Peering is a process by which two Internet networks connect and exchange traffic to distribute traffic to each other’s customers without having to pay a third party to carry that traffic across the Internet for them. The routing protocol that allows peering between ISPs is Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), which is free and benefits all ISPs.

Below are top five ways to get the maximum benefits of Peering.

Optimize your routing data base entry Please make sure that you:

→ have your routing data in just one routing database like IRINN, TRAI, etc. (unless you are a global player)

→ have all used prefixes covered by one correct database entry, matching the ASN which they come from (more-specifics need dedicated entries too)

→ have all active own and customer ASNs and AS-SETs listed in your main AS-SET – and remove unused ones

Use the route servers (2 session’s IPv4, 2 sessions IPv6

The route servers help you to get the majority of possible sessions. It will help you to avoid extra work to configure all the new arriving members.

Verify your prefix amounts and details

Please verify via the route server looking glass whether the route server accepts all of your sent prefixes. If you see a difference, most probably you have not specified the right AS-SET during turn-up or you have missing or wrong routing database entries.

Keep your PeeringDB entry up to date

Please update your PeeringDB record or create a record if you have none yet.

https://www.peeringdb.com/ is the tool for all peering administrators.

You can refer to the article here for benefits and importance of having updated peeringDB account in Hindi.

Go for direct sessions to members who are not on the route server and with large or important networks

Not everybody peers with the route server. And not everybody who peers with the route server sends or imports prefixes. Check on the looking glass who is not present at the route server (session down, zero prefixes) and ask them for a direct session.

Route Server Peering helps new peers to exchanges traffic with other peers from day one over the shared fabric.

Many of the very large operators or CDNs send more prefixes via a direct session and/or give you more priority and traffic engineering focus on direct sessions. Examples are: Akamai, Google, Microsoft etc. Some large CDNs like e.g. Limelight are, in general, not present at route servers. So have an eye on such important players too.

The same is true for your individually important partner networks. Secure your traffic path to all those who are important for you with direct sessions.

The top five points described above are based on DE-CIX’s whitepaper on 10 useful tips on how to maximize the benefits of peering. The white paper can be downloaded here