Everything You Need to Know About Peering

Posted by Girish Shahri on April 5th, 2021

Peering is the method that allows two networks to connect and offer an exchange of traffic without paying a third party to carry the traffic across the internet.

The internet is made up of more than 25,000 autonomous systems that route traffic independently. These systems often use peering exchange as a method to communicate and exchange traffic. This peering allows the flow of traffic from one user to another over the internet. This method is crucial for interconnected companies like ISPs, CDNs and other backbone service providers. When companies form peering agreements, they can avoid third-party involvement and allows the company to 

- lower their transmission costs

- have greater control over their routing paths

- improve network performance

- increase redundancy by using multiple locations

- increases bandwidth capacity. 

There are two types of peering, and they are called public peering and private peering.

Public peering is done through an Internet exchange point (IXP)  At these locations, one network can peer with several other networks. Peering arrangements can be negotiated with each specific peer, and it does not involve new cabling.

Private peering takes place in a colocation facility where two parties with separate networks place routers and run a direct cable between them. They do not use an exchange point switch. This method is handy when networks need to exchange vast amounts of traffic which can’t be handled by a shared connection on an IXP. 

How does a peer operate?

 An IXP offers a single location for all the hardware needed to connect multiple networks. These IXP providers have membership forms available on their website that you can fill out for a space in their colocation. Once approved, the IXP provider will contact you directly to facilitate your physical connection to their colocation. 

Having a physical connection to a peering service provider goes mean that you have peering agreements with other networks automatically. Each network willing to peer will have technical and operational agreements at these locations that one must meet before connecting them. Most peering agreements require a publicly routed ASN, a block of public IP addresses and a network edge router capable of running BGP. Once approved, you will have to manually configure your router’s peering exchange settings to talk to a specific ASN using BGP.

Key Takeaways:

Public and private peering allows networks to connect with each other at a colocation and exchange traffic without the need for a third-party traffic carrier. And peering agreements will require you to meet certain aspects before you can connect with them!