bgpd/IMPLEMENTATION.txt

$Id: IMPLEMENTATION.txt,v 1.1 2005/02/10 16:38:09 gdt Exp $

This file contains notes about the internals of the BGP
implementation.  The initial impetus is understanding the memory usage
of Quagga'a BGP implementation.  There may be some inaccuracies; it is
in the repository in the hopes that it will be significantly more
helpful than not.

* FILES

bgp_advertise.[hc]:
  data structures: advertised prefixes, attributes

bgp_aspath.[hc]:
  struct aspath:
    These are stored in a hash, apparently in wire format.
 
bgp_attr.[hc]:
  struct attr: contains all attributes
    size(ILP32) 26 words/104 bytes (poor packing, v6/multicast is 10)

  bgp_attr_parse: origin, aspath, next hop probably most of interest
  bgp_attr_origin: set flag bit
  bgp_attr_aspath: put in refcounted hash table, so share pointer
  bgp_attr_nexthop: store in attribute structure

bgp_btoa.c: ? test program

bgp_clist.[hc]:
  data structures: community lists (including permit/deny state)

bgp_community.[hc]:
  data structures: community atttributes (multiple communities per struct)

bgp_damp.[hc]:
  per-route damping data, and damping control information

bgp_debug.[hc]:
  debugging support (vty config, dump of packets)

bgp_dump.[hc]:
  MRT-compatible dump format routines

bgp_ecommunity.[hc]:
  Extended communities attributes (multiple ecommmunities per struct)

bgp_filter.[hc]:
  AS path access list filtering

bgp_fsm.[hc]:
  Per-peer state machine for TCP connection, hold time, etc.

bgp_main.c:
  Daemon startup.

bgp_mplsvpn.[hc]:
  parsing of attribute structures for MPLS VPNs [need better description]

bgp_network.[hc]:
  Opening and binding of sockets, finding addresses for interfaces

bgp_nexthop.[hc]:
  data structures: Nexthop cache [not clear how used, if truly cache
  in sense of memoization, or something else]

  importing EGP routes into IGP (thread created)
  "scanning" (thread created)
  bgp_scan: has useful clues to data structure complexity.  Scanning
  process iterates over database of received advertisements, and
  builds 'cache' structure.
 
bgp_open.[ch]:
  Open messages, and capability negotiation

bgp_packet.[hc]
  sending and receiving of UPDATE/WITHDRAW
  collision resolution for simultanteous opens
  bgp_read: top-level read routine: reads whole packet (nonblocking)
    and dispatches to per-message-type receive

  bgp_update_receive:
    calls bgp_attr_parse
    reads nrli into struct bgp_nrli update

    uninterning of aspath, community, ecommmunity, cluster,
    transit which were interned in bgp_attr_parse

bgp_regex.[ch]:
  Glue to convert BGP regexps to standard (_ means many things).

bgp_route.[hc]:
  data structures: routes as received, static routes
  Application of filters.  Lots of route processing.
 
  bgp_nlri_parse:
    sanity checks, then calls bgp_update with peer, prefix, attributes pointer

  bgp_update: bgp_update_main, then RS processing

  bgp_update_main:
    find 'struct bgp_node *' for this afi/safi
    look for route in table, then 'intern' attributes
    ** interning is process of
      looking for data in hash table, and putting there if missing, refcnt
      using pointer to existing data
    many validity checks
    get new struct bgp_info (10 words/40 bytes)
    call bgp_info_add with rn and bgp_info
    call bgp_process

bgp_routemap.c
  implementation of route maps (match and set)

bgp_snmp.c
  SNMP glue.  Not particularly interesting except to add variables or
  debug SNMP.

bgp_table.[hc]
  data structures: struct bgp_table, struct bgp_node
  allocation/lookup/utility operations - not a lot of protocol processin

bgp_vty.[hc]
  protocol-wide vty hooks

bgp_zebra.[hc]
  Processing interface events from zebra, redistribution of routes.

bgpd.h
  struct bgp_master: daemon main data structure 
  struct bgp: per-instance structure
  struct peer_group
  struct bgp_notify: (in-core representation of wire format?)
  struct bgp_nexthop: (v4 and v6 addresses, *ifp)
  struct bgp_rd: router distinguisher: 8 octects
  struct bgp_filter: distribute, prefix, aslist, route_maps
  struct peer: neighbor structure (very rich/complex)
  struct bgp_nlri: reference to wire format
  #define of protocol constants
    attribute type codes
  fsm states/events
  timer values

bgpd.c
  instance/peer allocation
  configuration
  initialization/termination

* DATA STRUCTURE SIZES

Question: How much memory does quagga's bgpd use as a function of
state received from peers?

It seems that a struct bgp_info is kept for each prefix, and this has
its own struct attr.  aspath, etc. are 'interned' and shared.
So, it seems that 144 bytes are used per received prefix, plus storage
for all unique aspaths received.

* TIME COMPLEXITY

It appears that received prefixes from each peer are stored in a
linked list.