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Routing & Switching · Intermediate

BGP Best Path Selection

BGP's ordered decision process for choosing one best path per prefix.

Definition

Cisco order: highest weight, highest local preference, locally originated, shortest AS_PATH, lowest origin (IGP < EGP < incomplete), lowest MED, eBGP over iBGP, lowest IGP metric to next hop, oldest eBGP path, lowest router ID, shortest cluster list, lowest neighbor address. The next hop must be reachable first. Junos is similar but has no weight and starts with route preference.

Example

show ip bgp 10.0.0.0/8 bestpath shows why a path won.

Exam tip

Mnemonic 'We Love Oranges AS Oranges Mean Pure Refreshment' (Weight, Local pref, Originate, AS path, Origin, MED, Paths eBGP, Router ID).

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