BGP Tests
Last updated
Last updated
BGP tests operate on the lowest fabric of the internet - the BGP routing layer. Relevant BGP routing data is collected from ThousandEyes-provided BGP Monitors (a.k.a. "Public BGP Monitors"), from BGP peers that you connect to our infrastructure - the so-called Private BGP Monitors, or both at the same time. Collected data is presented as BGP Route Visualization, a view that presents information in a cohesive manner, pointing out relevant events on the timeline and in the ASN graph. A BGP test also offers the ability to include prefixes covered by target prefix.
As a quick start, the short video tutorial Working with BGP Tests should get you up to speed in no time.
ThousandEyes ingests BGP routing data from dozens of global BGP collectors and automatically integrates that visibility as a configurable layer under service, network, and path visualization layers. ThousandEyes supports private and public BGP monitors, as well as our own in-house BGP monitors. Private BGP monitors are monitors you have configured to report BGP data directly from your routers. Public BGP monitors report routing data provided from the RouteViews project, RIPE RIS, and ThousandEyes' BGP monitors. ThousandEyes BGP monitors are configured and supported by ThousandEyes.
When you specify a service URL in a test, layered BGP tests automatically track reachability and path changes for any relevant prefix. When you use an IP address as the target for a test, the ThousandEyes platform monitors the relevant internet-routed prefix. You can also create specific BGP monitoring for a prefix, and can alert on hijacks and leaks.
The BGP Route Visualization displays an autonomous system-by-autonomous system view of the nodes in the path from the BGP monitors to the target. To learn more about using the BGP Route Visualization View, see Using the BGP Route Visualization View.
ThousandEyes also detects if announced routes have valid RPKI ROAs. To learn more about RPKI, see BGP RPKI.
Ensure network prefix reachability from multiple BGP vantage points on the internet.
Detect and alert on BGP route leaks or BGP route hijacking.
Validate and alert on active DDoS mitigation measures.
Monitor presence and activity of multiple upstream network providers.
Alert on unexpected path changes, unexpected upstream ASNs, route flapping, etc.
The following figure is showing BGP path change detected by the St. Petersburg public BGP Monitor, where the network path through ASN20485 is replaced by a path through ASN9002:
To get a sense of what interacting with collected BGP data feels like, you can review the contents of the test results depicted above interactively. To do so, visit this share-link: https://ascnkau.share.thousandeyes.com/.
Test Type: BGP
Test Name: This optional parameter gives the test a label. When no label is provided, then the value in the Prefix field will be used. A test name cannot exceed 255 characters.
Prefix: A BGP prefix and prefix length in CIDR notation (dotted-quad network address, a slash, then integer netmask).
Include covered prefixes: When this box is checked, provide test results for covered prefixes of the netblock in the Prefix field.
Public BGP Monitors: This option button allows you to choose whether ThousandEyes' public BGP Monitors should be used for monitoring target prefixes.
Private BGP Monitors: This drop-down box allows you to select which private BGP Monitors should be used for monitoring target prefixes.
Note that some monitors are IPv4 monitors and some are IPv6 monitors. Tests with IPv4 targets will display only IPv4 monitors in the BGP Path Visualization; similarly, tests with IPv6 targets display only IPv6 monitors in the BGP Path Visualization.
Alerts: When the Enable box is checked, the Alert Rules selected in drop-down list will be active for the test. You can select Alert Rules with the drop-down list, and create, modify and delete alert rules with the Edit Alert Rules link.
BGP tests provide the following view:
BGP Route Visualization displays an autonomous system-by-autonomous system view of the nodes in the path from the monitors to the target, along with routing and geographical information about each node and link between nodes.