Stayin Alive

Stayin’ Alive with the Border Gateway Protocol

BGP, or the Border Gateway Protocol, is the gateway protocol that enables exchanging routing information between autonomous systems (AS), through peering. BGP is really a kind mail service for the Internet. Just like dropping off a package at the post office,  the Postal Service processes that item and then finds a fast, efficient route for delivery to the intended recipient, so also when submitting data via the Internet, BGP looks at all available paths and picks the best route – usually hopping between autonomous systems.