Using the IPv4 Default Route as a Valid Next Hop for a BGP4 Route

In certain cases, such as when a device is acting as an edge device, it can be configured to use the default route as a valid next hop.
By default, a device does not use a default route to resolve a BGP4 next-hop route. If the IPv4 route lookup for the BGP4 next hop does not result in a valid IGP route (including static or direct routes), the BGP4 next hop is considered to be unreachable and the BGP4 route is not used. You can configure the device to use the default route as a valid next hop.
  1. Enter the configure terminal command to access global configuration mode. 
    device# configure terminal
  2. Enter the router bgp command to enable BGP routing. 
    device(config)# router bgp
  3. Enter the next-hop-enable-default command to configure the device to use the default route as a valid next hop. 
    device(config-bgp-router)# next-hop-enable-default

The following example configures a BGP4 device to use the default route as a valid next hop. 

device# configure terminal
device(config)# router bgp
device(config-bgp-router)# next-hop-enable-default
Parent topic: BGP4