TOI Author :: Ajay Kini

BGP VPN routes today advertise a label by dynamically allocating it from a dynamic label range block without providing the user any control over the label value that is allocated per VRF’s address Family - VPNv4 or VPNv6. This feature allows the user to configure a unique label per VRF’s configured address-family, VPNv4 or VPNv6, thereby allowing the user granular control over the label value advertised with VPN routes exported from a VRF.

In a symmetric network topology, for the same ECMP (Equal Cost Multi Path) route programmed at different devices in a switch layer, the various devices can program ECMP next hops in the FEC (Forwarding Equivalence Class) for that route in varying orders.

Accumulated IGP Metric (AIGP) is an optional non-transitive BGP attribute used to carry an IGP metric with BGP route advertisements. The AIGP attribute is useful for tie-breaking in BGP bestpath selection so that routing decisions can be made on the basis of shortest path/lowest IGP cost path amongst multiple BGP paths. This is particularly applicable in scenarios where a single administration is subdivided into multiple Autonomous Systems (AS) each with similar routing policies and the same IGP in use such that the IGP metric for a route can be propagated usefully between the ASes so as to let receiving BGP speakers make routing decisions based on the cumulative IGP cost of the route.