DN42&OneManISP – Confederation, Automation, IPAM and Overlay Network
This article does not go into implementation details in depth; it only records the internal network architecture design process and automation ideas. If you need reference code or configuration files, please see iYoRoy-Network/bird2-config: BIRD2 Configuration for iYoRoy Network (AS4242422024, AS205369). The repository contains a significant amount of AI-generated code. This article only borrows the logical layering concept of Underlay/Overlay (base layer/business layer), specifically referring to the separation of address roles, and does not involve tunneling encapsulation technologies such as VXLAN/GRE. TL;DR The entire internal network architecture was refactored. What was originally a horizontally split network based on “DN42 / IANA / WireGuard / BIRD config files” was transformed into a set of infrastructure organised by network intent. The final design can be summarised as: Use WireGuard to carry underlay transport between nodes; Use BGP Confederation instead of OSPF / full-mesh iBGP as the internal routing backbone; Separate node identity and service addresses with Underlay / Overlay; Automatically derive AS, loopback and link-local addresses from Tier / Region / Node ID / Token; Use BGP Large Community to express route origin, propagation scope and export policy; Use Ansible to compile high-level peer intent into WireGuard + BIRD + interface configurations and deploy them automatically. Background In some earlier articles from these two series, we successfully brought up a DN42 AS and an IANA AS, with the same infrastructure carrying traffic for both networks simultaneously. In a previous post, DN42&OneManISP - Troubleshooting OSPF Source Address in a Coexistence Environment - iYoRoy's Develop Diary, there was already some initial separation and isolation for the two networks. However, as the number of nodes grew, manually maintaining the WireGuard and BIRD configuration files for this whole thing became more and more complex. Moreover, public network nodes also needed to interconnect and provide mutual IP transit, so in the end I decided to do a thorough refactoring of this entire internal network. Analysis Problems with the Old Architecture Before the refactoring, DN42 routes between nodes were mutually propagated, using OSPF over WireGuard as the IGP, with full-mesh iBGP on top to carry full routing information between border routers. For IANA traffic, nodes were completely isolated from each other, with each node independently advertising its own /48 IANA IPv6 prefix. To sum up: WireGuard was responsible for tunnels between nodes; OSPF over WireGuard was responsible for the IGP; DN42 border routers ran full-mesh iBGP on top; IANA nodes basically each independently advertised their own public prefixes. This architecture worked well when there were few nodes, but problems started to become apparent as the number of nodes increased: WireGuard, OSPF, and BIRD configurations had to be maintained separately; Adding a new node required changes in multiple places, making it easy to miss something; Routing policies for DN42 and IANA influenced each other, yet the configuration was scattered; Cross-PoP scheduling of IANA prefixes was not natural; Some nodes were only transit nodes but were forced to have an overlay identity; Source address selection, route leaks, and exposure of internal addresses became increasingly difficult to control. Design Goals and BGP Confederation The main goals for this refactoring were: Adding nodes should be simple: ideally, only the node identity and peer relationships need to be described; DN42, IANA and the internal backbone should be able to share infrastructure while remaining policy-isolated from each other; IP addresses should be schedulable resources, not fixed identities of nodes; The internal topology should not leak to external BGP peers; Configurations should be generated from declarative data, not by handwriting lots of repetitive WireGuard/BIRD sessions; The deployment process should be automated. There were also several other, more detailed requirements: Some IANA nodes should be able to carry IP transit for other nodes, using an IANA PoP to advertise public IPs for other nodes; Currently, the IANA AS is maintained jointly by たのしい and myself; we need to coordinate, with some infrastructure needing mutual transit and route tuning; We only have one 44Net IPv4 /24 (sponsored by たのしい); if we want to advertise it, all nodes would need iBGP interconnection and an IGP, otherwise only a single PoP can use it; The IANA AS needs to accept downstreams; Route optimization is needed between IANA PoPs. The previous IANA IPv6 prefix assignment rule followed Continent 3 bits + Region 3 bits + Multi-node within region 2 bits, carving several /48s out of a complete /40. However, due to certain upstream limitations on the number of advertised prefixes, and because such fragmented prefixes are unfavourable for IPAM, we planned to eventually aggregate external advertisements only to the continent level, and then handle more detailed parts via internal iBGP routing. The internal network structure on たのしい's side is BGP Confederation, implemented with a manually simulated approach. Actually, after this analysis, defining the internal network architecture became quite straightforward: the most suitable solution was to switch the internal network to BGP Confederation as well, and then utilise the concept of "BGP as IGP" to advertise /32 and /128 routes within the confederation to handle internal routing. At the same time, because a confederation avoids the split-horizon characteristic of traditional iBGP, it doesn't require strict full-mesh, nor does it need separate iBGP instances, making it very decentralized xD. Furthermore, BGP Confederation can be easily merged with たのしい's infrastructure, requiring only that both sides treat the other's internal ASes as confederation ASes. This solution has another benefit, because the containment relationship of our infrastructure is actually like this: graph subgraph 4242423377 Infrastructure 3377_DN42_PoP[DN42 PoP] 3377_IANA_PoP[IANA PoP] end subgraph 4242422024 Infrastructure 2024_DN42_PoP[DN42 PoP] 2024_IANA_PoP[IANA PoP] end 3377_IANA_PoP <==Cross-Infra Confederation==> 2024_IANA_PoP 3377_DN42_PoP <--> DN42 <--> 2024_DN42_PoP 3377_IANA_PoP <--> IANA <--> 2024_IANA_PoP Our DN42 PoPs and transit are isolated, but the IANA PoPs and transit are interconnected. In the BGP Confederation scenario, we can use filters + BGP (Large) Community to isolate route origins while still exchanging IANA traffic engineering intents, achieving a single standard usable across both infrastructures. Overlay and IPAM In the old design, a node often simultaneously held two identities: It was a router in the network; It was also a service address holder reachable within DN42 / IANA. After the refactoring, I decided to separate these two identities: Underlay: the node's identity as a router, used for internal interconnection, next-hop, tunnels, and forwarding; Overlay: the DN42 / IANA address used when the node provides services to the outside world or accepts traffic. This way, a node can only participate in forwarding without having a DN42 IPv4 address; it can also temporarily announce a certain overlay /32 or /128 when needed. In practical application scenarios, my DN42 address space is not very abundant; I originally registered a /28, with only 16 usable addresses. Some nodes, like IEPL tunnel nodes or IX nodes, only perform forwarding roles, do not need to host services, and do not need to be connected from the outside. Therefore, theoretically they do not need to be assigned independent, reachable DN42/IANA addresses. Moreover, since we had already decided to switch the internal network to BGP Confederation, based on this configuration we could re-plan the originally horizontally split DN42 + IANA network structure into a vertical Underlay + Overlay division. DN42 and IANA addresses/traffic become the payload of the upper-layer Overlay Network, while the lower-layer Underlay Network serves as the infrastructure for underlying communication and forwarding between nodes. In this scenario, IP addresses become resources that can be easily scheduled within the internal network, rather than unique IDs bound to a node. The advantages are clear: Saves scarce address resources: transit nodes can have only an underlay identity, without needing DN42 IPv4 or public addresses; Anycast and address migration: Overlay addresses become resources schedulable via BGP, no longer tightly bound to a specific machine; Hides transit nodes: pure transit nodes do not need to expose globally reachable addresses, making it harder for outsiders to directly probe the internal topology; Easy new node onboarding: new nodes join the underlay first, and overlay addresses are assigned when they need to carry services; Elegant transit delivery: IANA PoPs can deliver customer prefixes or service addresses to other nodes via the internal confederation. Design In summary, the final design consisted of the following IPAM mechanism and automation workflow. Each node possesses some basic metadata: Tier: indicates the node's purpose, e.g., backbone, IX access, or intra-net node Region: the continent region where the node is located ID: the node's ID within that region Token: a random 16-bit string assigned to the node, used as a unique ID for the node under IPv6 For Tier and Region, several tables were created as data sources: Tier Desc 1 Backbone 2 IX 3 Backbone + IX Mixed 9 Node Region Desc 0 Reserved 1 Asia 2 Europe 3 Africa 4 North America 5 South America 6 Oceania 7 Antarctica Confederation AS: 4220240000 – 4220249999 Assignment rule: 422024{tier}{region}{node_id:02d} Where tier indicates the node's purpose, region indicates the area where the node is located, and the last two digits node_id distinguish different nodes within the same region. Underlay IPAM IPv4 Prefix: 100.64.0.0/16 Assignment rule: 100.64.{tier*10 + region}.{node_id}/32 IPv6 Prefix: fd18:3e15:61d0:ffff::/64 Assignment rule: fd18:3e15:61d0:ffff:{tier}:{region}::{node_token}/128 To simplify the automation workflow, I also intended to bring the link-local addresses between WireGuard tunnels under automated management, generating them using the aforementioned Tier, Region, and Token, with the automation scripts generating WireGuard configuration and automatically setting up the tunnel and confederation BGP session. The link-local assignment rule generally follows the normal IPv6 rule: fe80::2024:{tier}:{region}:{node_token}/64 Thus, each node only needs to be assigned its metadata to automatically generate the internal network confederation AS and addresses according to the rules above. Overlay IPAM The DN42 IPv4 part is assigned manually. This part has some historical legacy architecture, and changes need to be merged into the official registry, so I plan to assign it manually. The Underlay IPv6 is itself DN42-reachable; if other DN42 IPv6 addresses need to be allocated, they can simply be advertised on demand. For IANA IPv6, the current design format is to first calculate the continent /43 according to the initially proposed rule, e.g., for Asia: 2a14:7583:f220::/43 Then calculate the /46 based on the region, e.g., for Hong Kong region HKG: 2a14:7583:f224::/46 Next, bits from /46 to /112 are set to zero, and the last 16 bits are filled with the node Token to serve as the node's IANA IPv6 address. For example, one of my backbone nodes in Hong Kong: 2a14:7583:f224::7d89/128 Community Isolation Mechanism In this architecture, BGP Large Community effectively acts as the metadata and control information carried along with a route as it propagates between different modules and infrastructures. Based on this metadata, when we export routes to different external peers we can determine: Does it belong to DN42 or IANA? Is it locally originated, brought in by a downstream, learned from a peer, or learned from an upstream? Can it be exported to other ASes? Is it underlay-only? Does this route need AS prepending? As a concrete example, if the first identifier marks the route origin/destination as DN42 or IANA, all routes permitted to be sent to DN42 will be tagged with: (4242422024, 1, 1) Similarly, all routes destined for IANA will be tagged with: (205369, 1, 1) Within various protocols, this acts as a master switch, controlling whether export should occur. IANA upstream export filter: template bgp iana_upstream_v6 { ... ipv6 { ... import filter { if !iana_filter_default_check() then reject; # basic check remove_confederation_as(); # remove confederation as to prevent external peers from maliciously carrying internal as remove_private_community(); # remove private community to prevent external peers from maliciously manipulating internal routes iana_upstream_add_community(); # tag all routes from IANA with community permitting broadcast in IANA infrastructure accept; }; export filter { if !iana_filter_default_check() then reject; # basic check if !iana_upstream_check_community() then reject; # check community: is this a route destined for IANA / does it carry no-advertise/no-export etc. remove_confederation_as(); # remove confederation as remove_private_community(); # remove private community accept; }; ... }; ... } Where iana_filter_default_check() is used to check prefix length, ROA, whether it is a default route, and other miscellaneous content: function iana_filter_default_check(){ if net ~ [::/0] then return false; if net.len > 48 then return false; if bgp_large_community ~ [(IANA_OWNAS,1,1)] && is_self_iana_v6() then return true; if roa_check(iana_roa_v6, net, bgp_path.last) = ROA_INVALID then return false; return true; } remove_confederation_as(), as the name suggests, removes internal confederation ASes: function remove_confederation_as() { bgp_path.delete([4220240000..4220249999]); # 4242422024 Infrastructure bgp_path.delete([4233770000..4233779999]); # 4242423377 Infrastructure } remove_private_community(), as the name suggests, removes internal Communities. The current implementation is very rough and needs detailed refinement later, because some Communities should be open to downstreams, allowing them to use Communities to convey routing intents and perform optimizations, such as prepending AS path, which can be used for route tuning or traffic engineering: function remove_private_community(){ bgp_large_community.delete([(4242422024, *, *)]); bgp_large_community.delete([(205369, *, *)]); } iana_upstream_add_community(), tags all routes from upstream with the Community allowing circulation in the IANA infrastructure, as well as a route source identifier: function iana_upstream_add_community(){ bgp_large_community.add((205369,1,1)); bgp_large_community.add((205369,2,102)); } Where (205369,2,102) identifies the route as coming from an upstream. Route sources are divided into three types: Upstream, Peer, Downstream/Customer/Self (treated as customer). For these three different types of BGP sessions, the exported routes usually differ: To upstream: we need the upstream to advertise our own prefixes and our downstreams' prefixes, so all routes originating from downstream should be exported to upstream. To downstream: we need to provide network services, so we need to export all routes we know, i.e., routes from upstream, peer, downstream. To peer: peering connections are solely for both parties to access each other's networks, so we must not export each other's upstreams or peers, otherwise it becomes free transit/tunneling. Therefore, only routes from downstream are exported. Correspondingly in the current internal network, routes from peers are tagged (205369,2,101), and routes from downstreams are tagged (205369,2,100). iana_upstream_check_community() checks the route's Community, and based on the principles above, judges whether it should be advertised to upstream: function iana_upstream_check_community(){ if !(bgp_large_community ~ [(205369,1,1)]) then return false; # not permitted for broadcast in IANA infrastructure, reject if bgp_large_community ~ [(205369,65535,65282)] then return false; # no-advertise if bgp_large_community ~ [(205369,65535,65281)] then return false; # no-export if bgp_community ~ [(65535,65281)] then reject; # no-advertise if bgp_community ~ [(65535,65282)] then reject; # no-export if bgp_large_community ~ [(205369,2,0)] then return false; # from internal network, this community is used to identify routes from the internal network that should not be advertised externally, reject here if bgp_large_community ~ [(205369,2,101)] then return false; # from peer, reject advertisement if bgp_large_community ~ [(205369,2,102)] then return false; # from upstream, reject advertisement return true; } Similarly, a similar check mechanism applies to DN42. Based on this mechanism, isolating the DN42 and IANA networks becomes very straightforward. The above is just a general explanation; finer community design and various export policies could be further elaborated, but that would turn into another article on routing policy details. This part actually draws heavily from たのしい’s BGP Communities; after all, both infrastructures need to interoperate, and many community specifications are basically copied. Thanks to たのしい for providing the ideas~ Route Lifecycle Phase 1: Ingress / Import When all external routes enter the system, they first pass through the import filter of the corresponding domain. IANA has three types of sources: upstream; peer / IX; downstream. DN42 also has two main types of sources: regular transit / eBGP peer; IX / route server. In addition, the local machine also originates some routes: underlay loopback; DN42 overlay address; IANA own / anycast address. These routes are tagged with Large Communities upon entering the confederation. All subsequent filters must be adjusted based on this. Phase 2: Core / Intra Confederation After entering the BIRD RIB, routes propagate between nodes via the internal Intra BGP Confederation. Here, Intra Confederation is not just about handling connectivity, but more importantly, allowing internal routes to carry policy information as well. The previous OSPF was great at solving: Where is this loopback? How to reach this next-hop? But it could not convey AS information and policy intents, for example: This route was learned from an IANA peer and must not be exported to another peer; This route is DN42 underlay-only and must never be leaked to eBGP; This route is a downstream customer prefix and can be exported to upstream. All of these are strengths of BGP policy. So moving the internal backbone from OSPF / full-mesh iBGP to confederation-style BGP is essentially upgrading the internal control plane to a "policy-carryable control plane". Phase 3: Egress / Export When a route is about to leave the infrastructure, it passes through the export filter again. Here, based on communities, systemic prevention of route leaks and macro-control like AS prepending can be performed. For example: DN42 underlay routes carry an underlay-only community and thus are not exported to DN42 eBGP; Routes learned from an IANA upstream are not exported to another upstream; Routes learned from an IANA peer are not exported to another peer; Routes learned from a DN42 IX are not exported back to IX; NO_EXPORT / NO_ADVERTISE are respected; Before external export, internal confederation ASes and private communities are removed. In summary, it can be illustrated by this diagram: flowchart LR classDef ext fill:#eef7ff,stroke:#5b8def,stroke-width:1px; classDef local fill:#f5f5f5,stroke:#888,stroke-width:1px; classDef filter fill:#fff3d6,stroke:#d19a00,stroke-width:1px; classDef core fill:#eaf8ea,stroke:#3c9b43,stroke-width:1px; classDef export fill:#fdecec,stroke:#d45a5a,stroke-width:1px; subgraph SRC["Route Source"] direction TB IU["IANA upstream transit / full routes"] IP["IANA peer / IX"] ID["IANA downstream customer prefixes"] DT["DN42 transit / eBGP peer"] DX["DN42 IX / route server"] LU["Local underlay loopback 100.64.x.y / fd18:...:ffff"] LO["Local overlay address DN42 own / IANA own / anycast"] end subgraph INFRA["Bird2-Configuration Infrastructure"] direction LR subgraph IMPORT["Ingress / Import filters"] direction TB IUF["IANA upstream import tag: 205369:1:1 tag: 205369:2:102"] IPF["IANA peer import tag: 205369:1:1 tag: 205369:2:101"] IDF["IANA downstream import AS-SET / path check tag: 205369:2:100"] DTF["DN42 eBGP import prefix / ROA / self check tag: 4242422024:2:101/102"] DXF["DN42 IX import prefix / ROA check tag: 4242422024:2:101"] STF["Static origin underlay / overlay route tags"] end META["Large Community metadata layer domain + source + scope internal route API"] subgraph CORE["Internal control plane"] direction TB RIB["BIRD RIB"] CONFED["Intra BGP Confederation member AS: 422024xxxx policy: full / default / iana_full / no_iana"] WG["WireGuard underlay transport link-local next-hop fwmark policy routing"] UNDERLAY["net_underlay loopback + table 1142"] OVERLAY["net_overlay DN42 / IANA service addresses"] end subgraph EGRESS["Egress / Export filters"] direction TB DEXP["DN42 eBGP export reject underlay-only respect no-export/no-advertise"] DXEXP["DN42 IX export reject peer/transit learned routes"] IEXP["IANA upstream / peer export export local/downstream only reject peer/upstream learned"] DOWNEXP["IANA downstream export policy: default / own_only / reject"] KEXP["Kernel export krt_prefsrc by community"] CLEAN["cleanup before external export remove confed AS remove private communities"] end end subgraph DST["Route Destination"] direction TB OD["DN42 peers / transit"] OX["DN42 IX"] OI["IANA upstream / peer"] OC["IANA downstream"] KF["Linux kernel FIB actual packet forwarding"] end IU --> IUF IP --> IPF ID --> IDF DT --> DTF DX --> DXF LU --> STF LO --> STF IUF --> META IPF --> META IDF --> META DTF --> META DXF --> META STF --> META META --> RIB RIB <--> CONFED CONFED --- WG WG --- UNDERLAY RIB --- OVERLAY RIB --> DEXP RIB --> DXEXP RIB --> IEXP RIB --> DOWNEXP RIB --> KEXP DEXP --> CLEAN --> OD DXEXP --> CLEAN --> OX IEXP --> CLEAN --> OI DOWNEXP --> CLEAN --> OC KEXP --> KF class IU,IP,ID,DT,DX ext; class LU,LO local; class IUF,IPF,IDF,DTF,DXF,STF filter; class META,RIB,CONFED,WG,UNDERLAY,OVERLAY core; class DEXP,DXEXP,IEXP,DOWNEXP,KEXP,CLEAN export; class OD,OX,OI,OC,KF ext; Automation: Compiling Network Intent into Configuration All the above discussion on IPAM, Confederation AS, Underlay/Overlay, and BGP Communities would not truly solve the problem if it still ended up being maintained by hand-written configurations; it would just move the complexity from one form to another. Before this refactoring, adding a new node or peer often required simultaneous changes in many places: WireGuard configuration: interface name, listen port, peer public key, endpoint, allowed IPs BIRD configuration: BGP protocol name, neighbor address, neighbor interface, ASN, import/export filter IPAM-related configuration: loopback, link-local, router id, overlay address Deployment-related configuration: which nodes need rendering, which services need restarting Some special cases: nodes behind NAT, passive peers, special local AS, special filters Logically, these things describe the same thing: a connection belonging to a certain routing domain exists between two nodes. But in manual configuration, they end up scattered across WireGuard, BIRD, network interfaces, systemd/openrc, and other places. If just one field is missed or inconsistent, very strange problems can occur, such as WireGuard being up but BIRD neighbor pointing to the wrong interface; or the link-local being changed, but the peer session still having the old address. So in this refactoring, I didn't want Ansible to just be a tool that "fills YAML into Jinja2 templates". If we simply moved the original hand-written config into templates, we would essentially still be maintaining a pile of low-level configurations, just in a different file format. Since automation was introduced, the input should not be "I want to generate a configuration file that looks like this", but rather: Who is this node? Which tier / region does it belong to? Who does it interconnect with? Does this connection belong to DN42, IANA or Intra? What import/export policy should this connection use? Does it have special constraints like NAT, passive, endpoint override? As for the specific WireGuard interface wording, how the BIRD session is written, what the link-local address is – all these should, as much as possible, be generated by the automation system based on rules. Source of Truth: Node State, Not Config Files The input for this automation is mainly placed in Ansible's host_vars. The variables for each node are no longer just parameters needed for template rendering, but the description of the node's identity in the network. For example, a node will have at least: tier: node tier, e.g., backbone, IX, normal node region: region where the node is located node_id: node number within the same region node_token: a stable 16-bit token used to generate the IPv6 address suffix These fields are used for IPAM address management and identification information within the Confederation (as mentioned earlier, AS calculation and IP address derivation). The advantage of this approach is that when a new node joins, we just need to configure its basic metadata, and all its fundamental identities within the underlay are already determined. This significantly reduces subsequent maintenance effort. If link-local addresses were handwritten in every BIRD session, then any change to a node's token or address rule would require changes on all peers; but if the BIRD neighbor address is automatically derived from the peer node's metadata, it always stays consistent with the source of truth. Domain Intent: Declarative Peer Configuration The most important abstraction in this automation is Domain Intent, which treats the Session and its corresponding WireGuard tunnel binding as a single entity, then partitions them by the network type (DN42/IANA/Intra). Taking an Intra peer as an example, an internal connection fundamentally requires two types of configuration simultaneously: WireGuard interface, to provide the transport tunnel BIRD BGP session, to exchange routes over this tunnel If maintained manually, these two parts easily duplicate the same information: interface name peer node listen port endpoint neighbor interface BGP protocol name import/export policy So we abstract a regular Intra peer into a single peer intent. Simplified, it looks something like this: - node: tyo03-jp interface: intra_tyo03 wireguard: listen_port: 10234 passive: true bgp: protocol: intra_ibgp_tyo03 ipv4: import_policy: full export_policy: full ipv6: import_policy: full export_policy: full This declaration does not directly correspond to a single configuration file, but describes the peer intent: There is an internal connection named intra_tyo03 between the current node and tyo03-jp. This connection uses WireGuard for transport, and establishes an Intra BGP session over it, with BGP policy using full. Afterwards, Ansible automatically renders the corresponding WireGuard and BIRD configuration based on this. Thus, a peer relationship only needs to be described once, and the subsequent low-level configuration is generated automatically. For example, the BIRD neighbor's link-local address does not need to be handwritten; it can be automatically obtained from the peer node's tier / region / node_token. The WireGuard endpoint can also be automatically derived from the peer's ansible_host in the inventory and the peer's return peer listen_port. The biggest advantage of this is avoiding state inconsistency between multiple configuration layers. Automatic Endpoint Derivation and Passive Peers In my internal network architecture, not all nodes have perfectly symmetric public reachability. For example, some nodes / DN42 peers are behind NAT and can only initiate connections; some tunnels require a fixed endpoint as the listener, with the other end initiating. Therefore, the peer intent must support special cases like passive listening. If a peer is not passive, the automation can attempt to read ansible_host from the peer's inventory, combine it with the listen_port declared by the peer, and automatically generate the WireGuard endpoint: endpoint = peer_ansible_host + ":" + peer_return_listen_port If the peer is marked as passive, no endpoint is rendered, allowing the peer to actively initiate the connection. Essentially, the endpoint is determined by "how the peer is accessed" and "which port the peer listens on". These two pieces of information already exist in the inventory and peer intent, so there's no need to duplicate them. Of course, for extremely unusual links, the most basic manual override for the endpoint is retained. The goal of automation is not to eliminate all edge cases, but to make the normal cases require no special handling. Generic Scenarios & Exceptions This is essentially a fallback mechanism for special cases: Legacy tunnels Special internal peers carried over DN42 Nodes behind NAT Temporary workarounds Peers requiring strange BGP parameters Certain sessions needing special local AS Some routes only intended for the IANA domain, not the DN42 domain The final design kept: most regular Intra peers can generate WireGuard + BIRD via domain intent. DN42 peer WireGuard can also be generated from DN42 peer intents. However, some special BIRD sessions, such as those requiring separate local_as or special export policies, can still be explicitly declared using low-level configuration. Before final rendering, Ansible merges the generated configuration and legacy/manual overrides into the final configuration. The benefit is that automation covers 90% of the repetitive and error-prone parts, while still leaving room for the remaining 10% of special cases. Configuration Rendering The entire rendering process can be roughly understood as: flowchart TD A[host_vars: node metadata + domain intent] --> B[materialize domain intent] B --> C[effective_wireguard_interfaces] B --> D[effective_intra_ibgp_sessions] C --> E[render wg-quick configs] D --> F[render BIRD intra sessions] A --> G[render BIRD root / DN42 / IANA modules] A --> H[render underlay / overlay interfaces] E --> I[.rendered-wireguard] F --> J[.rendered] G --> J H --> K[.rendered-network] There are three types of final artifacts: .rendered/: BIRD configuration .rendered-wireguard/: WireGuard configuration .rendered-network/: underlay / overlay dummy interface configuration The BIRD configuration is further divided into several modules, written via Jinja2 templates; the actual overlay network separation is also handled here: root config: global defines, includes, kernel protocol DN42 module: DN42 filters, RPKI, eBGP peers, IX peers IANA module: upstream, downstream, peers, RPKI, static routes Intra module: confederation-style BGP sessions, static routes, internal filters Whether these modules are included is also decided automatically based on data as much as possible. For instance, if a node has no DN42 peers, there's no need to render and include ebgp.conf; no IX sessions, no need to include ix.conf. This reduces empty configurations and meaningless includes, and avoids some nodes failing template rendering due to missing related variables. Validation & Deployment The final deployment process also added some check and validation stages: render BIRD validate BIRD render WireGuard validate WireGuard deploy dummy interfaces deploy WireGuard deploy BIRD BIRD configuration is rendered and validated locally first to catch syntax errors as early as possible. WireGuard configuration is also rendered and validated first to avoid missing keys or generating obviously invalid wg-quick configs. Finally, after all validations pass, the underlying interfaces + WireGuard are deployed, and only then is BIRD uploaded and reloaded. Conclusion I'm exhausted; this article has drained me. Why is narrating this architecture in linear language so difficult? After sorting things out, most of the code was basically written by AI, and the results were decent. If you need a reference, see bird2-config/ansible at dev · iYoRoy-Network/bird2-config. The applicable scenarios for this solution are actually quite narrow; the DN42 + IANA BGP Player scene is really too niche xD. Moreover, a major reason this solution can function properly is that the IANA prefixes and DN42, along with the address ranges chosen for my own internal network, do not conflict at all. If there were address conflicts in the transit segments, one would probably still need to consider proper ISP isolation solutions like VRF/MPLS L3VPN. References: Configure BGP Confederation & Fake Confederation in Bird (Updated 2020-06-07) - Lan Tian @ Blog 浅谈 BGP 中的 Transit（中转）与 Peering（对等互联） | 网络蝙蝠侠部落
[Fun Experiment] A LAN Spanning 20km: Seamlessly Merging Remote Networks on OpenWrt Using ZeroTier + OSPF
Background I was originally setting up my own ZeroTier "big internal network". Because the network structure is relatively complex, I decided to use OSPF instead of static routes to configure internal routing. I had tried to configure ZeroTier on my home OpenWrt before but never succeeded. Recently, I took it out again to work on it and discovered it was a configuration issue with OpenWrt. After fixing it, I was chatting with a good friend and had an idea: Kagura iYoRoy: 02-10 14:49:05 Hey... Kagura iYoRoy: 02-10 14:49:06 Then... Kagura iYoRoy: 02-10 14:49:20 If you also set up OSPF on your router... Kagura iYoRoy: 02-10 14:49:27 Our two home networks would be directly interconnected, huh? ( Let's do it! Basic Information Local Side Router OS: OpenWrt, X-WRT 26.04_b202601250827 LAN IPv4 Prefix: 192.168.3.0/24 ISP: Hefei China Unicom NAT Environment: NAT1 Remote Side Router OS: OpenWrt, X-WRT 25.04_b202510240128 LAN IPv4 Prefix: 192.168.1.0/24 ISP: Hefei China Mobile NAT Environment: NAT1 Installing ZeroTier and Using a Self-Hosted Planet I used ZTNet as the self-hosted Controller. The setup process won't be elaborated here as you can find it online. The OpenWrt version I'm using has started using apk instead of opkg as the package manager. Use apk to install zerotier-one directly: apk add zerotier After completion, open /etc/config/zerotier to find the default configuration file. config zerotier 'global' # Sets whether ZeroTier is enabled or not option enabled 0 # Sets the ZeroTier listening port (default 9993; set to 0 for random) #option port '9993' # Client secret (leave blank to generate a secret on first run) option secret '' # Path of the optional file local.conf (see documentation at # https://docs.zerotier.com/config#local-configuration-options) #option local_conf_path '/etc/zerotier.conf' # Persistent configuration directory (to perform other configurations such # as controller mode or moons, etc.) #option config_path '/etc/zerotier' # Copy the contents of the persistent configuration directory to memory # instead of linking it, this avoids writing to flash #option copy_config_path '1' # Network configuration, you can have as many configurations as networks you # want to join (the network name is optional) config network 'earth' # Identifier of the network you wish to join option id '8056c2e21c000001' # Network configuration parameters (all are optional, if not indicated the # default values are set, see documentation at # https://docs.zerotier.com/config/#network-specific-configuration) option allow_managed '1' option allow_global '0' option allow_default '0' option allow_dns '0' # Example of a second network (unnamed as it is optional) #config network # option id '1234567890123456' # option allow_managed '1' # option allow_global '0' # option allow_default '0' # option allow_dns '0' Modify it according to your needs: config zerotier 'global' option enabled '1' # Enable ZeroTier client service option config_path '/etc/zerotier' # Persistent directory: for storing identity secret, Moon node definitions, and network settings option secret '' # Leave secret blank: identity will be auto-generated on first run and saved to identity.secret option copy_config_path '1' # Flash protection policy: copy config to memory on startup. If set to 0, read/write directly to Flash config network 'earth' option id '<network ID>' # 16-digit ZeroTier Network ID option allow_managed '1' # Allow receiving controller-assigned IPs, routes, and tags option allow_global '1' # Allow receiving globally routable IPv6 unicast addresses (GUA) via ZeroTier option allow_default '0' # Allow ZeroTier to take over the default gateway (similar to a global proxy) option allow_dns '1' # Allow receiving and using DNS servers configured in the ZeroTier control panel Regarding copy_config_path '1' Because the ZeroTier working directory /var/lib/zerotier-one is part of tmpfs in OpenWrt, its contents are cleared on reboot. Therefore, configurations like planet, identity, and network files need to be stored in the router's Flash storage, i.e., the path set in config_path. The default logic is to create a soft link from the configured config_path to /var/lib/zerotier-one on startup to achieve persistence. All read/write operations in /var/lib/zerotier-one are then written to Flash. However, frequent ZeroTier read/writes can significantly reduce Flash lifespan. Enabling copy_config_path '1' specifies that on ZeroTier startup, the configurations from config_path are copied directly into /var/lib/zerotier-one. This greatly extends the internal Flash lifespan, but the downside is that modifications made via zerotier-cli are not automatically synced back to Flash by default, making this option less suitable for scenarios requiring frequent configuration adjustments. After making changes, use: /etc/init.d/zerotier start /etc/init.d/zerotier enable to start ZeroTier and enable auto-start on boot. On first startup, if the secret field was left empty, it will be auto-generated. After startup, copy all files from /var/lib/zerotier-one to /etc/zerotier. Download the Planet file to the config_path set above, i.e., /etc/zerotier. After completion, restart ZeroTier: /etc/init.d/zerotier restart That's it. Then, go to your ZeroTier Controller console, and you should see the new device has joined. Next, you may need to allow ZeroTier traffic through the firewall. This step can be referenced from other online tutorials. I chose to allow all traffic; it shouldn't be a big issue under NAT1. Installing and Configuring Bird2 I didn't expect the Bird2 version in the apk repository to be very recent. As of this writing on 2026-02-10, the Bird2 version in apk is 2.18 Use the following command to install: apk add bird2 # bird daemon itself apk add bird2c # birdc command Because OpenWrt's default bird configuration file is located at /etc/bird.conf, and I prefer modular referencing by placing different configurations in separate folders based on function, I chose to move the default config file to /etc/bird/bird.conf and store various config files within that folder. Open /etc/init.d/bird: #!/bin/sh /etc/rc.common # Copyright (C) 2010-2017 OpenWrt.org USE_PROCD=1 START=70 STOP=10 BIRD_BIN="/usr/sbin/bird" BIRD_CONF="/etc/bird.conf" BIRD_PID_FILE="/var/run/bird.pid" start_service() { mkdir -p /var/run procd_open_instance procd_set_param command $BIRD_BIN -f -c $BIRD_CONF -P $BIRD_PID_FILE procd_set_param file "$BIRD_CONF" procd_set_param stdout 1 procd_set_param stderr 1 procd_set_param respawn procd_close_instance } reload_service() { procd_send_signal bird } Change the BIRD_CONF value to /etc/bird/bird.conf: - BIRD_CONF="/etc/bird.conf" + BIRD_CONF="/etc/bird/bird.conf" Then create the /etc/bird folder. All subsequent OSPF configuration files will be placed here. Configuring OSPF My configuration file structure follows these rules: /etc/bird/bird.conf serves as the sole entry point, defining basic configurations like Router ID, filter prefixes, and then including other sub-configurations. Configurations for different networks are placed in separate folders, e.g., public internet parts in /etc/bird/inet/, DN42 parts in /etc/bird/dn42/, and my own internal network parts in /etc/bird/intra/. Each network has a defs.conf handling common functions (similar to utils in Golang development?). Thus, the final configuration file structure is: /etc/bird/bird.conf: Configuration entry point define INTRA_ROUTER_ID = 100.64.0.100; define INTRA_PREFIX_V4 = [ 100.64.0.0/16+, 192.168.0.0/16+ ]; # IPv4 prefixes allowed to be advertised via OSPF define INTRA_PREFIX_V6 = [ fd18:3e15:61d0::/48+ ]; # IPv6 prefixes allowed to be advertised via OSPF protocol device { scan time 10; }; ipv4 table intra_table_v4; # Define internal routing IPv4 table ipv6 table intra_table_v6; # Define internal routing IPv6 table include "intra/defs.conf"; include "intra/kernel.conf"; include "intra/ospf.conf"; The RouterID here is directly taken from the node's IPv4 address within the ZeroTier internal network. Separate tables are used for future safety, e.g., if connecting this node to DN42. /etc/bird/intra/defs.conf: Functions for filters function is_intra_net4() { return net ~ INTRA_PREFIX_V4; } function is_intra_net6(){ return net ~ INTRA_PREFIX_V6; } function is_intra_dn42_net4(){ return net ~ [ 172.20.0.0/14+ ]; } function is_intra_dn42_net6(){ return net ~ [ fd00::/8+ ]; } /etc/bird/intra/kernel.conf: Write routes learned by OSPF into the system routing table protocol kernel intra_kernel_v4 { kernel table 254; scan time 20; ipv4 { table intra_table_v4; import none; export filter { if source = RTS_STATIC then reject; accept; }; }; }; protocol kernel intra_kernel_v6 { kernel table 254; scan time 20; ipv6 { table intra_table_v6; import none; export filter { if source = RTS_STATIC then reject; accept; }; }; }; /etc/bird/intra/ospf.conf: OSPF module protocol ospf v3 intra_ospf_v4 { router id INTRA_ROUTER_ID; # Specify RouterID ipv4 { table intra_table_v4; # Specify routing table import where is_intra_dn42_net4() || is_intra_net4() && source != RTS_BGP; export where is_intra_dn42_net4() || is_intra_net4() && source != RTS_BGP; }; include "ospf/*"; }; protocol ospf v3 intra_ospf_v6 { router id INTRA_ROUTER_ID; # Specify RouterID ipv6 { table intra_table_v6; # Specify routing table import where is_intra_dn42_net6() || is_intra_net6() && source != RTS_BGP; export where is_intra_dn42_net6() || is_intra_net6() && source != RTS_BGP; }; include "ospf/*"; }; /etc/bird/intra/ospf/backbone.conf: OSPF Area Configuration area 0.0.0.0 { interface "br-lan" { stub; }; # Local LAN interface interface "zta7oqfzy6" { # ZeroTier interface type broadcast; cost 100; hello 20; }; }; After completion, use: /etc/init.d/bird start /etc/init.d/bird enable to start Bird and enable auto-start on boot. If everything is fine, you can use birdc s p to check Bird's status. If all goes well, after the other side is configured, you should see the OSPF state as Running: root@X-WRT:/etc/bird# birdc s p BIRD 2.18 ready. Name Proto Table State Since Info device1 Device --- up 14:28:02.410 intra_kernel_v4 Kernel intra_table_v4 up 14:28:02.410 intra_kernel_v6 Kernel intra_table_v6 up 14:28:02.410 intra_ospf_v4 OSPF intra_table_v4 up 14:28:02.410 Running intra_ospf_v6 OSPF intra_table_v6 up 14:31:38.389 Running Have your friend follow the same process. Once both sides show Running status, you can use birdc s r protocol intra_ospf_v4 to view the routes learned by OSPF. You'll find that routes to the other side via ZeroTier are being learned normally: root@X-WRT:/etc/bird# birdc s r protocol intra_ospf_v4 BIRD 2.18 ready. Table intra_table_v4: ... 192.168.1.0/24 unicast [intra_ospf_v4 23:20:21.398] * I (150/110) [100.64.0.163] via 100.64.0.163 on zta7oqfzy6 ... 192.168.3.0/24 unicast [intra_ospf_v4 14:28:02.511] * I (150/10) [100.64.0.100] dev br-lan You can also ping your friend's server from your PC: iyoroy@iYoRoy-PC:~$ ping 192.168.1.103 PING 192.168.1.103 (192.168.1.103) 56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes from 192.168.1.103: icmp_seq=1 ttl=63 time=54.3 ms 64 bytes from 192.168.1.103: icmp_seq=2 ttl=63 time=10.7 ms 64 bytes from 192.168.1.103: icmp_seq=3 ttl=63 time=15.2 ms ^C --- 192.168.1.103 ping statistics --- 3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 1998ms rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 10.678/26.717/54.279/19.576 ms iyoroy@iYoRoy-PC:~$ traceroute 192.168.1.103 traceroute to 192.168.1.103 (192.168.1.103), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets 1 100.64.0.163 (100.64.0.163) 10.445 ms 9.981 ms 9.892 ms 2 192.168.1.103 (192.168.1.103) 11.621 ms 10.994 ms 10.948 ms Web browsing and speed tests work normally: Summary This series of operations essentially implements the following network structure: flowchart TB %% === Style Definitions === classDef phyNet fill:#e3f2fd,stroke:#1565c0,stroke-width:2px classDef virNet fill:#fff3e0,stroke:#ef6c00,stroke-width:2px,stroke-dasharray: 5 5 classDef router fill:#333,stroke:#000,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff classDef ztCard fill:#f57c00,stroke:#e65100,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff,shape:rect classDef bird fill:#a5d6a7,stroke:#2e7d32,stroke-width:1px,color:#000 classDef invisibleContainer fill:none,stroke:none,color:none %% === Physical Layer Containers === subgraph Top_Physical_Layer [" "] direction LR subgraph Left_Side ["My Home (Node A)"] direction TB L_Router[X-WRT Router A]:::router L_LAN[LAN: 192.168.3.0/24] L_LAN <--> L_Router end subgraph Right_Side ["Friend's Home (Node B)"] direction TB R_Router[X-WRT Router B]:::router R_LAN[LAN: 192.168.1.0/24] R_LAN <--> R_Router end end %% === Virtual Layer Container === subgraph Middle_Side [ZeroTier Virtual L2 Network] direction LR subgraph ZT_Stack_A [My Home ZT Access] direction TB L_NIC(zt0: 100.64.0.x):::ztCard L_Bird(Bird OSPF):::bird L_NIC <-.- L_Bird end subgraph ZT_Stack_B [Friend's Home ZT Access] direction TB R_NIC(zt0: 100.64.0.y):::ztCard R_Bird(Bird OSPF):::bird R_NIC <-.- R_Bird end L_NIC <==P2P Tunnel==> R_NIC end %% === Cross-Layer Connections === L_Router === L_NIC R_Router === R_NIC %% === Style Application === class Left_Side,Right_Side phyNet class Middle_Side virNet class Top_Physical_Layer invisibleContainer The underlying P2P network is still powered by ZeroTier. However, using OSPF for internal routing allows both sides to directly route to devices on each other's network segments. Since both sides can fully learn each other's routes, no NAT is required, and both sides can directly see each other's source addresses. Check out the other side of this story! From my friend's side: Linux Operations - OSPF Networking Implementation Based on Bird for New OpenWrt » NanamiのTechLaunchTower
DN42&OneManISP - Troubleshooting OSPF Source Address in a Coexistence Environment
Backstory As mentioned in the previous post of this series, because the VRF solution was too isolating, the DNS service I deployed on the HKG node (172.20.234.225) became inaccessible from the DN42 network. Research indicated this could be achieved by setting up veth or NAT forwarding, but due to the scarcity of available documentation, I ultimately abandoned the VRF approach. Structure Analysis This time, I planned to place both DN42 and clearnet BGP routes into the system's main routing table, then separate them for export using filters to distinguish which should be exported. For clarity, I stored the configuration for the DN42 part and the clearnet part (hereinafter referred to as inet) separately, and then included them from the main configuration file. Also, since there should ideally only be one kernel configuration per routing table, I merged the DN42 and inet kernel parts, keeping only one instance. After multiple optimizations and revisions, my final directory structure is as follows: /etc/bird/ ├─envvars ├─bird.conf: Main Bird config file, defines basic info (ASN, IP, etc.), includes sub-configs below ├─kernel.conf: Kernel config, imports routes into the system routing table ├─dn42 | ├─defs.conf: DN42 function definitions, e.g., is_self_dn42_net() | ├─ibgp.conf: DN42 iBGP template | ├─rpki.conf: DN42 RPKI route validation | ├─ospf.conf: DN42 OSPF internal network | ├─static.conf: DN42 static routes | ├─ebgp.conf: DN42 Peer template | ├─ibgp | | └<ibgp configs>: DN42 iBGP configs for each node | ├─ospf | | └backbone.conf: OSPF area | ├─peers | | └<ibgp configs>: DN42 Peer configs for each node ├─inet | ├─peer.conf: Clearnet Peer | ├─ixp.conf: Clearnet IXP connection | ├─defs.conf: Clearnet function definitions, e.g., is_self_inet_v6() | ├─upstream.conf: Clearnet upstream | └static.conf: Clearnet static routes I separated the function definitions because I needed to reference them in the filters within kernel.conf, so I isolated them for early inclusion. After filling in the respective configurations and setting up the include relationships, I ran birdc configure and it started successfully. So, case closed... right? Problems occurred After running for a while, I suddenly found that I couldn't ping the HKG node from my internal devices, nor could I ping my other internal nodes from the HKG node. Strangely, external ASes could ping my other nodes or other external ASes through my HKG node, and my internal nodes could also ping other non-directly connected nodes (e.g., 226(NKG)->225(HKG)->229(LAX)) via the HKG node. Using ip route get <other internal node address> revealed: root@iYoRoyNetworkHKG:/etc/bird# ip route get 172.20.234.226 172.20.234.226 via 172.20.234.226 dev dn42_nkg src 23.149.120.51 uid 0 cache See the problem? The src address should have been the HKG node's own DN42 address (configured on the OSPF stub interface), but here it showed the HKG node's clearnet address instead. Attempting to read the route learned by Bird using birdc s r for 172.20.234.226: root@iYoRoyNetworkHKGBGP:/etc/bird/dn42/ospf# birdc s r for 172.20.234.226 BIRD 2.17.1 ready. Table master4: 172.20.234.226/32 unicast [dn42_ospf_iyoroynet_v4 00:30:29.307] * I (150/50) [172.20.234.226] via 172.20.234.226 on dn42_nkg onlink Looks seemingly normal...? Theoretically, although the DN42 source IP is different from the usual, DN42 rewrites krt_prefsrc when exporting to the kernel to inform the kernel of the correct source address, so this issue shouldn't occur: protocol kernel kernel_v4{ ipv4 { import none; export filter { if source = RTS_STATIC then reject; + if is_valid_dn42_network() then krt_prefsrc = DN42_OWNIP; accept; }; }; } protocol kernel kernel_v6 { ipv6 { import none; export filter { if source = RTS_STATIC then reject; + if is_valid_dn42_network_v6() then krt_prefsrc = DN42_OWNIPv6; accept; }; }; } Regarding krt_prefsrc, it stands for Kernel Route Preferred Source. This attribute doesn't manipulate the route directly but instead attaches a piece of metadata to it. This metadata directly instructs the Linux kernel to prioritize the specified IP address as the source address for packets sent via this route. I was stuck on this for a long time. The Solution Finally, during an unintentional attempt, I added the krt_prefsrc rewrite to the OSPF import configuration as well: protocol ospf v3 dn42_ospf_iyoroynet_v4 { router id DN42_OWNIP; ipv4 { - import where is_self_dn42_net() && source != RTS_BGP; + import filter { + if is_self_dn42_net() && source != RTS_BGP then { + krt_prefsrc=DN42_OWNIP; + accept; + } + reject; + }; export where is_self_dn42_net() && source != RTS_BGP; }; include "ospf/*"; }; protocol ospf v3 dn42_ospf_iyoroynet_v6 { router id DN42_OWNIP; ipv6 { - import where is_self_dn42_net_v6() && source != RTS_BGP; + import filter { + if is_self_dn42_net_v6() && source != RTS_BGP then { + krt_prefsrc=DN42_OWNIPv6; + accept; + } + reject; + }; export where is_self_dn42_net_v6() && source != RTS_BGP; }; include "ospf/*"; }; After running this, the src address became correct, and mutual pinging worked. Configuration files for reference: KaguraiYoRoy/Bird2-Configuration
DN42&OneManISP - Using VRF to Run Clearnet BGP and DN42 on the Same Machine
Background Currently, clearnet BGP and DN42 each use a separate VPS in the same region, meaning two machines are required per region. After learning about VRF from a group member, I explored using VRF to enable a single machine to handle both clearnet BGP and DN42 simultaneously. Note: Due to its isolation nature, the VRF solution will prevent DN42 from accessing services on the host. If you need to run services (like DNS) on the server for DN42, you might need additional port forwarding or veth configuration, which is beyond the scope of this article. (This is also the reason why I ultimately did not adopt VRF in my production environment). Advantages of VRF Although DN42 uses private IP ranges and internal ASNs, which theoretically shouldn't interfere with clearnet BGP, sharing the same routing table can lead to issues like route pollution and management complexity. VRF (Virtual Routing and Forwarding) allows creating multiple routing tables on a single machine. This means we can isolate DN42 routes into a separate routing table, keeping them apart from the clearnet routing table. The advantages include: Absolute Security and Policy Isolation: The DN42 routing table is isolated from the clearnet routing table, fundamentally preventing route leaks. Clear Operation and Management: Use commands like birdc show route table t_dn42 and birdc show route table t_inet to view and debug two completely independent routing tables, making things clear at a glance. Fault Domain Isolation: If a DN42 peer flaps, the impact is confined to the dn42 routing table. It won't consume routing computation resources for the clearnet instance nor affect clearnet forwarding performance. Alignment with Modern Network Design Principles: Using VRF for different routing domains (production, testing, customer, partner) is standard practice in modern network engineering. It logically divides your device into multiple virtual routers. Configuration System Part Creating the VRF Interface Use the following commands to create a VRF device named dn42-vrf and associate it with the system's routing table number 1042: ip link add dn42-vrf type vrf table 1042 ip link set dev dn42-vrf up # Enable it You can change the routing table number according to your preference, but avoid the following reserved routing table IDs: Name ID Description unspec 0 Unspecified, rarely used main 254 Main routing table, where most ordinary routes reside default 253 Generally unused, reserved local 255 Local routing table, contains 127.0.0.1/8, local IPs, broadcast addresses, etc. Cannot be modified Associating Existing Network Interfaces with VRF In my current DN42 setup, several WireGuard interfaces and a dummy interface are used for DN42. Therefore, associate these interfaces with the VRF: ip link set dev <interface_name> master dn42-vrf Note: After associating an interface with a VRF, it might lose its IP addresses. Therefore, you need to readd the addresses, for example: ip addr add 172.20.234.225 dev dn42 After completion, ip a should show the corresponding interface's master as dn42-vrf: 156: dn42: <BROADCAST,NOARP,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue master dn42-vrf state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000 link/ether b6:f5:28:ed:23:04 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff inet 172.20.234.225/32 scope global dn42 valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever inet6 fd18:3e15:61d0::1/128 scope global valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever inet6 fe80::b4f5:28ff:feed:2304/64 scope link valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever Persistence I use ifupdown2 to automatically load the dummy interface and VRF device on boot. auto dn42-vrf iface dn42-vrf inet manual vrf-table 1042 auto dn42 iface dn42 inet static pre-up ip link add $IFACE type dummy || true vrf dn42-vrf address <IPv4 Address>/32 address <IPv6 Address>/128 post-down ip link del $IFACE My dummy interface is named dn42; modify accordingly if yours is different. After creation, use ifup dn42-vrf && ifup dn42 to start the dummy interface. Note: The number prefix for the VRF device file should be smaller than that of the dummy interface file, ensuring the VRF device starts first. WireGuard Tunnels Add PostUp commands to associate them with the VRF and readd their addresses. Example: [Interface] PrivateKey = [Data Redacted] ListenPort = [Data Redacted] Table = off Address = fe80::2024/64 + PostUp = ip link set dev %i master dn42-vrf + PostUp = ip addr add fe80::2024/64 dev %i PostUp = sysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.%i.autoconf=0 [Peer] PublicKey = [Data Redacted] Endpoint = [Data Redacted] AllowedIPs = 10.0.0.0/8, 172.20.0.0/14, 172.31.0.0/16, fd00::/8, fe00::/8 Then restart the tunnel. Bird2 Part First, define two routing tables for DN42's IPv4 and IPv6: ipv4 table dn42_table_v4; ipv6 table dn42_table_v6 Then, specify the VRF and system routing table number in the kernel protocol, and specify the previously created v4/v6 routing tables in the IPv4/IPv6 sections: protocol kernel dn42_kernel_v6{ + vrf "dn42-vrf"; + kernel table 1042; scan time 20; ipv6 { + table dn42_table_v6; import none; export filter { if source = RTS_STATIC then reject; krt_prefsrc = DN42_OWNIPv6; accept; }; }; }; protocol kernel dn42_kernel_v4{ + vrf "dn42-vrf"; + kernel table 1042; scan time 20; ipv4 { + table dn42_table_v4; import none; export filter { if source = RTS_STATIC then reject; krt_prefsrc = DN42_OWNIP; accept; }; }; } For protocols other than kernel, add the VRF and the independent IPv4/IPv6 tables, but do not specify the system routing table number: protocol static dn42_static_v4{ + vrf "dn42-vrf"; route DN42_OWNNET reject; ipv4 { + table dn42_table_v4; import all; export none; }; } protocol static dn42_static_v6{ + vrf "dn42-vrf"; route DN42_OWNNETv6 reject; ipv6 { + table dn42_table_v6; import all; export none; }; } In summary: Configure a VRF and the previously defined routing tables for everything related to DN42. Only the kernel protocol needs the system routing table number specified; others do not. Apply the same method to BGP, OSPF, etc. However, I chose to use separate Router IDs for the clearnet and DN42, so a separate Router ID needs to be configured: # /etc/bird/dn42/ospf.conf protocol ospf v3 dn42_ospf_iyoroynet_v4 { + vrf "dn42-vrf"; + router id DN42_OWNIP; ipv4 { + table dn42_table_v4; import where is_self_dn42_net() && source != RTS_BGP; export where is_self_dn42_net() && source != RTS_BGP; }; include "ospf/*"; }; protocol ospf v3 dn42_ospf_iyoroynet_v6 { + vrf "dn42-vrf"; + router id DN42_OWNIP; ipv6 { + table dn42_table_v6; import where is_self_dn42_net_v6() && source != RTS_BGP; export where is_self_dn42_net_v6() && source != RTS_BGP; }; include "ospf/*"; }; # /etc/bird/dn42/ebgp.conf ... template bgp dnpeers { + vrf "dn42-vrf"; + router id DN42_OWNIP; local as DN42_OWNAS; path metric 1; ipv4 { + table dn42_table_v4; ... }; ipv6 { + table dn42_table_v6; ... }; } include "peers/*"; After completion, reload the configuration with birdc c. Now, we can view the DN42 routing table separately using ip route show vrf dn42-vrf: root@iYoRoyNetworkHKGBGP:~# ip route show vrf dn42-vrf 10.26.0.0/16 via inet6 fe80::ade0 dev dn42_4242423914 proto bird src 172.20.234.225 metric 32 10.29.0.0/16 via inet6 fe80::ade0 dev dn42_4242423914 proto bird src 172.20.234.225 metric 32 10.37.0.0/16 via inet6 fe80::ade0 dev dn42_4242423914 proto bird src 172.20.234.225 metric 32 ... You can also ping through the VRF using the -I dn42-vrf parameter: root@iYoRoyNetworkHKGBGP:~# ping 172.20.0.53 -I dn42-vrf ping: Warning: source address might be selected on device other than: dn42-vrf PING 172.20.0.53 (172.20.0.53) from 172.20.234.225 dn42-vrf: 56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes from 172.20.0.53: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=3.18 ms 64 bytes from 172.20.0.53: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=3.57 ms 64 bytes from 172.20.0.53: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=3.74 ms 64 bytes from 172.20.0.53: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=2.86 ms ^C --- 172.20.0.53 ping statistics --- 4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3006ms rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 2.863/3.337/3.740/0.341 ms Important Notes If the VRF device is reloaded, all devices originally associated with the VRF need to be reloaded as well, otherwise they won't function correctly. Currently, DN42 cannot access services inside the host configured with VRF. A future article might explain how to allow traffic within the VRF to access host services (Adding to the TODO list). I learned from a friend that by setting net.ipv4.tcp_l3mdev_accept=1 and net.ipv4.udp_l3mdev_accept=1, it is possible to allow the listening sockets in the global space to accept connection requests from the VRF domain, thus achieving cross-vrf listening services. Reference Articles:： Run your MPLS network with BIRD
OneManISP - Ep.2 Announcing Our Own IP Prefix to the World
Preface In the previous article, we successfully registered an ASN and obtained an IPv6 address block. Now, we will announce this block to the world. Setting Up the Subnet Object in the RIPE Database It's important to note that the minimum IPv6 prefix allowed for announcement on the public internet is /48. This means if you only have a single /48 block, you cannot break it down into smaller segments. Therefore, I later leased a separate /40 block, intending to split it into multiple /48s for announcement. The IPv6 block I obtained is 2a14:7583:f200::/40, and I plan to split out 2a14:7583:f203::/48 for use with Vultr. If you don't need to split your block, please skip directly to the "Creating the Route Object" section. Splitting the Prefix First, go to Create "inet6num" object - RIPE Database and fill in the following: inet6num: The IP block you want to split out, in CIDR format. netname: Network name. country: The country to which the IP block belongs, must conform to the ISO 3166 standard (can be selected directly in the RIPE DB). admin-c: The primary key value of the Role object created earlier. tech-c: The primary key value of the Role object created earlier. status: Keep ASSIGNED This step splits a smaller /48 address block from your obtained allocation. Creating the Route Object Go to Create "route6" object - RIPE Database and fill in the following: route6: The IPv6 address block you intend to announce, in CIDR format. origin: The ASN you applied for, including the 'AS' prefix. This step declares that your ASN is permitted to use this address block for originating BGP routes. Applying for BGP Session with a VPS Provider This time I'm using a machine from Vultr. Their BGP Session setup is very beginner-friendly, with their own validation system. Furthermore, their upstream has good filters ensuring that incorrect route advertisements generally won't affect the public internet. (I forgot to take screenshots during my configuration, but you can refer to the section 申请 Vultr 的 BGP 广播功能 in Bao Shuo's article 年轻人的第一个 ASN for reference.) Go to BGP - Vultr.com, select Get Started, and fill in your ASN and IPv6 block information as required. For the LOA (Letter Of Authorization), you can refer to this template: LOA-template.docx (I rewrote one for individuals as most templates found online are for companies). After submission, the system will automatically create a ticket, and you will see your ASN and IP block in a pending verification state: Click Start, and the system will send a verification email to the abuse-mailbox email address registered with your Role object: The received email looks like this: The top link represents approving the authorization for Vultr to announce your IP block, and the bottom one is for disapproval. Click the top link, which will take you to Vultr's webpage: Then click Approve Announcement. Both the ASN and the IP block need to be verified once. Next, wait for the Vultr staff to review and complete the process. Then, in your VPS control panel, you will see the BGP tab, where you can find the upstream information: I must commend Vultr's ticket efficiency here; it took me an average of only about 10 minutes from creating the ticket requesting authorization to completion. (In contrast, the average weekday ticket response time at iFog GmbH was around 1 day, which is much slower in comparison). The process with other VPS providers is generally similar. You need to inform their staff of the ASN and IP block you want to announce. After verifying ownership, the staff will configure the corresponding BGP Session for you. Advertisement! You should have received the following information from your upstream: Upstream's ASN Upstream's IP address for the BGP Session (Optional) Password The operating system I use is Debian 12 Bookworm, using Bird2 as the routing software. I updated Bird2 to the latest version following the section "Update Bird2 to v2.16 or above" in this article. The upstream ASN Vultr gave me is 64515, the upstream BGP Session address is 2001:19f0:ffff::1, and the VPS's BGP Session address is 2001:19f0:0006:0ff5:5400:05ff:fe96:881f. My Bird2 configuration file is modified from the configuration file used in DN42: log syslog all; define OWNAS = 205369; define OWNIPv6 = 2a14:7583:f203::1; define OWNNETv6 = 2a14:7583:f203::/48; define OWNNETSETv6 = [ 2a14:7583:f203::/48+ ]; router id 45.77.x.x; protocol device { scan time 10; } function is_self_net_v6() { return net ~ OWNNETSETv6; } protocol kernel { scan time 20; ipv6 { import none; export filter { if source = RTS_STATIC then reject; krt_prefsrc = OWNIPv6; accept; }; }; }; protocol static { route OWNNETv6 reject; ipv6 { import all; export none; }; } template bgp upstream { local as OWNAS; path metric 1; multihop; ipv6 { import filter { if net ~ [::/0] then reject; accept; }; export filter { if is_self_net_v6() then accept; reject; }; import limit 1000 action block; }; graceful restart; } protocol bgp 'Vultr_v6' from upstream{ local 2001:19f0:0006:0ff5:5400:05ff:fe96:881f as OWNAS; password "123456"; neighbor 2001:19f0:ffff::1 as 64515; } A few noteworthy points: The import rule in the upstream template here rejects the default route. This prevents the routing table sent by the upstream from overwriting local default gateway routes and other routing information. If we have multiple BGP neighbors, this could cause detours or even routing loops. The upstream template specifies multihop (multihop;) because Vultr's BGP peer is not directly reachable. Without setting multihop, the BGP session would get stuck in the Idle state. If your BGP upstream is directly connected, you can omit this line or set it to direct;. After filling in the configuration file, run birdc configure to load the configuration. Run birdc show protocols to check the status. If all goes well, you should see the BGP session state as Established: At this point, you can take a break and wait for global routing convergence. After about half an hour, open bgp.tools and query your /48 block. You should see that it has been successfully received by the global internet, and you can see our upstream information: Next, we create a dummy interface on the VPS and assign a single IPv6 address from the block allocated for this machine. For example, I assigned 2a14:7583:f203::1 to my machine: ip link add dummy0 type dummy ip addr add 2a14:7583:f203::1/128 dev dummy0 Then, using your own PC, you should be able to ping this address, and traceroute will show the complete routing path: Thanks to Mi Lu for the technical support! Reference Articles: 自己在家开运营商 Part.2 - 向世界宣告 IP 段 (BGP Session & BIRD) 年轻人的第一个 ASN - 宝硕博客 BGPlayer 从零开始速成指北 - 开通 Vultr 的 BGP 广播功能 - AceSheep BGP (2) 在 Vultr 和 HE 使用自己的 IPV6 地址 - 131's Blog
Introduction This article documents my complete process of applying for an ASN through the RIPE NCC. The content is suitable for beginners. If you find any errors, please feel free to contact me via email, and I will correct them promptly. Now that we've learned the basic BGP concepts on DN42, it seems a bit of a waste not to play with the public internet, right? Basic Concepts Currently, the allocation of public ASN and IP resources is managed by five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) worldwide: ARIN: Manages the North American region. RIPE NCC: Manages the European region. APNIC: Manages the Asia-Pacific region. LACNIC: Manages the Latin American region. AfriNIC: Manages the African region. RIRs do not provide services directly to end users. Instead, they allocate resources to Local Internet Registries (LIRs), which then assign them to end users. Of course, individual users can also register as an LIR, but this is generally not cost-effective. If you're willing to pay thousands of dollars in annual fees, then forget I said that. Among these, RIPE NCC is considered more friendly towards individual applications, followed by ARIN and APNIC. Compared to RIPE NCC, APNIC's fees are generally about 30% higher. Furthermore, RIPE NCC provides an online management system allowing users to modify information and check progress themselves, whereas with APNIC, you typically need to contact an LIR for changes. Overall, I chose to apply for an ASN through the RIPE NCC. The resources obtained (both ASN and IPs) are generally categorized into two types: PA (Provider Aggregatable) Resources: Belong to the LIR and are assigned for your use by the LIR. PI (Provider Independent) Resources: Belong to you directly. These are generally more expensive. Preparation Stage Choosing an LIR Search online for LIR Service to find many companies offering such services. Currently, RIPE NCC charges an annual administrative fee of 50 EUR for PI resources. This means the cost from an LIR for registering an ASN generally won't be lower than 50 EUR per year (approximately 60 USD at the time of writing). Here, I chose NoPKT LLC, recommended by peers. Their pricing is quite reasonable and includes a /48 block of PA IPv6 addresses with the ASN. The activation speed was also very fast – it only took half a day from submitting the required documents to getting the ASN. Preparing Documents Proof of Identity Individual: Provide an ID card or passport (I submitted photos of the front and back of my national ID card). Company: Provide a valid business license. If the applicant is a minor, usually written consent from their legal guardian is required, and the guardian must fulfill corresponding responsibilities. All submitted documents must be authentic and valid, and should be originals or notarized copies. Contact Information Postal Address: Used for registration in the RIPE Database. Technical Contact Email. Abuse Contact Email. Technical Justification Billing from a BGP-capable provider within the European region. Options include Vultr, BuyVM, iFog, V.PS, etc. Note: Vultr uses a post-payment system, generating invoices at the beginning of the month. If you need the documents ready quickly, consider other providers. ASNs of two upstream providers you plan to connect to. (In practice, the reviewers won't strictly verify the specific upstream ASNs you list. Therefore, you can fill in common, publicly known ASNs to make it look reasonable. Don't overthink it too much. You can even put mine.) Registering a RIPE DB Account and Creating Objects Go to the RIPE Database and register an account. For Chinese, it's recommended to use the 拼音(Pinyin) of your real legal name. Enabling 2FA is mandatory, so please install a TOTP app on your phone beforehand. Creating a Role Object and Maintainer Object Go to Create role and maintainer pair - RIPE Database to create a role object. Here, a 'role' is an abstract concept describing the contact information for a team, department, or functional role – it represents a role, such as NOC (Network Operations Center), Abuse Team, Hostmaster, etc. mntner: The identifier for the maintainer object. It can contain uppercase/lowercase letters, numbers, and -_. For example, I used IYOROY-MNT. role: The name for the role object. It can contain uppercase/lowercase letters, numbers, and ][)(._"*@,&:!'+/-. For example, I used IYOROY-NETWORK-NOC. address: The office address for this role. e-mail: The email address for this role. Click SUBMIT after filling out the form to create both the role object and the maintainer object. Please note the returned primary key name, which usually ends with -RIPE. You will need this for future modifications and submissions to the LIR. The maintainer object identifier here is conceptually different from the role object. The maintainer signifies who has the authority to maintain (create/modify/delete) objects in the database – it's the maintaining entity. The relationship between different concepts in the RIPE Database can be referenced in the diagram later in the article. Adding an Abuse Contact Mailbox Go to Query - RIPE Database and search for the primary key of the role you just created. You should find the entry you created. Click "Update Object" on the right. Click the plus sign (+) next to the email field to add an abuse-mailbox attribute and fill in your abuse contact email address: Click SUBMIT to save. Note: RIPE periodically checks if the abuse-mailbox is functional. Please ensure you provide a real, active email address. Creating an Organization Object The Organization object here is an abstraction of a legal entity or organization (company, university, ISP, individual user, etc.). It serves as the top-level ownership information for resource objects (like aut-num, inetnum, inet6num) in the RIPE Database. This means subsequent ASN and IP resources will be assigned to this Organization object. Go to Create Organization - RIPE Database and fill in the following information: organisation: A unique ID. Keep it as the default AUTO-1 to let RIPE NCC assign one. org-name: The name of the organization. For Chinese individuals, use your full name in Pinyin. address: Postal address. country: Country code, refer to ISO 3166. For China, use CN. e-mail: The organization's email address. admin-c / tech-c: Administrative and technical contact objects (referencing the role handle). abuse-c: Specifies the abuse contact (must be a role object linked to the abuse-mailbox in that role). mnt-ref: Specifies which maintainer(s) can create objects referencing this organisation. mnt-by: Specifies who can maintain this organisation object itself. Click SUBMIT after filling out the form and note the returned object identifier, which follows a format like ORG-XXXX-RIPE. If you need to make changes after submission, go to Query - RIPE Database and search for the previously noted Role primary key or the Organization object identifier to find the update option. Paying the LIR Fee and Submitting Documents Submit the following documents to your chosen LIR: Proof of Identity Full Name Address (recommended to match your ID document) Photos of the front and back of your ID card RIPE Database Information org: Organization object identifier as-name: AS Name admin-c: Primary key of the role object created earlier tech-c: Primary key of the role object created earlier abuse-c: Primary key of the role object created earlier nic-hdl: Primary key of the role object created earlier mnt-by: Name of the maintainer object created earlier Technical Justification VPS Bill/Invoice Upstream ASNs The LIR will likely ask you to add a mnt-ref attribute to your Organization object, pointing to the LIR's maintainer. This allows the LIR to assign the AS and IP resources to your Organization. Once the LIR reviews and approves your application, they will submit the request to RIPE. Then, it's a waiting game. Generally, it takes 3-5 working days to get your ASN. At this point, we have successfully registered our own ASN on the public internet. Supplement: Relationships Between Concepts in the RIPE Database graph LR %% ========== ORG Layer ========== subgraph Org["Organisation"] ORG["organisation\n(ORG-XXX-RIPE)"] end %% ========== Resource Layer ========== subgraph Resource["Resources"] INETNUM["inetnum\n(IPv4 Block)"] INET6NUM["inet6num\n(IPv6 Block)"] AUTNUM["aut-num\n(ASN)"] ASSET["as-set\n(ASN Set)"] end %% ========== Routing Layer ========== subgraph Routing["Routing"] ROUTE["route\n(IPv4 Route Announcement)"] ROUTE6["route6\n(IPv6 Route Announcement)"] end %% ========== Contact Layer ========== subgraph Contact["Contacts"] ROLE["role\n(Team/Function)\nnic-hdl"] PERSON["person\n(Individual)\nnic-hdl"] end %% ========== Authorization Layer ========== subgraph Maintainer["Authorization"] MNT["mntner\n(Maintainer)"] end %% ========== Contact Links ========== INETNUM --> ROLE INET6NUM --> ROLE AUTNUM --> ROLE ASSET --> ROLE ROUTE --> ROLE ROUTE6 --> ROLE ROLE --> PERSON %% ========== Organization Assignment ========== ORG --> INETNUM ORG --> INET6NUM ORG --> AUTNUM ORG --> ASSET %% ========== Authorization ========== ORG --> MNT INETNUM --> MNT INET6NUM --> MNT AUTNUM --> MNT ASSET --> MNT ROUTE --> MNT ROUTE6 --> MNT ROLE --> MNT PERSON --> MNT %% ========== Route Binding ========== ROUTE -->|origin| AUTNUM ROUTE6 -->|origin| AUTNUM %% ========== Route Scope ========== ROUTE -->|belongs to| INETNUM ROUTE6 -->|belongs to| INET6NUM Special thanks to Mi Lu for providing technical support and answering questions! Reference Articles: 自己在家开运营商 Part.1 - 注册一个 ASN - LYC8503 从0开始注册一个ASN并广播IP | Pysio's Home 青年人的第一个运营商：注册一个 ASN | liuzhen932 的小窝