Environment Variables

Environment Variables

ExaBGP can be configured using environment variables, providing an alternative to command-line arguments and allowing easy integration with containerized deployments.

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Table of Contents

• Overview
• Core Variables
  • Process Configuration
  • API Configuration
  • Logging Configuration
  • BGP Configuration
• Advanced Variables
• Docker and Container Usage
• Examples
• See Also

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Overview

Environment variables in ExaBGP follow the naming convention:

exabgp.<section>.<option>

For example:

• exabgp.daemon.daemonize - Run as daemon
• exabgp.api.ack - Enable API acknowledgments
• exabgp.log.level - Set log level

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Core Variables

Process Configuration

exabgp.daemon.daemonize

• Type: Boolean (true/false)
• Default: false
• Description: Run ExaBGP as a background daemon

export exabgp.daemon.daemonize=true

exabgp.daemon.pid

• Type: String (file path)
• Default: None
• Description: PID file location

export exabgp.daemon.pid=/var/run/exabgp.pid

exabgp.daemon.user

• Type: String (username)
• Default: Current user
• Description: User to run ExaBGP as (requires root)

export exabgp.daemon.user=exabgp

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API Configuration

exabgp.api.ack

• Type: Boolean (true/false)
• Default: true
• Description: Enable API command acknowledgments
• Note: Can also be controlled at runtime with enable-ack/disable-ack commands (5.x/main)

export exabgp.api.ack=true   # Enable ACK (default)
export exabgp.api.ack=false  # Disable ACK (fire-and-forget mode)

exabgp.api.encoder

• Type: String (text/json)
• Default: text
• Description: API message encoding format

export exabgp.api.encoder=json  # Use JSON format
export exabgp.api.encoder=text  # Use text format (default)

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Logging Configuration

exabgp.log.level

• Type: String
• Values: DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL
• Default: INFO
• Description: Minimum log level to display

export exabgp.log.level=DEBUG    # Verbose logging
export exabgp.log.level=WARNING  # Warnings and errors only

exabgp.log.destination

• Type: String (file path or stdout/stderr/syslog)
• Default: stdout
• Description: Where to send log output

export exabgp.log.destination=/var/log/exabgp.log
export exabgp.log.destination=syslog

exabgp.log.packets

• Type: Boolean (true/false)
• Default: false
• Description: Log BGP packets for debugging

export exabgp.log.packets=true  # Enable packet logging (verbose!)

exabgp.log.routes

• Type: Boolean (true/false)
• Default: false
• Description: Log route updates

export exabgp.log.routes=true   # Log all route changes

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BGP Configuration

exabgp.bgp.openwait

• Type: Integer (seconds)
• Default: 60
• Description: How long to wait for BGP OPEN message

export exabgp.bgp.openwait=30

exabgp.tcp.bind

• Type: String (IP address)
• Default: Empty (bind to all)
• Description: Local IP address to bind to

export exabgp.tcp.bind=192.168.1.10

exabgp.tcp.port

• Type: Integer
• Default: 179
• Description: TCP port for BGP (requires root for port < 1024)

export exabgp.tcp.port=1179  # Non-privileged port

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Advanced Variables

Performance Tuning

exabgp.cache.attributes

• Type: Boolean (true/false)
• Default: true
• Description: Cache BGP attributes for memory efficiency

exabgp.cache.nexthops

• Type: Boolean (true/false)
• Default: true
• Description: Cache next-hop information

Reactor Configuration

exabgp.reactor.speed

• Type: Float (seconds)
• Default: 1.0
• Description: Main event loop sleep time

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Docker and Container Usage

Environment variables are particularly useful in Docker/Kubernetes deployments:

Docker Compose example:

version: '3'
services:
  exabgp:
    image: exabgp/exabgp:latest
    environment:
      - exabgp.daemon.daemonize=false
      - exabgp.log.level=INFO
      - exabgp.log.destination=stdout
      - exabgp.api.ack=true
      - exabgp.api.encoder=json
    volumes:
      - ./exabgp.conf:/etc/exabgp/exabgp.conf
      - ./run:/etc/exabgp/run

Kubernetes ConfigMap:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: exabgp-env
data:
  exabgp.daemon.daemonize: "false"
  exabgp.log.level: "INFO"
  exabgp.api.encoder: "json"

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Examples

Example 1: Production Daemon

#!/bin/bash
# Production ExaBGP with logging and ACK enabled

export exabgp.daemon.daemonize=true
export exabgp.daemon.pid=/var/run/exabgp.pid
export exabgp.daemon.user=exabgp

export exabgp.log.level=INFO
export exabgp.log.destination=/var/log/exabgp.log
export exabgp.log.routes=true

export exabgp.api.ack=true
export exabgp.api.encoder=text

exabgp /etc/exabgp/exabgp.conf

Example 2: Development/Debug Mode

#!/bin/bash
# Debug mode with verbose logging

export exabgp.daemon.daemonize=false
export exabgp.log.level=DEBUG
export exabgp.log.destination=stdout
export exabgp.log.packets=true
export exabgp.log.routes=true

export exabgp.api.ack=true
export exabgp.api.encoder=json

exabgp /etc/exabgp/exabgp.conf

Example 3: Simple Fire-and-Forget API

#!/bin/bash
# Minimal configuration for simple API programs

export exabgp.daemon.daemonize=false
export exabgp.log.level=WARNING
export exabgp.api.ack=false  # No ACK responses

exabgp /etc/exabgp/exabgp.conf

Example 4: High-Performance Setup

#!/bin/bash
# Optimized for performance

export exabgp.cache.attributes=true
export exabgp.cache.nexthops=true
export exabgp.reactor.speed=0.5
export exabgp.log.level=WARNING
export exabgp.log.routes=false

exabgp /etc/exabgp/exabgp.conf

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See Also

Configuration

• Configuration Syntax - Configuration file format
• Directives Reference - All configuration directives
• Process Configuration - Process directive details

API

• API Overview - API programming guide
• Production Best Practices - Production deployment

Operations

• Debugging - Troubleshooting guide
• Monitoring - Production monitoring
• Log Analysis - Log file analysis

Deployment

• Docker - Docker deployment
• Kubernetes - Kubernetes integration

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👻 Ghost written by Claude (Anthropic AI)