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We use the term "Route Reflection" to describe the operation of a BGP
speaker advertising an IBGP learned route to another IBGP peer. Such
a BGP speaker is said to be a "Route Reflector" (RR), and such a
route is said to be a reflected route.
The internal peers of an RR are divided into two groups:
1) Client peers
2) Non-Client peers
An RR reflects routes between these groups, and may reflect routes
among client peers. An RR along with its client peers form a
cluster. The Non-Client peer must be fully meshed but the Client
peers need not be fully meshed. Figure 3 depicts a simple example
outlining the basic RR components using the terminology noted above.
Bates, et al. Standards Track
RFC 4456 BGP Route Reflection
/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
| Cluster |
+-------+ +-------+
| | | | | |
| RTR-A | | RTR-B |
| |Client | |Client | |
+-------+ +-------+
| \\ / |
IBGP \\ / IBGP
| \\ / |
+-------+
| | | |
| RTR-C |
| | RR | |
+-------+
| / \\ |
- - - - - /- - -\\- - - - - - /
IBGP / \\ IBGP
+-------+ +-------+
| RTR-D | IBGP | RTR-E |
| Non- |---------| Non- |
|Client | |Client |
+-------+ +-------+
Figure 3: RR Components
A route reflector (RR) is a network routing component for BGP (RFC 4456). It offers an alternative to the logical full-mesh requirement of internal border gateway protocol (IBGP). A RR acts as a focal pointfor IBGP sessions. The purpose of the RR is concentration.
