BGP Regular Expressions

There can be instances where identifying all the networks from a certain provider may be too complicated or numerous, and a regular expression may be more suitable to filter all networks from a certain AS. Regular expression can be used for this.

A quick guide to regular expression

ModifierPurpose
_Matches a space
^Indicates the start of a string
$Indicates the end of a string
[]Matches a single character with a range of characters
Indicates a range of numbers in brackets
[^]Excludes the characters listed in the brackets
()Nesting of search patterns uses parentheses
|Acts as an OR logic to a query
.Matches a single character including space
*Matches zero or more characters, or pattern
+Matches one or more instances of the character, or pattern
?Matches one or no instances of the character, or pattern

Navigating OSPF Path Selection

A Deep Dive into Inter-area and Intra-area Routes, External Routes, and Link Costs

Introduction: Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a robust and widely used routing protocol in computer networks, particularly in large-scale enterprise environments. One of the key aspects of OSPF is its path selection mechanism, which determines how routers choose the best path to reach a destination. In this blog post, we’ll delve into OSPF path selection, focusing on inter-area and intra-area routes, type 1 and type 2 external routes, and the significance of link costs in the routing decision process.

Understanding OSPF Routing Hierarchy: OSPF organizes routers and networks into areas to scale efficiently. Routers within the same area share a common link-state database, which contains information about the network topology. OSPF defines two types of areas: backbone area (Area 0) and non-backbone areas (other numbered areas). Inter-area and intra-area routes are determined based on the area boundaries.