How BGP Works

BGP functions by establishing sessions between BGP routers (peers) and exchanging
network reachability information. Here’s a simplified outline of how BGP works:

1. **Session Establishment**: BGP peers (neighboring routers) establish a TCP

connection. This session is kept alive through periodic keepalive messages.

2. **Route Advertisement**: Once the session is established, routers exchange full

routing information. Subsequent updates are sent only when changes occur.

3. **Path Selection**: BGP uses various attributes to select the best path to a
destination. Some key attributes include AS-PATH, NEXT-HOP, and MED (Multi-Exit
Discriminator).

4. **Route Propagation**: Routes learned from one peer can be advertised to other
peers, subject to policy restrictions.

BGP ensures loop-free paths and allows for flexible routing policies, making it the
backbone of global Internet routing.