4.2 OPEN Message Format (original) (raw)

Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
4.2 OPEN Message Format


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4.2 OPEN Message Format

4.2 OPEN Message Format

After a transport protocol connection is established, the first message sent by each side is an OPEN message. If the OPEN message is acceptable, a KEEPALIVE message confirming the OPEN is sent back. Once the OPEN is confirmed, UPDATE, KEEPALIVE, and NOTIFICATION messages may be exchanged.

In addition to the fixed-size BGP header, the OPEN message contains the following fields:

    0                   1                   2                   3
   0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    Version    |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     My Autonomous System      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |           Hold Time           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                         BGP Identifier                        |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   | Opt Parm Len  |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   |                       Optional Parameters                     |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

  Version:

     This 1-octet unsigned integer indicates the protocol version
     number of the message.  The current BGP version number is 4.

  My Autonomous System:

     This 2-octet unsigned integer indicates the Autonomous System
     number of the sender.
  Hold Time:

     This 2-octet unsigned integer indicates the number of seconds
     that the sender proposes for the value of the Hold Timer.  Upon
     receipt of an OPEN message, a BGP speaker MUST calculate the
     value of the Hold Timer by using the smaller of its configured
     Hold Time and the Hold Time received in the OPEN message.  The
     Hold Time MUST be either zero or at least three seconds.  An
     implementation may reject connections on the basis of the Hold
     Time.  The calculated value indicates the maximum number of
     seconds that may elapse between the receipt of successive
     KEEPALIVE, and/or UPDATE messages by the sender.

  BGP Identifier:

     This 4-octet unsigned integer indicates the BGP Identifier of
     the sender. A given BGP speaker sets the value of its BGP
     Identifier to an IP address assigned to that BGP speaker.  The
     value of the BGP Identifier is determined on startup and is the
     same for every local interface and every BGP peer.

  Optional Parameters Length:

     This 1-octet unsigned integer indicates the total length of the
     Optional Parameters field in octets. If the value of this field
     is zero, no Optional Parameters are present.

  Optional Parameters:

     This field may contain a list of optional parameters, where
     each parameter is encoded as a <Parameter Type, Parameter
     Length, Parameter Value> triplet.

      0                   1
      0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-...
     |  Parm. Type   | Parm. Length  |  Parameter Value (variable)
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-...

     Parameter Type is a one octet field that unambiguously
     identifies individual parameters. Parameter Length is a one
     octet field that contains the length of the Parameter Value
     field in octets.  Parameter Value is a variable length field
     that is interpreted according to the value of the Parameter
     Type field.

     This document defines the following Optional Parameters:

     a) Authentication Information (Parameter Type 1):

        This optional parameter may be used to authenticate a BGP
        peer. The Parameter Value field contains a 1-octet
        Authentication Code followed by a variable length
        Authentication Data.

            0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
            +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
            |  Auth. Code   |
            +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
            |                                                     |
            |              Authentication Data                    |
            |                                                     |
            +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

           Authentication Code:

              This 1-octet unsigned integer indicates the
              authentication mechanism being used.  Whenever an
              authentication mechanism is specified for use within
              BGP, three things must be included in the
              specification:

              - the value of the Authentication Code which indicates
              use of the mechanism,
              - the form and meaning of the Authentication Data, and
              - the algorithm for computing values of Marker fields.

              Note that a separate authentication mechanism may be
              used in establishing the transport level connection.

           Authentication Data:

              The form and meaning of this field is a variable-
              length field depend on the Authentication Code.

     The minimum length of the OPEN message is 29 octets (including
     message header).

Next: 4.3 UPDATE Message Format


Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
4.2 OPEN Message Format