Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is a standardized exterior gateway protocol designed to exchange routing and reachability information among autonomous systems (AS) on the Internet. The main types of BGP are:
External BGP (eBGP): This type is used between different autonomous systems. For example, when a company connects its network to an Internet Service Provider (ISP), eBGP is used to exchange routing information between the company's AS and the ISP's AS.
Internal BGP (iBGP): This type is used within a single autonomous system. It allows routers within the same AS to share routing information with each other. For instance, in a large corporate network, iBGP can be used to ensure that all routers know the best paths to reach various destinations within the network.
In the context of cloud services, BGP plays a crucial role in ensuring efficient and reliable routing. For example, Tencent Cloud offers BGP Anycast services, which enhance the reliability and performance of applications by providing a single IP address that is announced from multiple data centers around the world. This helps in reducing latency and improving fault tolerance.