# BGP Labs: Graceful Shutdown

DevFeed: [BGP Labs: Graceful Shutdown](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/bgp-labs-graceful-shutdown-10999.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://blog.ipspace.net/2024/05/bgp-labs-graceful-shutdown/>)

Published: 2024-05-30T06:22:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [ipSpace.net blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/ipspace-net-blog.md>)

Topics: [BGP](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/bgp.md>)

Tags: [bgp](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/bgp.md>), [maintenance](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/maintenance.md>), [netlab](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/netlab.md>), [operations](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/operations.md>), [standard](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/standard.md>)

## AI overview

This tutorial introduces BGP graceful shutdown, a standard method for draining traffic from an inter-AS link before maintenance. It notes that the GRACEFUL_SHUTDOWN BGP community is defined in RFC 8326 and will be practiced in a lab exercise.

## Source excerpt

Using the typical default router configurations, it can take minutes between a failure of an inter-AS link and the convergence of BGP routes. You can fine-tune that behavior with BGP timers and BFD (and still get pwned by Graceful Restart). While you can't influence link failures, you could drain the traffic from a link before starting maintenance operations on it, and it would be a shame not to do that considering there's a standard way to do that - the GRACEFUL_SHUTDOWN BGP community defined in RFC 8326. That's what you'll practice in the next BGP lab exercise. Read more ...