BIRD : A Free and Open Source Routing Daemon for Everyone

Bird Internet Routing Daemon BIRD (recursive acronym for BIRD Internet Routing Demon) is an open-source implementation for routing Internet ...

Bird Internet Routing Daemon

BIRD (recursive acronym for BIRD Internet Routing Demon) is an open-source implementation for routing Internet Protocol packets on Unix-like operating systems. It was developed as a school project at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Prague, and is distributed under the GNU General Public License.

BIRD supports both IPv4 and IPv6, multiple routing tables, BGP, RIP, OSPF, BFD, Babel, static routes, IPv6 Router Advertisements, Inter-table protocol, Command-line interface, and a powerful language for route filtering. It is available for Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD.

BIRD is a highly scalable and reliable routing daemon. It has been used in production networks of all sizes, including large Internet exchanges. It is also known for its efficient use of resources, making it a good choice for embedded systems.

Here are some of the key features of BIRD:

• Scalability: BIRD is a highly scalable routing daemon that can be used in networks of all sizes.
• Reliability: BIRD is a reliable routing daemon that has been used in production networks for many years.
• Efficiency: BIRD is an efficient routing daemon that uses system resources wisely.
• Flexibility: BIRD is a flexible routing daemon that can be configured to meet the needs of different networks.
• Open source: BIRD is an open source routing daemon that is free to use and modify.

If you are looking for a reliable, scalable, and efficient routing daemon, then BIRD is a good option to consider.

Here are some of the benefits of using BIRD:

• Free and open source: BIRD is free to use and modify, which means that you can customize it to meet your specific needs.
• Highly scalable: BIRD can be used in networks of all sizes, from small home networks to large enterprise networks.
• Reliable: BIRD has been used in production networks for many years and has a proven track record of reliability.
• Efficient: BIRD uses system resources wisely, which can help to improve the performance of your network.
• Feature-rich: BIRD supports a wide range of routing protocols and features, which gives you the flexibility to configure your network the way you want.

More About Bird Internet Routing Daemon

The BIRD project aims to develop a fully functional dynamic IP routing daemon primarily targeted on (but not limited to) Linux, FreeBSD and other UNIX-like systems and distributed under the GNU General Public License.

12.5.2023 - New release 3.0.alpha2! Simple thread work balancing algorithm added

What Bird support:

• Both IPv4 and IPv6
• Multiple routing tables
• BGP
• RIP
• OSPF
• BFD
• Babel
• Static routes
• IPv6 Router Advertisements
• Inter-table protocol
• Command-line interface (using the `birdc' client; to get some help, just press `?')
• Powerful language for route filtering
• Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD ports

BIRD was developed as a school project at Faculty of Math and Physics, Charles University Prague. Currently it is developed and supported by CZ.NIC Labs. Current BIRD team members are:

• Ondřej Filip (OSPF, BSD port, releases, packaging)
• Martin Mareš (overall architecture, core, dumps, BGP)
• Ondřej Zajíček (New BGP features, OSPFv3, BFD)
• Maria Matějka (MPLS, filters, multithreading)

 Bird routing daemon Cheat Sheet Command

show protocols - list all configured protocols

show protocol bgp_up2             - get the status information for protocol bgp_up2
show protocol all bgp_up2         - get full status information for protocol bgp_up2
show route export bgp_up2         - list all exported networks to peer bgp_up2
show route all export bgp_up2     - list all exported networks to peer bgp_up2 and their additional parameters
show route for 1.1.1.1            - get the routes for 1.1.1.1
show route all for 8.8.8.8        - get the routes for 8.8.8.8 and its path info
show route filtered               - list all prefixes that are filtered 
show route protocol bgp_up2       - list all prefixes that you receive from peer bgp_up2
show memory                       - get the memory usage of Bird

Some common Cisco commands translated to BIRD routing daemon commands:
show ip route -- show route [table XXX]
show ip route bgp -- show route [table XXX] protocol <protocol_name> (show route proto ospf2 )
show ip route 1.2.0.0 longer- -- show route where net ~ 1.2.0.0/16
show ip bgp 1.2.0.0 -- show route where net ~ 1.2.0.0/16 all
show ip bgp sum -- show protocols
show ip bgp neighbors 1.2.3.4 -- show protocols all <protocol_name> (show protocols all ospf2)
show ip bgp neighbors 1.2.3.4 advertised-routes -- show route export <protocol_name>
clear ip bgp 1.2.3.4 -- reload <protocol_name> [in/out]
show ip route summary -- show route [table XXX] count