Autonomous Systems (AS) are large networks usually belongs to different Internet Service Providers (ISP). AS’s are connected to each other through Internet Exchange Points (IX or IXP) which reside at virtual edges of Autonomous Systems. BGP routing protocol, handles the communication among these different AS’s creating the backbone of the internet.
Accordingly at an IXP, many ISPs are connected to each other by external BGP peering. Normally these external BGP connections are done by full mesh method. This creates a scaling problem. Route Server mechanism is one heavily adapted method to resolve this problem. Each ISP's BGP router only peers to Route Server. Route Server serves as BGP information exchange to other BGP routers. By applying this method, numbers of BGP connections is can be reduced [1].
Some of the ISP’s allow restricted public access to their route servers using telnet. Most often they allow the remote users to issue commands such as
- ping
- traceroute
- show ip bgp
without login into the router. These are very useful for taking various measurements of latency, packet failure ratios, etc of the internet. For a list of such route severs with public access capabilities are listed below [2].
| Hostname | Location | Provider | IP Address to telnet | AS | Peers | Type |
| route-server.twtelecom.net | Littleton, CO 80124, US | Time Warner Telecom | 66.162.47.58 | 4323 | 2059 | Cisco 7200 12.1(2)T |
| route-server.eu.gblx.net | Phoenix, AZ 85044, US | Global Crossing - Europe | 67.17.81.187 | 3549 | 2035 | Cisco |
| route-server.gblx.net | Phoenix, AZ 85044, US | Global Crossing | 67.17.81.28 | 3549 | 2035 | Cisco |
| route-server.ip.tiscali.net | Cagliari, 14 -, Italy | Tiscali | 213.200.64.94 | 3257 | 806 | Cisco |
| route-server.gt.ca | Montreal QC H3E 3B3 Canada | GT Group Telecom | 216.18.63.214 | 6539 | 295 | Cisco |
| route-server-east.gt.ca | Montreal QC H3E 3B3 Canada | GT Group Telecom | 216.18.63.214 | 6539 | 295 | Cisco |
| route-server-west.gt.ca | Montreal QC H3E 3B3, Canada | GT Group Telecom | 66.59.190.81 | 6539 | 295 | Cisco |
| route-views.optus.net.au | Sydney, Australia | Optus Australia | 203.202.125.6 | 7474 | 293 | Cisco |
| route-views.on.bb.telus.com | Burnaby, BC v5h 3z7, Canada | Telus - Eastern Canada | 154.11.63.86 | 852 | 179 | Cisco |
| route-views.ab.bb.telus.com | Burnaby, BC v5h 3z7, Canada | Telus - Western Canada | 154.11.98.18 | 852 | 179 | Cisco |
| route-server.east.allstream.com | Toronto, ON m5v 3g2, Canada | Allstream - East | 216.191.14.250 | 15290 | 146 | Cisco |
| route-server.west.allstream.com | Toronto, ON m5v 3g2, Canada | Allstream - West | 209.82.88.118 | 15290 | 146 | Cisco |
| route-server.central.allstream.com | Toronto, ON m5v 3g2, Canada | Allstream - Central | 216.191.167.134 | 15290 | 146 | Cisco |
| public-route-server.is.co.za | Edenvale, South Africa | Internet Solution | 196.4.160.227 | 3741 | 85 | Cisco |
| route-server.videotron.net | Montreal, QC H3C4M8, Canada | VIDEOTRON LTEE / QMI | 216.113.14.121 | 5769 | 59 | |
| route-server.eastlink.ca | Bedford, NS, Canada | Eastlink | 24.137.100.8 2610:170:ffff::8 | 11260 | 21 | Cisco |
| route-server.belwue.de | Stuttgart, Germany | BelWue | 193.196.190.135 | 553 | 20 | Cisco |
| route-server.cerf.net | Alpharetta, GA 30005, US | CERFnet | 12.129.193.235 | 17233 | 5 | Cisco 7200 12.0(22)S2e |
For information on router locations and other information visit here.
Some Important Links to Visit
- Provider and Router type information of many route servers: http://www.bgp4.net/wiki/doku.php?id=tools:ipv4_route_servers
- Location and more Information of web servers and route servers: http://cqcounter.com/whois/?query=twtelecom.net&map=0#map_geo_location
- Cisco Router Commands in summary: http://www.tomax7.com/mcse/cisco_routerconfig.htm
- More about ping and traceroute commands: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/iosswrel/ps1831/products_tech_note09186a00800a6057.shtml
References
[1] “Route Server” Available at: http://www.zebra.org/zebra/Route-Server.html
[2] “Route Servers”, Available at: http://www.lerfjhax.com/route_servers
Technorati Tags: Route Server,Internet Backbone
