Knowledge Base

How to connect your router to the BGPCast route server over BGP. Choose your hardware or software BGP implementation, copy the commands, and substitute your values from the app (peer IP, ASN).

1. Filter rules (next-hop to ISP + discard)

/routing filter rule
add chain=bgp_in comment="Nexthop to ISP" disabled=no rule="set gw <next-hop>; accept;"
add chain=discard disabled=no rule="reject;"

2. BGP template

/routing bgp template
add as=<your-asn> disabled=no name=bgpcast output.network=bgp-networks .no-client-to-client-reflection=yes routing-table=main

3. BGP connection

/routing bgp connection
add as=<your-asn> cisco-vpls-nlri-len-fmt=auto-bits connect=yes disabled=no hold-time=4m input.filter=bgp_in instance=bgp-instance-bgpcast keepalive-time=1m listen=yes \
    local.address=<your-ip> .role=ebgp multihop=yes name=bgpcast output.filter-chain=discard .network=bgp-networks .no-client-to-client-reflection=yes \
    remote.address=<bgpcast-ip> .as=<bgpcast-asn> routing-table=main templates=bgpcast vrf=main

4. Verify the session is established

/routing/bgp/session/print

1. Route-map: next-hop to ISP + block advertisements

route-map bgpcast-in permit 10
 set ip next-hop <next-hop>
!
route-map bgpcast-out deny 10

2. BGP session

router bgp <your-asn>
 neighbor <bgpcast-ip> remote-as <bgpcast-asn>
 neighbor <bgpcast-ip> ebgp-multihop 255
 address-family ipv4 unicast
  neighbor <bgpcast-ip> activate
  neighbor <bgpcast-ip> route-map bgpcast-in in
  neighbor <bgpcast-ip> route-map bgpcast-out out
  neighbor <bgpcast-ip> soft-reconfiguration inbound
 exit-address-family

3. Verify the session is established

vtysh -c 'show bgp summary'

1. BGP protocol

protocol bgp bgpcast {
  local as <your-asn>;
  neighbor <bgpcast-ip> as <bgpcast-asn>;
  multihop 255;
  ipv4 {
    import filter { gw = <next-hop>; accept; };
    export none;
  };
}

2. Verify the session is established

birdc show protocols all bgpcast

Common issues

Session not coming up (Active/Connect): Check that <bgpcast-ip> is reachable and that outbound TCP/179 is not blocked by your firewall.
No established state, but port is open: Verify the ASN on both sides — they must match the parameters shown in the app.
Established, but 0 prefixes: Make sure you have subscribed to at least one category and that the peer is enabled in the app.
Session is flapping: A cloud peer requires multihop (TTL>1). Verify that multihop/ebgp-multihop is enabled.