Patent ID: 7675912

Claim:
A method of Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) service auto discovery, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of: receiving, at a network node, a first message from a first BGP host, wherein the first message comprises first information that indicates that the first BGP host provides reachability information associated with one or more route types; wherein the first information comprises: first data that identifies the one or more route types; and second data that indicates one or more peering addresses, of the first BGP host, that are designated for one or more BGP peering sessions to the first BGP host for exchanging routes of the one or more route types; storing the first information at the network node; and sending the first information in a second message from the network node to a second BGP host, wherein the first BGP host and the second BGP host are not conducting a BGP peering session; wherein the first information in the second message is configured to cause the second BGP host to determine whether to establish the one or more BGP peering sessions with the first BGP host in order to exchange the routes of the one or more route types; wherein the steps of the method are performed by one or more network elements.