===============
Routing groups
===============

Routing groups represent related groups of aggregators and private WAN
routers. In general, a datacentre should be represented by a single
routing group. IP subnet allocations are also assigned to one or more
routing groups.

|image0|

In the example above, there are two routing groups—Vancouver and New
York, each with two aggregators, one private WAN router, and two IP
allocations. Note that the 198.18.0.0/24 allocation is valid at both
routing groups.

Aggregators and private WAN routers should be part of the same routing
group in these cases:

-  They are on the same Ethernet network
-  They are configured to share routes with OSPF or BGP
-  The aggregators are to be assigned to specific private WAN routers,
   even if they are not in the same datacentre. That is, aggregators and
   private WAN routers are not required to be in the same datacentre to
   be assigned to the same routing group.

Partners that have only a single datacentre, or that have multiple
datacentres but intend to use neither private WAN nor advanced IP
management features, do not need to make use of routing groups. In this
case, the partner can assign all aggregators, private WAN routers, and
IP allocations to the "Default group" routing group.

Routing groups are assigned to one space. Routing groups are not limited
to the root space; a child space with its own routing group is useful
for handling resellers or large customers that host their own
aggregators in their own datacentres.

Use in IP management
---------------------

Routing groups have a significant role in the IP management features of
Bonded Internet. IP subnets can be specified as valid at one or more
routing groups, representing the fact that some IP subnets are only ever
valid at one specific datacentre, while other IP subnets can be used at
multiple datacentres, depending on the partner's capabilities (although
normally a network is only routed to a single datacentre at a time).

Bonded Internet partners fall into one of two categories:

#. Partners with their own AS number, IP assignments from a Regional
   Internet Registry (RIR), and peering agreements with IP transit
   providers. These partners can move the advertised location of their
   IP assignments by controlling the BGP announcements they send to
   their peers. For example, a partner may control a class C network and
   normally advertise it from their New York datacentre, but can
   advertise it out of their Vancouver datacentre during a New York
   outage or maintenance period.
#. Partners without their own AS number, IP assignments, or peering
   agreements. These partners may use IPs assigned from their upstream
   provider, or may have an AS and networks assigned by a RIR but not
   have transit agreements and therefore not be able to change the
   advertised routing location of their IPs.

Partners that can move networks between datacentres can configure some
or all of their IP allocations to be valid at all of their routing
groups. For example, in the diagram above, the 198.18.0.0/24 is valid at
both the Vancouver and New York routing groups, indicating the the
partner can control their routing advertisements to route 198.18.0.0/24
to either Vancouver or New York. Partners that cannot move networks
between datacentres should configure their IP allocations to be valid at
only a single routing group. In the example given above, the
198.51.100.0/24 network is only valid at the Vancouver routing group,
and the 203.0.113.0/24 network is only valid at the New York routing
group. As the example shows, it's possible for one partner to have some
IP allocations that are valid at multiple routing groups and other IP
allocations that are only valid at a single group.

Use in private WAN
-------------------

Private WAN features on aggregators in a routing group are managed by
the private WAN routers in that routing group. As an example, if two
spaces using private WAN have bonds on one aggregator, the private WAN
router in the aggregator's routing group will connect to the agg and
configure the special private WAN routes and rules for the two spaces.
If a bond in one of the spaces is moved to another aggregator in the
same routing group, the private WAN router will issue commands to remove
the routes and rules for that bond from the first aggregator and add the
routes and rules to the second aggregator. If all the bonds in a private
WAN space are removed from an aggregator, the private WAN router will
remove the special routes for that space from the aggregator. For this
reason, if private WAN features are to be used in a space that has a
bond assigned to aggregators in a certain routing group, then a private
WAN router must be deployed at that routing group.

Managing routing groups
------------------------

Listing groups
'''''''''''''''

To view the list of groups, click Policies in the main menu, then click
Routing Groups.

The list of groups is shown. Click a group name to see details about the
group.

Adding a group
'''''''''''''''

To add a routing group, browse to the list page, then click the "Add
Routing Group" button. This opens the form for creating a group.
Complete the form on the Group tab and click "Save". When creating a new
group, only the main tab is shown. After saving the group, the other
tabs are shown.

Viewing or updating a group
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

To view or update a group, navigate to the list page and click the name
of the group or the |image1| button beside its name. This opens the
group page with these tabs:

-  Group: name and other details
-  IPs: a list of IP allocations assigned to the routing group

Routing group fields
'''''''''''''''''''''

Name
^^^^^

The name of the group.

Note
^^^^^

A free-form field for any relevant information.

Deleting a group
-----------------

To delete a routing group, navigate to its page and click the Delete
button. Accept the confirmation and say "adios" to the group.


.. |image0| image:: /attachments/11667087/11667319.png
.. |image1| image:: /attachments/11667020/11667643.png
