BFD routing protocol

A BFD routing protocol is a detection protocol that

  • provides fast forwarding path failure detection times for all media types, encapsulations, topologies, and routing protocols

  • operates in a unicast, point-to-point mode on top of any data protocol being forwarded between two systems, and

  • carries packets in the payload of the encapsulating protocol appropriate for the media and the network.

Why BFD?

BFD provides a consistent failure detection method for network administrators in addition to fast forwarding path failure detection.

Network administrators can use BFD to detect forwarding path failures at a uniform rate, rather than the variable rates for different routing protocol hello mechanisms. This makes network profiling and planning easier, and reconvergence time is consistent and predictable.

Note

In Firewall Threat Defense, BFD is supported on BGP protocols only.