Wireless Networks (2020) 26:5623–5630
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11276-019-02025-3 (0123456789().,-volV)(0123456789().
,- volV)
New metrics to modify BGP routes based on SDN
Lorenzo M. Elguea1 • Felix Martinez-Rios1
Published online: 17 May 2019
Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract
Through Software Defined Network, routes obtained through Border Gateway Protocol can be modified to improve latency
or select a shorter path. With the same tool that perform the above actions, you can modify routes, for example, to avoid
autonomous systems in certain countries or some other policy that may help, for example, security.
Keywords BGP  Latency  SDN  Other policies
1 Introduction
The variability in latency makes it difficult to decide the
best route, but using confidence limits, you can determine
if one route is better than another or even if the average
latency is different, it may be the case that both routes
practically presents the same delay time. This is a natural
metric to determine, and with the result, create a new route
using SDN [12] to inject it through BGP to the routing
scheme of an institution. You can also determine which
routes are not optimal, because if you have more than 2
neighbors of BGP, you can use the information of the other
neighbors to determine which routes are not optimal, cor-
rect them and also inject them back into the router [3, 6].
Using this same tool, you can avoid passing through
certain Internet Service Providers (ISPs) or prevent traffic
from reaching suppliers in some countries. These are
examples of the range of possibilities to modify routes with
SDN and BGP. If this is possible, clearly less complicated
options, for example, to define costs for links, to have
privileged ISPs on others, are possible thanks to the anal-
ysis of the BGP routes in a computer, such as a PC in real
time, for the taking of these decisions.
& Lorenzo M. Elguea
lelguea@up.edu.mx
Felix Martinez-Rios
fmartin@up.edu.mx
1
Facultad de Ingenierı́a, Universidad Panamericana, Augusto
Rodin 498, Ciudad de México 03920, Mexico
The manipulation of these routes can be done with Java,
Python, and others. [4, 7, 9] and the changes made to the
routing tables have an immediate effect. [13]
This document shows the methodology used for the
analysis of the BGP routes implemented as SDN. The most
common metrics are detailed, such as latency, and how to
obtain benefits when optimizing the routes, and some dif-
ferent metrics are shown, such as the private autonomous
systems and the analysis of the routes considering the
registered ISP in the path. These examples were created in
order to show the flexibility of the BGP analysis that can be
performed on a PC connected as a neighbor to the router,
through iBGP.
1.1 Objective
The primary objective is to show the capabilities of
implementing SDN in conjunction with BGP to relay
control of Internet routes. This allows to reduce the latency
or to avoid specific autonomous systems. Additionally, the
implementation of BGP route analysis allows determining
which network segments pass through certain ISPs (for
example, destinations that go to the United States and pass
through other countries) or even more relevant routes that
optimized with the inference of the information of the
whole topology of BGP.
This paper presents the standard metrics such as latency
(and a method to find those that are not optimal) and the
new metrics that are proposed, as routes used by suppliers
from certain countries. Finally, some tables with examples
and conclusions are shown. This document is just a sample
of the possibilities of SDN using BGP.
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2 Methodology
An application was developed in Java that implements
BGP, both in IPv4 and in IPv6, this allows to obtain the
routing tables of all Internet, using three ISPs, two of local
origin in Mexico and one International (Century Link).
Each route to a network segment is simplified by elimi-
nating the same routes (the destination was not considered,
only the path) and with that information, the different
analyses were carried out. For example, if a destination
uses a direct neighbor, it is preferred to change the route to
the direct neighbor, since it is likely that this longer route
exists due to some information that is not propagated to all
the autonomous systems. By having the complete routes is
possible to analyze the information of the autonomous
systems, for example, the country in which they are reg-
istered or the number of neighbors connected, to determine
the size of the provider and decide whether to modify the
route or not, considering more sophisticated parameters
than latency.
To compare the latencies, a proposed method is used,
which consists of calculating the minimum and maximum
variance of a sample and with these data determine the
confidence limits [2].
3 Development for SDN
An application based on SDN [8] was developed in Java,
which implements BGP. It is compatible with BGP see 4,
and supports both IPv4 and IPv6, When connecting with
routers, this application allows keeping in-memory data,
such as the network segment, the Next-Hop, and the path
formed by sequences of autonomous systems. Practically
any operation with these routes is possible like the ones
mentioned in this research.
4 Common metrics
The most important parameters to consider, may be the
latency, the traffic balance between the ISPs and the costs
of the different links. This parameters justify the imple-
mentation of SDN to be able to manipulate Internet routes
and have better control, known as traffic engineering.
4.1 Based on latency
Latencies are by far the most critical parameter, but it
requires being able to measure the time spent traveling the
route for each ISP. This makes it difficult to optimize all the
network segments obtained by BGP (approximately 720,000
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Wireless Networks (2020) 26:5623–5630
in IPv4 and 60,000 in IPv6), so this method is only recom-
mended to network segments where services require it, such
as video traffic, VoIP or remote control applications.
The process consists of measuring the latency by
selecting the different suppliers and then comparing them
using confidence limits as explained in the previous paper
[2]. Since you have the optimal route, simply modify the
route through SDN to inject it into BGP, with some metrics
that give priority to those already owned by the router. (For
example ‘‘LOCAL_PREF’’ with a higher value)
The following Eq. 1 is used to calculate the confidence
limits and to be able to determine which provider has really
lower latency. To characterize the latency of the network,
the test should consider the local network (LAN) and the
wide area network (WAN) [11] and in general, although
IPv6 is more efficient, it can be considered that they have
the same latency [1]
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
r2A r2B
ðxA  xB Þ  t þ  lA  lB  ðxA  xB Þ
5 5 ð1Þ
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2
rA rB 2
þt þ
5 5
Table 1 shows the comparison of two ISPs, where the first
is better than the second. This also seen in Fig. 1
In Table 2 the comparison of two ISP is shown, in this
example, there are no significant differences, and although
the average could indicate that the first ISP is better, due to
the variation of the latencies this is not so, and you can see
this variation in Fig. 2
Both tables, Tables 1 and 2, show the statistical
parameters as average and minimum and maximum vari-
ance, if same, the degrees of freedom for a certainty value
of 95% are also shown. With these tables it is easy to
determine if one latency is definitely better than the other
or, as in the second example, they are practically the same.
The figures show the possible ranges of variance (be-
tween the minimum and maximum values) in a standard
distribution graph. This allows appreciating, on what limits
are the measured values. In the case of data networks, a lot
of variances is not a good symptom of the network, as it
may be affected by unusual traffic or changing path
conditions.
4.2 Based on the best route
The BGP protocol optimizes routes based on the number of
jumps, for this, it uses the information provided by each
autonomous system of which it is a direct neighbor. In this
investigation, it has been found that by correlating infor-
mation from all the neighbors, more routes can be found to
Wireless Networks (2020) 26:5623–5630 5625

Table 1 Example of confidence

ISP A ISP B
limits of two ISPs of different
latency xmin 41 xmin 73
x 45 x 76
xmax 49 xmax 83
r2min 6.4 r2min 12.67
r2max 12.8 r2max 16
m 7 ( a ¼ 95% ) m 7 ( a ¼ 95% )
Minimum Variance Maximum variance
35:618\xA  xB \  26:196 36:675\xA  xB \  25:325
Because if there is significant difference between the two suppliers,
it can be determined with 95% certainty that the ISP A is better than ISP B

Fig. 1 Figure of variance from two different ISP

optimize. This usually happens when some ISP, does not
announce all segments to all their neighbors, so the routes
that are formed from the neighbor that does not have
information of all the segments, can generate routes in
BGP, which appear shorter than what they would really be
if all the information were taken into account.
Experimentally it has been found, for example in Mexico,
it is common for some ISP not to announce all its segments to
other Mexican ISPs, but to ISP in the USA. This means that
for some network segments, it is necessary to go to the USA
and return to Mexico between 2 domestic ISPs.
Table 3 shows eight segments of the IPv4 network that
its routes, apparently correct, are not, if it is considered that
the AS6503 is a direct neighbor of the provider from where
those routes were obtained so that they can be optimized
altering the Next-Hop by the gateway address of the
AS6503 and trimming the path from number 6503.
Table 4 shows seven IPv6 network segments. Likewise,
if we consider that the AS3549 is a direct neighbor of the
provider from where those routes were obtained, so they
can be optimized by altering the Next-Hop by the gateway

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Table 2 Example of confidence

ISP A ISP B
limits of two ISPs of equal
latency xmin 41 xmin 46
x 46 x 49
xmax 50 xmax 52
r2min 8.26 r2min 3.6
r2max 17.2 r2max 7.2
m 6 ( a ¼ 95% ) m 6 ( a ¼ 95% )
Minimum Variance Maximum variance
6:77\xA  xB \0:99 8:405\xA  xB 2:405
Because if there is no significant difference between the two suppliers,
it can be determined with 95% certainty that the ISP A is the same as ISP B

Fig. 2 Figure of variance from two equal ISP

Table 3 Example of non-

ID Segment Next-Hop Path
optimized routes in IPv4
1 132.247.20.0/24 162.97.148.93/32 3549 3356 174 6503 28400 278
2 132.247.230.0/24 201.161.34.97/32 22566 3491 174 6503 28400 278
3 132.247.61.0/24 201.161.34.97/32 22566 3491 174 6503 28400 278
4 132.247.66.0/24 162.97.148.93/32 22566 3491 174 6503 28400 278
5 132.248.3.0/24 201.161.34.97/32 3549 3356 174 6503 28400 278
6 132.248.90.0/24 201.161.34.97/32 22566 3491 174 6503 28400 278
7 148.206.147.0/24 201.161.34.97/32 22566 3491 174 6503 28400 3596
8 200.23.184.0/24 201.161.34.97/32 22566 3491 174 6503 28400 28390

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Table 4 Example of non-

ID Segment Next-Hop Path
optimized routes in IPv6
1 2001:0450:2060::/48 2806:0:0:100::19 6503 174 3356 3549
2 2001:0450::/32 2806:0:0:100::19 6503 174 3356 3549
3 2001:13B0::/29 2806:0:0:100::19 6503 174 3356 3549
4 2001:1900:2340::/44 2806:0:0:100::19 6503 32098 6762 3549
5 2001:1900:2360::/44 2806:0:0:100::19 6503 32098 6939 3549 3549
6 2001:4870::/31 2806:0:0:100::19 6503 174 3356 3549
7 2A07:AA00:0088::/48 2806:0:0:100::19 6503 174 3356 3549

address of the AS3549 and leaving as path only the number
3549
All the segments are not optimized, since there are AS
that are direct neighbors, so the best route is through these
ISPs and not the one that is shown as the best option.
5 Non-standard metrics
In the previous section examples were shown, of parame-
ters that are recommended to consider, but taking advan-
tage of the SDN capacity, other types of routes can be
analyzed and corrected. This is possible due to the use of
high-level languages such as Java in the construction of the
SDN module, which allows analyzing all the obtained
routes quickly.
5.1 Numbers of invalid autonomous systems
You can search the routes that BGP provides with wrong
numbers, which due to some configuration error or typo-
graphical error, include numbers of autonomous systems
that are not valid.
The most common problem is that numbers of private
autonomous systems are included in the announcement of
Internet routes. The numbers of private AS are clearly
defined in RFC6996 [10] and are: from 64,512 to 65,534 in
the range of 2-byte autonomous systems and from
4200,000,000 to 4294,967,294, in 4-byte AS
The Table 5 shows 9 paths, both IPv4 and IPv6 that
contain private numbers.
5.2 Based on the registration country
of the autonomous system
Each autonomous system is registered with the name of the
ISP that administers it and this, in turn, belongs to a
country. This record corresponds to each of the five
Regional Internet Registries (RIR).
The following examples (Table 6) show routes that
change and return to a country. (15 routes of more than
4,000 found!)
The information shown in Tables 7 and 8 is only a
possibility of the reports that can be obtained. These
examples show summaries of the routes that pass through
Chinese Internet providers, and it is destiny is a provider of
another country. China was selected because of the dis-
tance to Mexico, where the tests were carried out.
With tools like this development for SDN, it is possible
to obtain statistics, which directly in a router cannot be, as
the following examples Tables 7 and 8):

Table 5 Examples with paths

containing private AS in their
routes
ID Segment
1 188.234.120.0/21
2 2001:0EE0:324A::/48
3 2001:0EE0:32:/40
4 2A01:0280:0330::/48
5 2402:3A80:0CA0::/43
6 2402:3A80:1100::/42
7 2402:3A80:1140::/42
8 2402:3A80:1180::/42
9 2402:3A80:11C0::/42
All these segments advertise AS that are private
Path
22566 32098 9002 9049 65400
6503 174 9304 45899 64555
6503 174 9304 45899 16625 64555
6503 174 29518 64512
22566 32098 9498 55410 55410 38266 65225
22566 32098 9498 55410 55410 38266 65010
22566 32098 9498 55410 55410 38266 65010
22566 32098 9498 55410 55410 38266 65010
22566 32098 9498 55410 55410 38266 65010

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Table 6 Routes not directs

3491(US) 4637(HK) 1221(AU) 33438(US) 32590(US)
From United States to United States crossing Hong Kong’s ISP
174(US) 12989(NL) 12041(US)
From United States to United States crossing Netherlands’s ISP
174(US) 12956(ES) 3352(ES) 29967(US)
From United States to United States crossing Spain’s ISP
3491(US) 3257(DE) 13333(US)
From United States to United States crossing Germany’s ISP
174(US) 3320(DE) 39356(GB) 197711(DE)
From Germany to Germany crossing United Kingdom’s ISP
174(US) 3257(DE) 6643(US)
From United States to United States crossing Germany’s ISP
3491(US) 7473(SG) 3758(SG) 10455(US)
From United States to United States crossing Singapore’s ISP
174(US) 3257(DE) 6095(US)
From United States to United States crossing Germany’s ISP
32098(US) 6939(US) 8529(OM) 15133(US)
From United States to United States crossing Oman’s ISP
174(US) 3257(DE) 27978(CL) 6429(CL) 18747(US)
From United States to United States crossing Germany’s and Chile’s ISP
3491(US) 4637(HK) 19661(US)
From United States to United States crossing Hong Kong’s ISP
6453(US) 15695(NL) 33045(US)
From United States to United States crossing Netherlands’s ISP
32098(US) 8359(RU) 8342(RU) 16083(RU) 72(US)
From United States to United States crossing many Russia’s ISP
174(US) 31133(RU) 19551(US)
From United States to United States crossing Russia’s ISP
22566(MX) 32098(US) 28438(MX)
From Mexico to Mexico crossing United States’s ISP
These routes show an atypical behavior, as it is not common for them to have to go through these
autonomous systems

Table 7 Statistics of paths that

Protocol: IPv4
use some Chinese ISP (IPv4)
Total of Segments: 740,697
Total of different paths: 103,055
Distribution of path that pass through Chinese ISP:
From Mexico to Kazakhstan 6
From Mexico to Lao 6
From United States to United States 6
From Mexico to Brazil 10
From Mexico to Singapore 12
From Mexico to Hong Kong 33
From Mexico to United States 33
From United States to Brazil 208
Others 45
Total destinations different from China, which pass through Chinese ISP: 359
This table shows the statistics of paths that pass through Chinese suppliers on IPv4

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Table 8 Statistics of paths that
Protocol:
use some Chinese ISP (IPv6)
Total of segments:
Total of different paths:
Distribution of path that pass through Chinese ISP:
From Mexico to Brazil:
From United States to Brazil:
From Mexico to Kenya:
Total destinations different from China, which pass through Chinese ISP:
This table shows the statistics of paths that pass through Chinese suppliers on IPv6
6 Conclusions
The possibilities of a flexible administration and an
advanced traffic engineering in a router that implements
BGP are few due to the restrictions of the operating sys-
tems of the network equipment, and that these devices were
designed and dimensioned only for this. With SDN, is
possible to have all the information that the router has of
the BGP settings, in a PC, this allows more detailed
management of the routes and in general of all the data,
which allows inferring better routes than otherwise, It
would be possible. Tools like this, written in Java that
implements BGP, allow practically define any policy and
apply it to generate new routes. Previously evaluating
routes with so many details is practically impossible in the
router, but in a PC, the possibilities and flexibility is much
greater, you can even determine the geographical location
of each autonomous system, you can find the country to
which it belongs or you can avoid crossing and return to
other continents. The potential to change routes, for secu-
rity problems, optimize networks, improve latency or
directly download functions that a router does typically can
now be achieved with SDN since it separates the control
plane with the data plane. Being able to perform the
treatment of routes in real time allows a more dynamic,
safe and fast Internet. Although there are additional
mechanisms to reduce latency, such as the [5] cache, it is
more efficient to select shorter routes that are discovered
with tools like the one presented here.
Acknowledgements I want to thank Luis Enrique and Carlos Chavez
for their support and patience for these tests in the production net-
work. Finally, we thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful
suggestions.
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Lorenzo M. Elguea is an engi-
neer from the Universidad
Panamericana and a candidate
doctor from the same university.
His research interests are mainly
in latencies, WAN (BGP) net-
works, wireless networks, IPv6,
Cloud Computing and IoT.
Also, he is CIO of the Univer-
sidad Panamericana campus of
Mexico City.
School of Universidad Panamericana at Mexico City, as a Full-Time
Professor. From 1998 to 2009, he heads the Computer Science
Engineering Program. From July 2009 to 2016 he was a Dean of
Engineering School. He teaches undergraduate and postgraduate
subjects such as Artificial Intelligence, Mobile Robotics, Scientific
Computing, Theory of Compilers and Object Oriented Programming.
He is the Faculty Advisor for the Aerodesign international competi-
tion organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers, USA. His
current research interests include artificial intelligence, optimization
algorithms, data science, mobile robotics and the internet of things.
He is a member of the Steering Committee of the International
Conference on Computer Science and Computational Intelligence and
General Chair of the International Conference on Computer Science
and Engineering and Health Services.
Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to
jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Felix Martinez-Rios received his

B.Sc. degree in Physics from the
Universidad de la Habana,
Cuba, in 1985, and the M.Sc.
and Ph.D. degrees in Computer
Science from the Tecnológico
de Monterrey, México City,
Mexico, in 2005 and 2009,
respectively. From July 1985 to
July 1987 he joined the
Telecommunications Research
Laboratory in Havana as a
researcher, Cuba. In July of
1987, he began as a professor at
the Higher Pedagogical Institute
in Havana, Cuba until 1994. In 1997, he joined the Engineering

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