In this episode of PING, APNIC’s Chief Scientist, Geoff Huston, discusses a day in the life of Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). Not an extraordinary day, not a special day, just a regular day.
What happens inside the BGP system, from the point of view of AS4608, one ordinary BGP speaker on the edge of the network? What kinds of things are seen, and why are they seen?
Geoff has been measuring BGP for nearly its entire existence as the Internet’s core routing protocol. In this analysis, he takes a closer look at its behaviour on a more granular, ‘micro’ level. He focuses on the rate at which BGP messages and routing changes occur, revealing some of the challenges BGP faces today. Notably, a small number of BGP speakers are responsible for most of the routing activity, while the overall volume of stable routing information — the persistent view of the network — grows more slowly. Both types of message dynamics present challenges that BGP must continue to manage.
Can we fix this? Does it even need fixing? These are topics explored in the latest PING.
Read more about the dynamics of BGP:
- A day in the life of BGP (Geoff Huston, June 2025, APNIC Blog)
- BGP topics at the APNIC Blog
- Geoff’s archive of BGP data
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