Understanding the BGP Route Reflector Rules


BGP Route Reflectors (RR) simplify IBGP by reflecting routes between peers, reducing the need for a full-mesh setup. Here’s how it works:

➤ Rule 1: If a RR receives a route from a non-RR client, it reflects it only to other RR clients, not non-RR clients.

➤ Rule 2: If a RR receives a route from an RR client, it reflects it to both RR and non-RR clients. The originating RR client also receives the route but discards it.

➤ Rule 3: If a RR receives a route from an EBGP peer, it reflects it to both RR and non-RR clients.

These rules allow Route Reflectors to improve BGP scalability by reducing the number of IBGP peerings and simplifying route distribution.