The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) has emerged as the most popular routing protocol for the data center, yet many network operators and data center administrators are concerned about its complexity. This practical report peels away the mystique to reveal an elegant and mature, simple yet sophisticated protocol. Author Dinesh Dutt, former Chief Scientist at Cumulus Networks, covers BGP operations, as well as enhancements that greatly simplify its use, so practitioners can refer to this report as an operational manual. This report covers the theory, design and operationalization of BGP in data center networks, including automation. You'll learn how to use innovations in BGP to simplify your network design, configuration and management.