BGP Confederations

An alternative to route reflection is BGP confederations. As with route reflectors, you can partition BGP speakers into clusters where each cluster is typically a topologically close set of routers. With confederations, this is accomplished by subdividing the autonomous system into multiple, smaller ASs that communicate among themselves. The internal topology is hidden from the outside world, which perceives the confederation to be one large AS.

Each distinct sub-AS within a confederation is referred to as a routing domain (RD). Routing domains are identified by using a routing domain identifier (RDI). The RDI has the same syntax as an AS number, but as it is not visible outside of the confederation, it does not need to be globally unique, although it does need to be unique within the confederation. Many confederations find it convenient to select their RDIs from the reserved AS space (ASs 64512 through 65535 (see RFC 1930). RDIs are used as the ASs in BGP sessions between peers within the confederation.

The confederation as a whole, is referred to by a confederation identifier. This identifier is used as the AS in external BGP sessions. As far as the outside world is concerned, the confederation ID is the AS number of the single, large AS. For this reason, the confederation ID must be a globally unique, normally assigned AS number.

For further details, refer to the confederations specification document RFC 1965.