Background
Each INX peering LAN has a BGP route collector. BGP peering sessions on the route-collectors are done in advance of port turn-up, and set to passive, so we will automatically respond to, and activate peering sessions from peers. BGP prefix information gathered via this service, is made available via our integrated Looking Glass, as a diagnostic tool for the Internet community. We heartily encourage all peers to peer with the route-collector at each of the INXes that they are present at.
We use distinctly separately ASNs for the route-collector and the BGP route servers, as we expect that for their own purposes, not all peers will want to peer with the BGP route servers. While we would prefer to use a completely separate ASN for this, AfriNIC would not allocate us a third ASN explicitly for this purpose, so we are re-using the AS number that we use for each of the INX management networks.
| JINX |
37474 |
routecollector.jinx.net.za |
196.60.96.3 |
2001:43f8:1f0::3 |
| CINX |
37663 |
routecollector.cinx.net.za |
196.223.22.3 |
2001:43f8:1f1::3 |
| DINX |
37668 |
routecollector.dinx.net.za |
196.223.30.3 |
2001:43f8:1f2::3 |
| NMBINX |
329234 |
routecollector.nmbinx.net.za |
196.60.120.3 |
2001:43f8:690::3 |
The BGP route collector is a list of potential routes that are available at each specific IX. It is important to note that not all of these routes might be available to you, depending on the peers that you have, and the particular policy that is in place between the peers.
Why should I peer with the BGP Route Collector Service?
We get asked this a lot, so we collected some of the more FAQs and tried to answer them below.
Q: What is the advantage of peering with the BGP-RC?
A: The route collector provides a neutral, unfiltered view of your network, and is an excellent way of answering the question: Do my route adverts match what I expect to be doing? From a third party perspective, it's an excellent tool to verify that what you think you are doing, is, actually, what you are doing!
Q: But I peer with the BGP-RS. Surely this is the same thing?
A: No, the BGP-RS service is filtered, very strictly. Whilst this is great for peers that rely on BGP-RS peering alone, we encourage, promote, and expect, that as a peer, have bilateral BGP sessions as well, that live outside of the BGP-RS. The BGP-RC is unfiltered, and is thus is one way of ensuring that your advertisements match, what you think they should be (without relying on the IX BGP-RS service to do your filtering). Consider it a safe way to "test" your advertisements and policies, before implementation with real peers! 😊
Not all networks peer with the BGP-RS. And some networks advertise more prefixes across their bilateral sessions, than they do to the BGP-RS. The collector is therefore a single neutral (unfiltered) point to get accurate route information about what you could expect to see from a peer. We have used the BGP-RC many times, to highlight and identify to networks that they are leaking full routing tables, more specifics (eg. loopbacks), transit-free networks, etc. The debugging utility is indispensable!
Q: Ha! So it's all about other people seeing my routes?
A: Not exactly. It's also about you being able to see their routes too, from a neutral perspective, which, any network engineer will tell you, is invaluable.
Q: What prefixes will the BGP-RC advertise to me? Is it safe to peer with this?
A: The route collector was built with a belt-and-braces approach to ensure that zero prefixes are advertised to peers, and thus this can not affect any flow of traffic in to, or, out of your network. This is a "collect-routes only" service, and it is very safe to use!
Q: Why is this data public?
A: Specifically, because we want to be able to provide a neutral viewpoint for any clueful networker to use, to debug problems. Peering with the route collector does not expose sensitive information about your network; more so, it allows you to ascertain that your network is performing in the manner that you expect, from a completely neutral perspective.
Q: Do you archive this data?
A: We do not. Although there is immeasurable value for researchers, there are already better people than us, that perform this service already. Packet Clearing House and Routeviews are two such organistions, and we encourage you to look for historic routing information, in their respective archives.
Q: Is there any other value that INX gets from the route collector?
A: Well, the convenient looking glass, also provides future potential peers a view of potential prefixes that may be available to them at the IX. That's really helpful peers, when they are planning their peering. But otherwise, there are no other inherent benefits to INX (other than a debugging viewpoint, that was already explained)
