX portal here" : https://support.inx.net.za/en/kb/article/how-do-i-login-to-the-inx-portal. When you request peering through the INX portal, we use the contact information on record (usually imported from PeeringDB) to send the peering request on your behalf. This is just one more reason, why it is important to keep your peering contact details up to date.
Many of the larger CDNs have moved to an automated methods for BGP sessions configuration, and often require you to log into their own specific portals to setup peering sessions. This is outside of the control of INX, but, it is important for you to note that if you don't complete the processes that they setup, then you are unlikely to receive traffic from them, and thus not make the best use of your peering port.
Below are some of the CDNs and how to request peering from them.
Amazon (AS 16509)
Amazon does not use the BGP-RS service for prefix exchange.
Request peering via their portal https://interconnect.amazon/
Akamai (AS 20940)
Akamai peers with the BGP-RS service.
Send a peering request via the INX portal or check their PeeringDB profile at https://www.peeringdb.com/net/2
Cloudflare (AS 13335)
Cloudflare peers with the BGP-RS service, but only sends a subset of their routes here.
You can visit https://peering.cloudflare.com and log in with your PeeringDB credentials. No need to create an account in someone else's ecosystem. From the portal you can see where you have sessions configured, and where you could create new potential sessions.
You can also perform some traffic analysis, and request new peering sessions.
Fastly (AS 54113)
Fastly peers with the BGP-RS service.
Send a peering request via the INX portal or check their PeeringDB profile at https://www.peeringdb.com/net/5520
You may also check here for additional information: https://www.fastly.com/peering/
Google (AS 15169)
Google does not peer with the route servers as of the beginning of 2024. visit https://isp.google.com/iwantpeering.
If you have a google account you can log into https://isp.google.com and can request peering sessions over the specified IXs. It is important to note that google requires you to setup both IPv4 and IPv6 BGP sessions from the IP addresses you publish in PeeringDB. If any one session does not establish it will not establish any of the sessions. This is a good time to setup your IPv6 sessions :)
In 2025, Google announced that they will no longer be setting up new BGP sessions across IXPs. If you disagree with that policy, feel free to complain to Google directly.
Meta/Facebook (AS 32934)
Meta does not peer with the BGP-RS service.
You can visit https://www.facebook.com/peering and log in with your PeeringDB credentials.
Choose the ASN that you want to peer with, and then it will show the IXPs and sessions you already have. You can then request peering from there.
Microsoft (AS 8075)
Microsoft does not use the BGP-RS service for prefix exchange.
You need to have an Azure portal account, the free tier will do. Log into https://portal.azure.com/ and create peering sessions from there.
There are more details online here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/internet-peering/overview
Oracle Cloud (AS 31898)
Oracle Cloud does not peer with the BGP-RS service
Send a peering request via the INX portal or check their PeeringDB profile at https://www.peeringdb.com/net/1905
G-Core Labs (AS 199524)
G-Core peers with the BGP-RS service
Send a peering request via the INX portal or check their PeeringDB profile at https://www.peeringdb.com/net/5499
Netflix (AS 2906)
Netflix peers with the BGP-RS service
Send a peering request via the INX portal or check their PeeringDB profile at https://www.peeringdb.com/net/457
Netskope (AS 55256)
Netskope peers with the BGP-RS service
Note minimum requirement for bilaterals
Send a peering request via the INX portal or check their PeeringDB profile at https://www.peeringdb.com/net/10670
ZANOG (CINX, DINX, NMBINX only)
Send a peering request via the INX portal or check their PeeringDB profile at
https://www.peeringdb.com/net/17650
The last two networks on our list are not CDNs per se, but we recommend that you take the time to setup bilateral sessions to them.
PCH (AS42)
PCH peers with the BGP-RS service
Packet Clearing House https://www.pch.net have two ASNs that you will want to setup bilaterals with.
Send peering request via the INX portal or to their peering email address.
BGP.tools (AS 212232)
This project is looking for networks to send prefix information to so they have more complete data for their public to use front end https://bgp.tools
