Route server

A route server is a server that was originally made with the intention to be a part of the National Science Foundation funded Routing Arbiter project. This routing process directs information among Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routers. These servers are placed at Network Access Points (NAP) in which the centralized computers that organize and match routing at the NAPs. This type of server is very important because without it managing BGP sessions would be an impossible procedure. This can be seen where overhead and management difficulties of maintaining BGP sessions through which routers with single or multiple domains that are connected could cause problems (aka full mesh routing connectivity). By introducing the route server the overhead is reduced and at the same time alleviates some of the problem therefore making it much easier to manage. The route server simply gives the ability to look at an IP routing table of an autonomous system where the server is located.