A digital twin based framework to enable 'what-if' analysis in BGP optimization

Nowadays, inter domain routing optimization is performed based on the so called 'Tweak and Pray' approach, which consists in performing changes in the configuration of the BGP protocol without knowing in advance the consequences of such a modification. This is due to the lack of cooperation among Network Operators in the configuration of the BGP to optimize the inter domain routing. Inefficiency in the resource usage, network anomalies and outages are common consequences of wrong configuration changes performed by Network Operators in an attempt to improve the performance of their infrastructures. In this paper we propose a novel framework based on the Digital Twin technology to enable the execution of 'what-if' analysis in the context of Traffic Engineering performed by tuning BGP parameters. Such a paradigm shift will allow Network Operator to be aware of the effects of BGP configuration changes before their actual execution. A proof of concept related to the balancing of inbound traffic in an Autonomous System network, based on the use of the AS Path Prepending technique, is realized to validate the feasibility of the proposed approach.