RFC 1397 (rfc1397) - Page 1 of 2

Default Route Advertisement In BGP2 and BGP3 Version of The Border Gateway Protocol

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Network Working Group                                          D. Haskin
Request for Comments: 1397                 Bolt Beranek and Newman, Inc.
                                                            January 1993


                     Default Route Advertisement In
         BGP2 And BGP3 Versions Of The Border Gateway Protocol

Status of this Memo

   This RFC specifies an IAB standards track protocol for the Internet
   community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements.
   Please refer to the current edition of the "IAB Official Protocol
   Standards" for the standardization state and status of this protocol.
   Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Abstract

   This document specifies the recommendation of the BGP Working Group
   on default route advertisement support in BGP2 [1] and BGP3 [2]
   versions of the Border Gateway Protocol.

   This recommendation only applies to BGP2 and BGP3 versions of the
   Border Gateway Protocol since starting with the BGP4 [3] version a
   default route advertisement capability is built in the protocol.

1. Overview

   The purpose of the default route advertisement capability is to
   advertise the IP address of a border gateway which can be used as the
   default next hop to destinations that are not listed explicitly in
   the BGP peer's routing table.

   This capability will allow routers, that are unable to maintain a
   complete routing table (e.g., due to its size) to learn a border
   gateway that is ready to handle the default traffic.  Also, in
   contrast to static defaults, if there is more than one default
   gateway, this would make it possible for a BGP speaker to express a
   preference for one over the other.  It also reduces the need to
   configure default routes in routers.

2. Default Route Advertisement

   A default route is advertised in an UPDATE message that carries
   reachability information for network 0.0.0.0.  A Network field of
   such an UPDATE message must contain the IP address 0.0.0.0 as the
   indication that it carries a default route.  The NEXT_HOP path
   attribute of such a message provides the IP address of a border



Haskin
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