BGP is very robust and scalable. It is the routing protocol that is used on the Internet. Service providers and customer networks, such as universities and corporations, usually use an IGP such as EIGRP, OSPF, or IS-IS for the exchange of routing information within their networks. Any communication between these IGPs and the Internet or between service providers will be accomplished through BGP. This course introduces basic BGP characteristics and features.

To aid routers in calculating the best route to select when multiple paths to a particular destination exist, routes that are learned via BGP have properties that are associated with them. These properties are referred to as BGP path attributes. An understanding of how BGP path attributes influence route selection is required to design robust BGP networks.

Understanding the establishment process for a BGP neighbor session is a key component to understanding the fundamental operation of BGP. BGP is an EGP that has been designed for scalability and policy control. As a result, BGP requires neighboring routers to be explicitly configured before BGP routing updates can be sent between them. This situation differs from IGPs, such as EIGRP, IS-IS, and OSPF, that discover neighbors by using a broadcast packet or a Hello protocol. In this course, BGP neighbor session establishment procedures are discussed.

Route processing is fundamental to the operation of BGP. Knowledge of the BGP route selection process, route propagation, and how the BGP and IP routing tables are built is key to properly configuring BGP and troubleshooting BGP routing issues.

A basic BGP configuration is critical for any successful BGP implementation. Network administrators use Cisco IOS commands (which are included in this course) in all BGP implementations. Thorough knowledge of the commands in this course is therefore crucial for ensuring a successful BGP implementation.

To ensure that basic BGP configurations are operating correctly, you need to be familiar with BGP monitoring commands. If basic BGP configurations are not functioning as expected, BGP troubleshooting skills are critical to successful problem resolution. This course introduces the Cisco IOS commands that are available for monitoring and troubleshooting basic BGP configurations. The commands that are required to monitor the status of BGP, neighbor connections, and the BGP table are discussed. The course also discusses techniques for troubleshooting the most common BGP session startup issues.