Cisco CCNP Certification Training: BGP - Border Gateway Protocol Basics

By Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933

Training and studying for the Cisco CCNP certification is a tough task, and BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) is a big reason for that! There are two main reasons for this, the first being that BGP is unlike any other protocol you've studied up to this point. The next is that BGP is packed with features that allow a tremendous amount of fine-tuning, but that can overwhelm someone who's looking at it for the first time.

To be frank, BGP overwhelmed me the first time I studied it, but I overcame it to become a CCNP and then a CCIE. I mention this only because the fact that I did it proves that you can do it as well! As with anything to do with Cisco routers or switches, by taking a complex subject and breaking it down into smaller pieces, anything can be learned. Anything - and that includes BGP!

Before you jump into your CCNP BGP studies, though, there are a few basics about BGP that you should know.. so let's take a look at those now.

Why BGP Differs From OSPF, EIGRP, RIP, And The Rest

Routing protocols such as OSPF and EIGRP can be found almost anywhere in the network from a LAN to a WAN, but you will not be configuring BGP on a local area network. BGP is an Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP) and isn't used to find a certain network; it's used to find the Autonomous System (AS) where that network can be found. In a way, BGP runs "on top" of the Interior Gateway Protocols (IGP) such as OSPF and EIGRP.

Other BGP Points Of Interest

One term you'll hear with BGP that you might not with other routing protocols is "aggregation". BGP route aggregation is simply the process of summarizing routes so that multiple routes can be advertised with a single summary route or a series of summary routes. The process is much the same as summarizing routes in EIGRP or OSPF, except the commands will be quite different. BGP supports CIDR as well.

A BGP connection between two peers, or neighbors, will be built on TCP port 179. If you're using access lists of any kind, applying an ACL that blocks this port will quickly bring down BGP adjacencies - so be careful!

BGP is one of the more challenging protocols you'll study during your CCNP exam prep, but you've got to master it to pass the exam. You'll also get quite a bit of personal satisfaction from working with and conquering this monster! I do recommend you work with BGP in a home lab or via remote rack rental, as it's quite complex and difficult for any software program to duplicate. Just take this complex CCNP topic one piece at a time, and you'll have it down quickly. I've put some additional BGP tutorials here on the website to help you in that regard. Happy studying!

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To your success,

Chris Bryant

CCIE #12933

chris@thebryantadvantage.com