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ops Global Routing Operations Operating the global routing ecosystem entails a divers set of interacting components, while operational practice evolved over time. In that time, terms emerged, disappeared, and sometimes changed their meaning. To aid operators and implementers in reading contemporary drafts, this document provides an overview of terms and abbreviations used in the global routing operations community. The document explicitly does not serve as an authoritative source of correct terminology, but instead strives to provide an overview of practice.

Introduction The practical operation of the global routing ecosystem entails a divers set of interacting components, while operational practice evolved over time. In that time, terms emerged, disappeared, and sometimes changed their meaning. To aid operators and implementers in reading contemporary drafts, this document provides an overview of terms and abbreviations used in the global routing operations community.

Requirements Language The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.

Scope of the Document This document is explicitly descriptive, i.e., provides a collection of terms that are currently being used along with the context and definitions with which their use was observed. It is not an authoritative source of terminology, and only provides a snapshot of how certain terms have been used at the time of publication. As such, any terms and summaries in this document are subject to change.

Definitions and Acronyms The following terms are used in this document:

ACL:

Access Control List

ASN:

Autonomous System Number

DFZ:

Default Free Zone

GRT:

Global Routing Table

IRR:

Internet Routing Registry

IXP:

Internet Exchange Point

LIR:

Local Internet Registry

NLRI:

Network Layer Reachability Information

OTC:

Only To Customer BGP Attribute

PMTUD:

Path MTU Discovery

uRPF:

Unicast Reverse Path Forwarding

In addition to the list above, the following terms are used with a specific meaning.

BGP Speaker:

A device exchanging routes with other BGP speakers using the BGP protocol

BGP Neighbor:

Also just 'Neighbor'. Two BGP speakers that communicate using the BGP protocols are neighbors.

Cone:

The set of ASes who are either direct downstreams of an AS, or in the cone of any of those ASes; Depending on the context this also includes the joint set of prefixes that may be originated by ASes in a cone.

Downstream:

In a direct relationship between two ASes the one receiving upstream from the other. (See: , also known as the customer in a customer-provider relationship.)

Exporting a Prefix:

Advertising a prefix to a neighbor.

Full Table:

A routing table containing a route to all prefixes in the GRT but not the default route.

Importing a Prefix:

Accepting a prefix advertised by a neighbor and considering it for route selection and import into the local AS' routing table.

Network edge:

Last routers under the control of an operator.

Mutual Transit:

When two directly connected ASes both advertise a BGP fulltable to each other. (See: )

Upstream:

In a direct relationship between two ASes the one providing upstream to the other. (See: , also known as the provider in a customer-provider relationship.)

Operator:

Individual, group of people, or organizational unit responsible for operating BGP speakers, i.e., making administrative changes, as well as defining and setting policies for all BGP speakers within an organization.

Originating a Prefix:

Advertising a prefix with an empty AS-Path.

Peer:

Two directly connected ASes who only advertise routes they originate or learned from their downstreams to each other. (See: )

Providing Transit:

Forwarding packets destined for addresses in an advertised prefix, while advertising a full BGP table or default route to the neighbor.

Providing Upstream:

See: Providing Transit

Router:

In this document, router always refers to a BGP speaker.

IANA Considerations This document does not require any IANA actions.

Security Considerations This document describes currently used terminology and does not make recommendations. As such, it does not have security considerations.

References Normative References Informative References Yandex Qrator Labs Internet Initiative Japan and Arrcus, Inc. Arrcus Fastly USA National Institute of Standards and Technology

Acknowledgements This document is based on and we thank the original authors for their work. We thank the following people for reviewing this draft and suggesting changes:

• Gert Doerring
• Jeff Haas
• Nick Hilliard
• Geng Nan
• Martin Pels
• Job Snijders
• Berislav Todorovic