Configuring Keychain Authentication

Context

BGP uses TCP as the transmission protocol, and considers a packet valid as long as the source address, destination address, source port, destination port, and TCP sequence number of the packet are correct. However, most parameters in a packet may be easily obtained by attackers. To protect BGP from attacks, use MD5 authentication or keychain authentication between BGP peers to reduce the possibility of attacks. The keychain algorithm is complex to configure and generates a set of passwords. Keychain authentication allows automatically changing a password based on the configuration. Therefore, keychain authentication applies to networks requiring high security.

Before configuring BGP keychain authentication, configure a keychain corresponding to keychain-name. Otherwise, the TCP connection cannot be established. For details about configuring a keychain, see Keychain Configuration in the S2720, S5700, and S6700 V200R019C10 Configuration Guide - Security.

Procedure

Run system-view
The system view is displayed.
Run bgp { as-number-plain | as-number-dot }
The BGP view is displayed.
Run peer { ipv4-address | group-name | ipv6-address } keychain keychain-name
Keychain authentication is configured.
- You must configure keychain authentication on both ends of the BGP connection. Encryption algorithms and passwords configured on both ends must be the same; otherwise, the TCP connection cannot be established between BGP peers and BGP messages cannot be transmitted. SHA256 and HMAC-SHA256 encryption algorithms are recommended in keychain authentication.
- BGP MD5 authentication and BGP keychain authentication are mutually exclusive, and only either of them can be configured for a BGP peer.
- Only the S5720-EI, S5720-HI, S5730-HI, S5731-H, S5731-S, S5731S-H, S5731S-S, S5732-H, S6720-EI, S6720-HI, S6720S-EI, S6730-H, S6730S-H, S6730-S, and S6730S-S support keychain keychain-name.