When deploying excessively large Autonomous Systems or ASes in BGP, it is necessary to overcome the limitation introduced by the iBGP full mesh peerings required within the AS in question. There are two primary ways this can be achieved, using either BGP’s Route Reflector feature or BGP confederations. In this article, we’ll examine these two […]
What are BGP Confederations-Explanation and Discussion (With Cisco Example)
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is the de facto routing protocol that is deployed on the Internet at large. BGP is ideal for the Internet because of its scalability. One of the many characteristics of this routing protocol that make it so scalable is what is known as BGP confederations. In this article, we’ll discuss what […]
What is BGP Route Reflector – Explanation and Discussion (with Cisco Example)
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is the protocol of choice for routing on the Internet. BGP is also often used on the edge of corporate networks and is often the routing protocol of choice for large private enterprise networks. BGP needs to be extremely scalable to respond to these requirements. One of the ways that this […]
Explanation of BGP Neighbor Adjacency States on Cisco Devices
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is the fundamental routing protocol that is used on the Internet. Like most routing protocols, BGP depends upon the creation of neighbor adjacencies between BGP routers to exchange prefixes and routing information. In order to successfully create these neighbor adjacencies, they go through a series of neighbor adjacency states. In this […]
BGP Attributes Explained – Why Are They Vital to the Internet?
The Internet owes its existence in part to the operation of the Border Gateway Protocol or BGP. BGP is a routing protocol that uses a list of attributes to determine the best path to the intended destination. It is these attributes that give BGP the characteristics necessary to perform its highly demanding routing obligations on […]
Overview of BGP ASN (Autonomous System Numbers) in Networks
The Internet is an extensively large network that requires a specialized type of routing to ensure scalability and reliability. For this reason, BGP is the protocol of choice for routing on the Internet. BGP leverages what are known as Autonomous System Numbers or ASNs to achieve routing. In this article, we’ll elaborate on ASNs, and […]
Comparison of Routed vs Routing Protocols in Networking
In networking, there is often terminology used to refer to various concepts that sound similar. This can occasionally be confusing especially to greener techs that are just coming into the field. One particular distinction that can potentially perplex less experienced networking professionals is the difference between routed and routing protocols. In this article, we’ll help […]
Comparison of Tagged vs Untagged vs Native VLANs in Ethernet Networks
A Virtual Local Area Network, or VLAN, is a logical construct that can be configured within a switch that can be used to create distinct broadcast domains, which are partitioned and isolated in a computer network at the Data Link Layer, or Layer 2 of the OSI model. A VLAN enables the segmentation of a […]
Comparison of Fiber Optic vs Copper Ethernet Cables in Networking
Ever since the explosion in popularity of the Internet back in the late 1990s, networking technology companies have worked tirelessly to improve the infrastructure that supports it. From the earliest token-ring networks to the latest satellite swarm technology like SpaceX’s Starlink, there have been tremendous leaps forward. However, when it comes to Local Area Network […]
Understanding IP Prefix Lists in TCP/IP Networks (With Cisco Examples)
Prefix lists play an important role in networking by providing an efficient and scalable method for managing routing updates in large-scale networks. As a tool for implementing route filtering, they enable network administrators to selectively control the advertisement and acceptance of IP prefixes based on specific criteria. In this article, we’ll delve deeper into what […]
The Purpose of Routing Protocols in TCP/IP Networking
Networks that are based on the TCP/IP protocol stack rely on the Internet Protocol, or IP, to deliver end-to-end connectivity from the sending host to the receiving host. As such, each node along the path that the packets travel through must have enough information to know how to route the packet to the next hop […]
What is a Wildcard Mask – All About Wildcard Masks Used in Networking
A wildcard mask is a bitmask used with IPv4 to specify ranges of IP addresses, which are then leveraged by various features, including access control lists and routing protocols. There’s a lot more to wildcard masks than meets the eye, and they’re a lot more powerful than you may initially think. In this article, we’ll […]
Differences Between Routing, Forwarding, Switching in Networks
Terminology within networking can sometimes get confusing. Networking has many different terms that can be used in different ways depending on the context and the related technologies being discussed. Three of the most commonly used terms that can introduce some level of confusion are routing, forwarding, and switching. In this article, we’ll discuss how these […]