By Tony Tauber, Comcast; Charlie Helfinstine, Comcast; Mark Feldman, Comcast
Quickly knowing what is happening across one’s network is a crucial, if challenging, task for the scale of any given modern network, particularly large service provider networks. Getting the BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) routing information about how a given node would reach a particular destination and comparing it against the same query gathered from various other vantage points can be transformational. Logging into routers one at a time to execute the specific command for the given vendor and operating system is tedious, error-prone, and needs to be automated to reduce friction. Also, some groups can benefit from this information without needing general access to the devices. Generally, such access is, understandably, under tight control. Our novel scheme exposes BGP routing information via DNS (Domain Name System) queries, which can be structured to query the information for a given router node or location. Network Operations staff can thus quickly gather details from around the network and synthesize it for the matter at hand. If a specific route or set of routes is of interest, one could retrieve that information regularly as a form of monitoring. The data sources inside a given operators network (BGP-speaking routers, Geolocation data stores, etc.) can push data to the DNS server(s) unidirectionally, meaning they are not subject to risk of compromise by outside users. Furthermore, the delegated structure of the DNS namespace allows each network operator to tune the visibility of information according to their needs. Existing techniques for optimizing performance of DNS or other similar services (e.g., load-sharing, horizontal scaling) can be brought to bear. Our paper and presentation will elaborate on this approach and explain the extensible nature of the technique. This technique of information sharing within and among Internet operators will make troubleshooting and problem resolution quicker and more accessible while maintaining infrastructure security and reliability.