Creating a BGP peer

You can create a BGP peer in a CPE template or on a device. When you create a BGP peer in a CPE template, the BGP peer is automatically created on all devices that are using the template. The maximum number of dynamic BGP peers is 512.

To create a BGP peer:

1. Create a BGP peer in one of the following ways:
   • If you want to create a BGP peer in a CPE template, go to the SD-WAN → CPE templates menu section, click the template and in the displayed settings area, select the BGP settings → Neighbors tab.
   • If you want to create a BGP peer on a CPE device, go to the SD-WAN → CPE menu section, click the device, and in the displayed settings area, select the BGP settings → Neighbors tab and select the Override check box.

   A table of BGP peers is displayed.

2. Click + BGP neighbor.
3. This opens a window; in that window, in the Name field, enter the name of the BGP peer. Maximum length: 50 characters.
4. If you want to disable a BGP peer and prevent establishing a TCP session with it, select the Disable BGP peer check box. This check box is cleared by default.
5. In the Neighbor IP field, enter the IPv4 address of the BGP peer.
6. In the Remote AS field, enter the autonomous system number of the BGP peer. Range of values: 1 to 4,294,967,295.
7. If necessary, enter a brief description of the BGP peer in the Description field.
8. If you want the CPE device to use a password when establishing a TCP session with the BGP peer, in the Password field, enter the password. For a TCP session to be successfully established between two BGP peers, they must use the same password. To see the entered password, you can click the show icon .
9. If necessary, in the Loopback interface field, enter the IPv4 address of the loopback interface that the CPE device must send to the BGP peer when establishing a TCP session.
10. If the TCP session is not established directly between the CPE device and the BGP peer, in the eBGP hops field, enter the number of hops between the CPE device and the BGP peer. Range of values: 1 to 255.
11. If you want to configure BGP timers:
    1. Select the Custom BGP timers check box. This check box is cleared by default.
    2. In the Keepalive field, enter the time interval in seconds that the CPE device uses to send control packets to BGP peers. Range of values: 0 to 65,535.
    3. In the Holdtime field, enter the time interval in seconds that the CPE device uses when receiving control packets from BGP peers. If no control packets are received from the BGP peer within the specified time, the device considers the peer unavailable. Range of values: 0 to 65,535.
12. If you want to use the BFD protocol to detect loss of connectivity, select the BFD check box. This check box is cleared by default.
13. If you want to specify advanced settings for the BGP peer:
    1. Select the Advanced settings tab.

       Advanced settings of the BGP peer are displayed.

    2. If necessary, select the following check boxes:
       • Select the Soft-reconfiguration inbound check box to store routes advertised by the BGP peer locally on the CPE device. Using this feature reduces the amount of memory available on the CPE device.
       • Select the Attribute unchanged AS path check box to prevent modifying the 'AS path' attribute of routes that the CPE device advertises to the BGP peer.
       • Select the Allow AS in check box to let BGP peers advertise routes to the CPE device with the 'AS path' attribute, whose value is the autonomous system number of the device.
       • Select the Attribute unchanged next-hop check box to prevent modifying the 'next hop' attribute of routes that the CPE device advertises to the BGP peer.
       • Select the Next-hop self check box to use the IPv4 address of the CPE device as the 'next-hop' attribute value when advertising routes to the BGP peer.
       • Select the Attribute unchanged MED check box to prevent modifying the 'MED' attribute of routes that the CPE device advertises to the BGP peer.
       • Select the Route reflector client check box to assign the Route Reflector role to the CPE device and the Route Reflector Client role to the BGP peer. You can only select this check box for a BGP peer that is in the same autonomous system as the CPE device.

       These check boxes are cleared by default.

    3. In the Local AS field, enter the number of the local autonomous system that the CPE device must send to the BGP peer. Range of values: 1 to 4,294,967,295.
    4. In the Weight field, enter the weight of the routes advertised by the BGP peer. The greater the weight of a route, the higher its priority. Range of values: 0 to 65,535.
    5. In the Maximum prefix field, enter the maximum number of routes that the BGP peer can advertise to a CPE device. Range of values: 1 to 4,294,967,295.
    6. If you want a CPE device to advertise routes with the 'community' attribute to its BGP peer, select the Send community check box and select the type of the attribute in the drop-down list:
       • All covers all available types of the 'community' attribute.
       • Standard and extended community.
       • Extended community.
       • Large community.
       • Standard community.

       This check box is cleared by default.

    7. If you want the CPE device to advertise the default 0.0.0.0/0 route to the BGP peer, select the Default originate check box. This check box is cleared by default. You can select the Set route map check box and in the drop-down list that is displayed, select a previously created route map for the 0.0.0.0/0 default route.
14. If you want to configure route filtering for the BGP peer:
    1. Select the Filtering tab.

       The route filtering options are displayed.

    2. Under Route map, select previously created route maps:
       1. In the Inbound drop-down list, select a route map for the routes that the BGP peer advertises to the CPE device.
       2. In the Outbound drop-down list, select a route map for the routes that the CPE device advertises to the BGP peer.
    3. Under Prefix list, select previously created prefix lists:
       1. In the Inbound drop-down list, select a prefix list for the routes that the BGP peer advertises to the CPE device.
       2. In the Outbound drop-down list, select a prefix list for the routes that the CPE device advertises to the BGP peer.
    4. Under Access control list, select previously created access control lists:
       1. In the Inbound drop-down list, select an access control list for the routes that the BGP peer advertises to the CPE device.
       2. In the Outbound drop-down list, select an access control list for the routes that the CPE device advertises to the BGP peer.
15. Click Create.

    The BGP peer is created and displayed in the table.

16. In the upper part of the settings area, click Save to save the settings of the CPE template or device.