Measuring BGP Route Propagation Times

Abstract

We present a methodology to measure the propagation time of BGP routes with BGP route collectors and beacons which accounts for the clock offset error between route source and destinations. We apply it to the RIPE RIS data set comparing 2012 and 2018, showing that the IPv4 route prefix reachability interval and the time to receive the preferred route have not changed much, but the time to remove an IPv4 route has increased and it is high (a mean of 121s to remove a route). In 2018, IPv6 route propagation times are shorter than IPv4 ones.