Connecting to Two ISPs with Redundant Routers

Connecting to Two ISPs with Redundant Routers

Problem
You want to connect your network to two different ISPs using two routers to elim
inate any single points of failure.
Solution
In this example, we have two routers in our AS, which has ASN 65500. The first r
outer has a link to the first ISP, whose ASN is 65510:
Router1#configure terminal
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
Router1(config)#interface Serial0
Router1(config-if)#description connection to ISP #1, ASN 65510
Router1(config-if)#ip address 192.168.1.6 255.255.255.252
Router1(config-if)#exit
Router1(config)#interface Ethernet0
Router1(config-if)#description connection to internal network, ASN 65500
Router1(config-if)#ip address 172.18.5.2 255.255.255.0
Router1(config-if)#exit
Router1(config)#ip as-path access-list 15 permit ^$
Router1(config)#router bgp 65500
Router1(config-router)#network 172.18.5.0 mask 255.255.255.0
Router1(config-router)#neighbor 172.18.5.3 remote-as 65500
Router1(config-router)#neighbor 172.18.5.3 next-hop-self
Router1(config-router)#neighbor 192.168.1.5 remote-as 65510
Router1(config-router)#neighbor 192.168.1.5 filter-list 15 out
Router1(config-router)#no synchronization
Router1(config-router)#exit
Router1(config)#end
Router1#
Then the second router connects to the second ISP, which uses ASN 65520. And bec
ause these two routers are both members of the same AS, they also must have an i
BGP connection:
Router2#configure terminal
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
Router2(config)#interface Serial1
Router2(config-if)#description connection to ISP #2, ASN 65520
Router2(config-if)#ip address 192.168.2.6 255.255.255.252
Router2(config-if)#exit
Router2(config)#interface Ethernet0
Router2(config-if)#description connection to internal network, ASN 65500
Router2(config-if)#ip address 172.18.5.3 255.255.255.0
Router2(config-if)#exit
Router2(config)#ip as-path access-list 15 permit ^$
Router2(config)#router bgp 65500
Router2(config-router)#network 172.18.5.0 mask 255.255.255.0
Router2(config-router)#neighbor 192.168.2.5 remote-as 65520
Router2(config-router)#neighbor 192.168.2.5 filter-list 15 out
Router2(config-router)#neighbor 172.18.5.2 remote-as 65500
Router2(config-router)#neighbor 172.18.5.2 next-hop-self
Router2(config-router)#no synchronization
Router2(config-router)#exit
Router2(config)#end
Router2#

Discussion
This recipe is similar to Recipe 9.4, but here we have split the functions acros
s two routers to ensure that you can sustain a link failure or a router failure
without losing your Internet connection. Figure 9-2 shows the new network topolo
gy.
Figure 9-2. Using two ISPs
The main difference is that we have had to configure an eBGP link from each rout
er to its ISP, as well as an iBGP link between the two routers. Note that we hav
e included the same AS Path filter on both routers to ensure that our network do
esn't allow transit routing from one ISP to the other.
However, just as in the single router example, you have to decide how you want t
o deal with the problem of the excessive number of routes that you will receive
from both of these ISPs.
Notice we have included the next-hop-self option for the iBGP peers on both rout
ers:
Router1(config)#router bgp 65500
Router1(config-router)#neighbor 172.18.5.3 remote-as 65500
Router1(config-router)#neighbor 172.18.5.3 next-hop-self
Without this option, the next hop IP address for prefixes learned through Router
1 will be the ISP connected to Router1. But even in this simple network, Router2
will not have a route to this next hop address. We could also get around this p
roblem by including static routes on both routers. We discuss the next-hop-self
option in more detail in Recipe 9.3.
In this example, we only have two routers inside our AS. You could add more, usi
ng exactly the same configuration commands that we used here. However, you need
to remember to create a full mesh of iBGP peer relationships between all of thes
e routers. Every BGP router must have a neighbor statement connecting to every o
ther BGP router in the same AS.