Peering Policy & Communities

Route Server Policy

NELL-IX operates transparent route servers with RPKI validation and IRR filtering at each location.

BGP Communities

Use BGP communities to control route announcements and implement selective peering policies.

Community	Action	Description
11859:0:PEER-AS	Do Not Announce	Prevent announcement to specific peer
11859:1:PEER-AS	Announce Only	Announce to specific peer only
11859:100:Y	Prepend	Prepend Y times (1-3) to all peers
11859:101:PEER-AS	Prepend Once	Prepend once to specific peer
11859:102:PEER-AS	Prepend Twice	Prepend twice to specific peer
11859:103:PEER-AS	Prepend 3x	Prepend three times to specific peer
11859:666	Blackhole	Remotely triggered blackhole (RTBH)

Informational Communities

The route servers will tag routes with informational communities to help you understand route origins:

Community	Meaning
11859:1000	Learned from route server client
11859:1100	RPKI Valid
11859:1101	RPKI Unknown
11859:1102	RPKI Invalid (filtered)

Route Server Policies

RPKI Validation

RPKI Invalid routes are rejected
Valid and Unknown routes accepted
Validation status tagged with communities

IRR Filtering

Prefixes validated against IRR databases
Supports RIPE, RADB, ARIN, APNIC
Keep your AS-SET updated

Prefix Filtering

Bogons and martians filtered
Default routes rejected
Too-specific prefixes filtered (IPv4 >/24, IPv6 >/48)

AS Path Validation

AS path preserved (transparent RS)
Maximum path length: 64 hops
Private ASNs stripped

Configuration Examples

Cisco IOS / IOS-XE

! Configure route server session
router bgp YOUR-ASN
 neighbor RS-IPv4 remote-as 11859
 neighbor RS-IPv4 description NELL-IX Route Server
 !
 address-family ipv4
  neighbor RS-IPv4 activate
  neighbor RS-IPv4 route-map TO-RS out
  neighbor RS-IPv4 prefix-list YOUR-PREFIXES out
  neighbor RS-IPv4 maximum-prefix 100
 exit-address-family
!
! Example: Don't announce to AS64496
route-map TO-RS permit 10
 match ip address prefix-list DONT-ANNOUNCE-TO-64496
 set community 11859:0:64496
!
route-map TO-RS permit 20
 match ip address prefix-list YOUR-PREFIXES

Juniper JunOS

protocols {
    bgp {
        group RS-IPV4 {
            type external;
            peer-as 11859;
            neighbor RS-IPv4-ADDRESS {
                description "NELL-IX Route Server";
                import RS-IN;
                export RS-OUT;
                family inet {
                    unicast {
                        prefix-limit {
                            maximum 100;
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

policy-options {
    policy-statement RS-OUT {
        term dont-announce-to-64496 {
            from {
                route-filter YOUR-PREFIX/24 exact;
            }
            then {
                community add no-export-64496;
                accept;
            }
        }
        term announce-prefixes {
            from {
                protocol static;
                protocol direct;
            }
            then accept;
        }
        term reject-all {
            then reject;
        }
    }
    community no-export-64496 members 11859:0:64496;
}

Arista EOS

router bgp YOUR-ASN
   neighbor RS-IPv4 remote-as 11859
   neighbor RS-IPv4 description NELL-IX Route Server
   neighbor RS-IPv4 maximum-routes 100
   !
   address-family ipv4
      neighbor RS-IPv4 activate
      neighbor RS-IPv4 route-map TO-RS out
!
route-map TO-RS permit 10
   match ip address prefix-list YOUR-PREFIXES
!
ip prefix-list YOUR-PREFIXES
   seq 10 permit YOUR-PREFIX/24

BIRD 2.x

protocol bgp RS_IPV4 {
    description "NELL-IX Route Server IPv4";
    local as YOUR_ASN;
    neighbor RS-IPv4-ADDRESS as 11859;

    ipv4 {
        import filter {
            accept;
        };
        export filter {
            if net ~ YOUR_PREFIXES then {
                # Example: Don't announce to AS64496
                if net = YOUR_SPECIFIC_PREFIX then {
                    bgp_community.add((11859,0,64496));
                }
                accept;
            }
            reject;
        };
    };
}

FRRouting (FRR)

router bgp YOUR-ASN
 neighbor RS-IPv4 remote-as 11859
 neighbor RS-IPv4 description NELL-IX Route Server
 !
 address-family ipv4 unicast
  neighbor RS-IPv4 activate
  neighbor RS-IPv4 route-map TO-RS out
  neighbor RS-IPv4 prefix-list YOUR-PREFIXES out
  neighbor RS-IPv4 maximum-prefix 100
 exit-address-family
!
route-map TO-RS permit 10
 match ip address prefix-list YOUR-PREFIXES
!
ip prefix-list YOUR-PREFIXES seq 5 permit YOUR-PREFIX/24

Need Help?

Our NOC team can assist with route server configuration and troubleshooting.

Contact NOC View Technical Specs