Internet2 Insight Console Now Reveals Your Network’s Routing Intentions

By Steven Wallace - Director, Internet2 Routing Integrity

New ‘BGP Route Report’ Feature Supports R&E Network Operators and Engineers With Routing Integrity and Transparency

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

The BGP Route Report gives R&E network operators and engineers greater visibility into the BGP routing information their organizations announce to Internet2. Specifically, Internet2’s core network services, R&E IP and Internet2 Peer Exchange (I2PX), rely on organizations’ routing information to drive their behavior. The report helps users validate route acceptance, identify rejected routes, and — most importantly — understand why a route is rejected so they can take action to resolve issues. 

It also provides a per-route view of an organization’s adoption of routing best practices, including:

• Consistency and completeness of Internet Routing Registry (IRR) route and aut-num objects.
• Use and status of Resource Public Key Infrastructure – Route Origin Authorization (RPKI-ROA).

These insights empower engineers to proactively manage BGP routing configurations and align with best practices, including those promoted through the Internet2 Routing Integrity Initiative. The BGP Route Report provides a user-friendly interface, dynamic filtering, and immediate insights that help R&E organizations stay ahead of routing issues. Ultimately, it contributes to a more secure and resilient network ecosystem for the R&E community. 

Making Routing Diagnostics More Accessible and Actionable

With the BGP Route Report, network operators and engineers can:

• View all routes announced to Internet2 via the I2PX and R&E network services.
• See whether each route is accepted or rejected by the Internet2 network — and why.
• Assess the routing security posture of each route, including:
  • RPKI-ROA adoption status and eligibility
  • IRR entries for acceptance by other networks
  • AS-cone participation through their state or regional R&E network
• Access relevant tools like the IRR Explorer, ROA Validator, and the Internet2 Prefix Filter.
• Dive directly into the data and use the interface as an API endpoint for network automation, thanks to an underlying Datasette foundation.
• Schedule a meeting with an Internet2 peering engineer to get answers to their questions.

Strengthening Global Routing

The BGP Route Report provides transparency into how Internet2 applies its routing policies, enabling R&E network engineers to proactively identify and resolve issues before they impact connectivity. The feature supports both operational troubleshooting and long-term improvements in routing security. In other words, it helps resolve routing issues, identify misconfigurations, and contribute to a stronger global routing ecosystem.

A route may be rejected for several reasons, including:

• Prefix is too long based on the Internet2 max prefix length policy.
• Connector hasn’t requested that Internet2 accept the prefix. By default, Internet2 rejects routes until the connector authorizes acceptance.
• Prefix fails Peer Lock and was leaked from an upstream ISP.
• Prefix is a reserved IP address or special-use prefix.
• AS in the AS-Path is reserved or private.
• Prefix falls in the range of IP addresses used at public internet exchanges.
• Prefix is RPKI Invalid, meaning it’s inconsistent with the published RPKI-ROA.

In contrast, accepted routes meet routing policy criteria and typically demonstrate adoption of routing security best practices. 

What’s Next for Insight Console

The BGP Route Report feature is available now in Insight Console and will continue to evolve with community input. As the team adds more capabilities, it will eventually replace the legacy downloadable Internet2 Route Reports.

Insight Console remains the community’s self-service interface for visualizing, managing, and troubleshooting Internet2 network services. As we expand its feature set, we encourage the community to ask questions and share feedback. 

• Contact the Internet2 Network Operations Center for support or to share your feedback.
• View Insight Console Documentation for additional resources.
• Log into console.internet2.edu to see the latest features.

ICYMI

• Internet2 Insight Console Offers Increased Flexibility and Ease in Managing Multicloud Environments
• In the Media: Internet2’s James Deaton on Strengthening Cybersecurity with Network Routing Security and RPKI
• What the Research & Education Community Learned From Three Impactful Routing Security Incidents in 2024