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On Feb 17, 2009, at 1:50 PM, Ivan Pepelnjak wrote:

As far as I understand the issues :)

There are two limits: the first one @ 128 AS numbers (where BGP switches to the 'extended length' of BGP attribute), the other one @ 256 AS numbers
(where BGP has to use two AS_SEQUENCE segments).

Old IOS releases break on the first boundary when processing INBOUND update. bgp maxas-limit cannot save you, as the router drops UPSTREAM BGP session
before the update is fully processed.

New IOS releases accept all INBOUND updates. Prefixes with AS-path length above 254 are never valid (the long printout contains maxas-limit status). bgp maxas-limit works on inbound updates and thus drops whatever you feel is
oversized.

New IOS release fail when sending OUTBOUND updates. If you've configured bgp
maxas-limit, you're safe. If not, your DOWNSTREAM BGP session will be
dropped by your neighbor receiving invalid BGP update.

If your customers are using old IOS, there was nothing they could do to prevent the BGP session reset (apart from upgrading, obviously :). Who was
the actual culprit depends on the AS-path length ... See above.

Does this make sense? I know it's complex :)
Ivan

What is not yet clear is, what are the definitions of "Old IOS release" and "New IOS release"? There has been talk of a bug referred to as CSCdr54230. I have seen statements on another list that this was fixed in 12.1(4) and 12.0(10)S3, but yet this problem was experienced on such releases as 12.2(40). Has there been any definitive word yet on what it takes to qualify as a new IOS release?

Steve

- --
- ---------------------------------------------------------------
Steven Saner <ssa...@hubris.net>
Director of Network Operations
Hubris Communications



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