Prior to January
2009, BGP autonomous system (AS) numbers that were allocated to companies were
2-octet numbers in the range from 1 to 65535 as described in RFC 4271,
A Border Gateway
Protocol 4 (BGP-4). Due to increased demand for AS numbers, the Internet
Assigned Number Authority (IANA) started to allocate four-octet AS numbers in
the range from 65536 to 4294967295. RFC 5396,
Textual
Representation of Autonomous System (AS) Numbers, documents three methods
of representing AS numbers. Cisco has implemented the following two methods:
-
Asplain—Decimal
value notation where both 2-byte and 4-byte AS numbers are represented by their
decimal value. For example, 65526 is a 2-byte AS number and 234567 is a 4-byte
AS number.
-
Asdot—Autonomous
system dot notation where 2-byte AS numbers are represented by their decimal
value and 4-byte AS numbers are represented by a dot notation. For example,
65526 is a 2-byte AS number and 1.169031 is a 4-byte AS number (this is dot
notation for the 234567 decimal number).
For details about the
third method of representing autonomous system numbers, see RFC 5396.
Asdot Only Autonomous System
Number Formatting
In Cisco IOS XE
Release 2.3, the 4-octet (4-byte) AS numbers are entered and displayed only in
asdot notation, for example, 1.10 or 45000.64000. When using regular
expressions to match 4-byte AS numbers the asdot format includes a period,
which is a special character in regular expressions. A backslash must be
entered before the period (for example, 1\.14) to ensure the regular expression
match does not fail. The table below shows the format in which 2-byte and
4-byte AS numbers are configured, matched in regular expressions, and displayed
in
show command
output in Cisco IOS images where only asdot formatting is available.
Table 1. Asdot Only 4-Byte AS Number
Format
Format
|
Configuration Format
|
Show
Command Output and Regular Expression Match Format
|
asdot
|
2-byte: 1
to 65535 4-byte: 1.0 to 65535.65535
|
2-byte: 1
to 65535 4-byte: 1.0 to 65535.65535
|
Asplain as Default AS Number
Formatting
In Cisco IOS XE
Release 2.4 and later releases, the Cisco implementation of 4-byte AS numbers
uses asplain as the default display format for AS numbers, but you can
configure 4-byte AS numbers in both the asplain and asdot format. In addition,
the default format for matching 4-byte AS numbers in regular expressions is
asplain, so you must ensure that any regular expressions to match 4-byte AS
numbers are written in the asplain format. If you want to change the default
show command
output to display 4-byte autonomous system numbers in the asdot format, use the
bgp
asnotation
dot command under router configuration mode. When
the asdot format is enabled as the default, any regular expressions to match
4-byte AS numbers must be written using the asdot format, or the regular
expression match will fail. The tables below show that although you can
configure 4-byte AS numbers in either asplain or asdot format, only one format
is used to display
show command
output and control 4-byte AS number matching for regular expressions, and the
default is asplain format. To display 4-byte AS numbers in
show command
output and to control matching for regular expressions in the asdot format, you
must configure the
bgp
asnotation
dot command. After enabling the
bgp
asnotation
dot command, a hard reset must be initiated for
all BGP sessions by entering the
clear
ip
bgp
* command.
Note |
If you are
upgrading to an image that supports 4-byte AS numbers, you can still use 2-byte
AS numbers. The
show command
output and regular expression match are not changed and remain in asplain
(decimal value) format for 2-byte AS numbers regardless of the format
configured for 4-byte AS numbers.
|
Table 2. Default Asplain 4-Byte AS
Number Format
Format
|
Configuration Format
|
Show
Command Output and Regular Expression Match Format
|
asplain
|
2-byte: 1
to 65535 4-byte: 65536 to 4294967295
|
2-byte: 1
to 65535 4-byte: 65536 to 4294967295
|
asdot
|
2-byte: 1
to 65535 4-byte: 1.0 to 65535.65535
|
2-byte: 1
to 65535 4-byte: 65536 to 4294967295
|
Table 3. Asdot 4-Byte AS Number
Format
Format
|
Configuration Format
|
Show
Command Output and Regular Expression Match Format
|
asplain
|
2-byte: 1
to 65535 4-byte: 65536 to 4294967295
|
2-byte: 1
to 65535 4-byte: 1.0 to 65535.65535
|
asdot
|
2-byte: 1
to 65535 4-byte: 1.0 to 65535.65535
|
2-byte: 1
to 65535 4-byte: 1.0 to 65535.65535
|
Reserved and Private AS
Numbers
In Cisco IOS XE
Release 2.3 and later releases, the Cisco implementation of BGP supports RFC
4893. RFC 4893 was developed to allow BGP to support a gradual transition from
2-byte AS numbers to 4-byte AS numbers. A new reserved (private) AS number,
23456, was created by RFC 4893 and this number cannot be configured as an AS
number in the Cisco IOS CLI.
RFC 5398,
Autonomous
System (AS) Number Reservation for Documentation Use, describes new
reserved AS numbers for documentation purposes. Use of the reserved numbers
allow configuration examples to be accurately documented and avoids conflict
with production networks if these configurations are literally copied. The
reserved numbers are documented in the IANA AS number registry. Reserved 2-byte
AS numbers are in the contiguous block, 64496 to 64511 and reserved 4-byte AS
numbers are from 65536 to 65551 inclusive.
Private 2-byte AS
numbers are still valid in the range from 64512 to 65534 with 65535 being
reserved for special use. Private AS numbers can be used for internal routing
domains but must be translated for traffic that is routed out to the Internet.
BGP should not be configured to advertise private AS numbers to external
networks. Cisco IOS software does not remove private AS numbers from routing
updates by default. We recommend that ISPs filter private AS numbers.
Note |
AS number
assignment for public and private networks is governed by the IANA. For
information about AS numbers, including reserved number assignment, or to apply
to register an AS number, see the following URL: http://www.iana.org/.
|