The cost community is a nontransitive, extended community attribute that is passed to iBGP and confederation peers, but not to eBGP peers. The configuration of the BGP Cost Community feature allows you to customize the BGP best path selection process for a local autonomous system or confederation.

The cost community attribute is applied to internal routes by configuring the set extcommunity cost command in a route map. The cost community set clause is configured with a cost community ID number (0-255) and cost number (0-4294967295). The cost community ID number determines the preference for the path selection process. The path with the lowest cost community ID number is preferred.

Paths that are not specifically configured with the cost community attribute are assigned a default cost number value of 2147483647 (The midpoint between 0 and 4294967295) and evaluated by the best path selection process accordingly. In the case where two paths have been configured with the same cost community ID number, the path selection process will then prefer the path with the lowest cost number. The cost extended community attribute is propagated to iBGP peers when extended community exchange is enabled with the neighbor send-community command.

The following commands can be used to apply a route map that is configured with the cost community set clause:

• aggregate-address

• neighbor default-originate route-map {in | out}

• neighbor route-map

• network route-map

• redistribute route-map

The cost community attribute influences the BGP best path selection process at the point of insertion (POI). By default, the POI follows the IGP metric comparison. When BGP receives multiple paths to the same destination, it uses the best path selection process to determine which path is the best path. BGP automatically makes the decision and installs the best path into the routing table. The POI allows you to assign a preference to o a specific path when multiple equal cost paths are available. If the POI is not valid for local best path selection, the cost community attribute is silently ignored.

Multiple paths can be configured with the cost community attribute for the same POI. The path with the lowest cost community ID is considered first. In other words, all of the cost community paths for a specific POI are considered, starting with the one with the lowest cost community. Paths that do not contain the cost community (for the POI and community ID being evaluated) are assigned the default community cost value (2147483647). If the cost community values are equal, then cost community comparison proceeds to the next lowest community ID for this POI.

Note	Paths that are not configured with the cost community attribute are considered by the best path selection process to have the default cost-value (half of the maximum value [4294967295] or 2147483647).

Applying the cost community attribute at the POI allows you to assign a value to a path originated or learned by a peer in any part of the local autonomous system or confederation. The cost community can be used as a “tie breaker” during the best path selection process. Multiple instances of the cost community can be configured for separate equal cost paths within the same autonomous system or confederation. For example, a lower cost community value can be applied to a specific exit path in a network with multiple equal cost exits points, and the specific exit path will be preferred by the BGP best path selection process. See the scenario described in the “Influencing Route Preference in a Multi-Exit IGP Network” section.

Aggregate routes and multipaths are supported by the BGP Cost Community feature. The cost community attribute can be applied to either type of route. The cost community attribute is passed to the aggregate or multipath route from component routes that carry the cost community attribute. Only unique IDs are passed, and only the highest cost of any individual component route will be applied to the aggregate on a per-ID basis. If multiple component routes contain the same ID, the highest configured cost is applied to the route. For example, the following two component routes are configured with the cost community attribute via an inbound route map:

• 10.0.0.1 (POI=IGP, ID=1, Cost=100)

• 192.168.0.1 (POI=IGP, ID=1, Cost=200)

If these component routes are aggregated or configured as a multipath, the cost value 200 (POI=IGP, ID=1, Cost=200) will be advertised because it is the highest cost.

If one or more component routes does not carry the cost community attribute or if the component routes are configured with different IDs, then the default value (2147483647) will be advertised for the aggregate or multipath route. For example, the following three component routes are configured with the cost community attribute via an inbound route map. However, the component routes are configured with two different IDs.

• 10.0.0.1 (POI=IGP, ID=1, Cost=100)

• 172.16.0.1 (POI=IGP, ID=2, Cost=100)

• 192.168.0.1 (POI=IGP, ID=1, Cost=200)

The single advertised path will include the aggregated cost communities as follows:

• {POI=IGP, ID=1, Cost=2147483647} {POI=IGP, ID=2, Cost=2147483647}

The figure below shows an Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) network with two autonomous system boundary routers (ASBRs) on the edge. Each ASBR has an equal cost path to network 10.8/16.

Both paths are considered to be equal by BGP. If multipath loadsharing is configured, both paths will be installed to the routing table and will be used to load balance traffic. If multipath load balancing is not configured, then BGP will select the path that was learned first as the best path and install this path to the routing table. This behavior may not be desirable under some conditions. For example, the path is learned from ISP1 PE2 first, but the link between ISP1 PE2 and ASBR1 is a low-speed link.

The configuration of the cost community attribute can be used to influence the BGP best path selection process by applying a lower cost community value to the path learned by ASBR2. For example, the following configuration is applied to ASBR2.

route-map ISP2_PE1 permit 10
 set extcommunity cost 1 1
 match ip address 13
!
ip access-list 13 permit 10.8.0.0 0.0.255.255 

The above route map applies a cost community number value of 1 to the 10.8.0.0 route. By default, the path learned from ASBR1 will be assigned a cost community value of 2147483647. Because the path learned from ASBR2 has lower cost community value, this path will be preferred.

Before EIGRP Site of Origin (SoO) BGP Cost Community support was introduced, BGP preferred locally sourced routes over routes learned from BGP peers. Back door links in an EIGRP MPLS VPN topology will be preferred by BGP if the back door link is learned first. (A back door link, or a route, is a connection that is configured outside of the VPN between a remote and main site. For example, a WAN leased line that connects a remote site to the corporate network).

The "pre-bestpath" point of insertion (POI) was introduced in the BGP Cost Community feature to support mixed EIGRP VPN network topologies that contain VPN and backdoor links. This POI is applied automatically to EIGRP routes that are redistributed into BGP. The "pre-best path" POI carries the EIGRP route type and metric. This POI influences the best path calculation process by influencing BGP to consider this POI before any other comparison step. No configuration is required. This feature is enabled automatically for EIGRP VPN sites when Cisco IOS Release 12.0(27)S is installed to a PE, CE, or back door router.

For information about configuring EIGRP MPLS VPNs, refer to the MPLS VPN Support for EIGRP Between Provider Edge and Customer Edge document in Cisco IOS Release 12.0(27)S.

For more information about the EIGRP MPLS VPN PE-CE Site of Origin (SoO) feature, refer to the EIGRP MPLS VPN PE-CE Site of Origin (SoO) feature documentation in Cisco IOS Release 12.0(27)S.

BGP cost community configuration can be verified locally or for a specific neighbor. To verify the local configuration cost community, use the show route-map or show running-config command.

To verify that a specific neighbor carries the cost community, use the show ip bgp ip-address command. The output from these commands displays the POI (IGP is the default POI), the configured ID, and configured cost. For large cost community values, the output from these commands will also show, with + and - values, the difference between the configured cost and the default cost. See “Example: BGP Cost Community Verification” section for sample output.

The following example applies the cost community ID of 1 and cost community value of 100 to routes that are permitted by the route map. This configuration will cause the best path selection process to prefer this route over other equal-cost paths that were not permitted by this route map sequence.

Device(config)# router bgp 50000
Device(config-router)# neighbor 10.0.0.1 remote-as 50000
Device(config-router)# neighbor 10.0.0.1 update-source Loopback 0
Device(config-router)# address-family ipv4
Device(config-router-af)# neighbor 10.0.0.1 activate
Device(config-router-af)# neighbor 10.0.0.1 route-map COST1 in 
Device(config-router-af)# neighbor 10.0.0.1 send-community both 
Router(config-router-af)# exit 
Device(config)# route-map COST1 permit 10
Device(config-route-map)# match ip-address 1
Device(config-route-map)# set extcommunity cost 1 100

BGP cost community configuration can be verified locally or for a specific neighbor. To verify the local configuration cost community, use the show route-map or show running-config command. To verify that a specific neighbor carries the cost community, use the show ip bgp ip-address command.

The output of the show route-map command will display locally configured route-maps, match, set, continue clauses, and the status and configuration of the cost community attribute. The following sample output is similar to the output that will be displayed:

Device# show route-map

route-map COST1, permit, sequence 10
  Match clauses:
    as-path (as-path filter): 1 
  Set clauses:
    extended community Cost:igp:1:100
  Policy routing matches: 0 packets, 0 bytes
route-map COST1, permit, sequence 20
  Match clauses:
    ip next-hop (access-lists): 2 
  Set clauses:
    extended community Cost:igp:2:200
  Policy routing matches: 0 packets, 0 bytes
route-map COST1, permit, sequence 30
  Match clauses:
    interface FastEthernet0/0 
    extcommunity (extcommunity-list filter):300 
  Set clauses:
    extended community Cost:igp:3:300
  Policy routing matches: 0 packets, 0 bytes

The following sample output shows locally configured routes with large cost community values:

Device# show route-map

route-map set-cost, permit, sequence 10
  Match clauses:
  Set clauses:
    extended community RT:1:1 RT:2:2 RT:3:3 RT:4:4 RT:5:5 RT:6:6 RT:7:7
      RT:100:100 RT:200:200 RT:300:300 RT:400:400 RT:500:500 RT:600:600
      RT:700:700 additive
    extended community Cost:igp:1:4294967295 (default+2147483648)
      Cost:igp:2:200 Cost:igp:3:300 Cost:igp:4:400
      Cost:igp:5:2147483648 (default+1) Cost:igp:6:2147484648 (default+1001)
      Cost:igp:7:2147284648 (default-198999)
  Policy routing matches: 0 packets, 0 bytes

The output of the show running config command will display match, set, and continue clauses that are configured within a route-map. The following sample output is filtered to show only the relevant part of the running configuration:

Device# show running-config | begin route-map

route-map COST1 permit 20
 match ip next-hop 2
 set extcommunity cost igp 2 200
!
route-map COST1 permit 30
 match interface FastEthernet0/0
 match extcommunity 300
 set extcommunity cost igp 3 300
.
.
.

The output of the show ip bgp ip-address command can be used to verify if a specific neighbor carries a path that is configured with the cost community attribute. The cost community attribute information is displayed in the “Extended Community” field. The POI, the cost community ID, and the cost community number value are displayed. The following sample output shows that neighbor 172.16.1.2 carries a cost community with an ID of 1 and a cost of 100:

Device# show ip bgp 10.0.0.0

BGP routing table entry for 10.0.0.0/8, version 2
Paths: (1 available, best #1)
  Not advertised to any peer
  2 2 2
    172.16.1.2 from 172.16.1.2 (172.16.1.2)
      Origin IGP, metric 0, localpref 100, valid, external, best
      Extended Community: Cost:igp:1:100

If the specified neighbor is configured with the default cost community number value or if the default value is assigned automatically for cost community evaluation, “default” with + and - values will be displayed after the cost community number value in the output.