BGP Routing on Nokia IPSO Platform

[netcool8]

Background: We have 3 Internet edge routers which advertise iBGP routes to 2 route reflectors; the route reflectors then advertise iBGP routes to route reflector clients which are our egress routers (we have both trusted and untrusted networks, hence the need for multiple egress routers).

Issue: We are in the process of deploying Check Points running on the Nokia IPSO platform. We would like to have the Check Points run BGP and act as route reflector clients (The route reflectors would of course filter the routes so that only a handful are sent to the Nokias). Has anyone been successful at deploying iBGP on this platform? We have been told that a more successful deployment is to avoid running a dynamic routing protocol on the Nokias, and to use static routes pointing to a VRRP address. The routers that share the VRRP address would sit on the external side of the Nokias and act as "proxy" routers; their sole purpose is to support routing for the Check Point firewalls. This adds an extra layer of complexity into the design and we would much rather have the Check Points participate as a BGP route reflector client.

Any experience, feedback, and comments are appreciated!