first steps

Pre-Alpha. This page describes behavior that may change.

This section takes you from an empty Linux box to a Ze daemon with its first BGP peer up. Follow the pages in order if you are new. If you already run ExaBGP, jump straight to the migration page.

Pages

• Install. Build Ze from source, check the binary works, understand the prerequisites.
• Quick Start. Set up credentials, write a minimal config, start the daemon, verify the peer.
• ExaBGP Migration. Convert an existing ExaBGP config with ze config migrate and run unconverted process scripts through the bridge.
• CLI Tour. Five minutes with the interactive config editor: edit, diff, commit, rollback.
• Web UI Tour. Five minutes with the browser editor: login, navigate the column view, commit a change.

What you should know before you start

Ze is a programmable BGP engine, not a network distro. It runs as a single daemon on Linux, speaks BGP to peers, programs the kernel FIB, and exposes an SSH CLI and a web UI for configuration. Everything BGP-related (RIB storage, policy, address families, graceful restart, RPKI) is a plugin. The engine itself knows nothing about BGP.

Ze is pre-alpha. The core BGP engine works and a long list of advanced features do too, but some corners are incomplete and both the config syntax and the APIs can still change. Do not put this in production.

If you are evaluating Ze against ExaBGP, the short version is: configs convert with one command, unconverted plugins still run through a bridge, and the wire differences are documented. See ExaBGP Migration.

See also

• About Ze for the what and why.
• Configuration once you want more than a single peer.
• Operation for day-2 commands.