Implementing border gateway protocol (BGP) optimal route reflection

A method for distributing a plurality of optimal paths to a plurality of routers using a route reflector, comprising:

• obtaining, by the route reflector, a plurality of path location bitmasks associated with the plurality of optimal paths, respectively, wherein each path location bitmask has a value that indicates one or more locations for which a corresponding one or more of the plurality of optimal paths was determined to be optimal;
• obtaining a plurality of router location bitmasks associated with the plurality of routers, respectively, wherein each router location bitmask has a value that indicates one or more locations associated with a corresponding one of more the plurality of routers;
• for each path location bitmask of the plurality of path location bitmasks:
• performing a bitwise AND operation with each router location bitmask, of the plurality of router location bitmasks, to obtain a plurality of result bitmasks;
• and
• sending, to each router of the plurality of routers, an optimal path of the plurality of optimal paths, based on the plurality of result bitmasks.

A route reflector, comprising:

• memory;
• and
• a processor, wherein the processor is configured to perform a method for distributing an optimal path to a router, comprising:
• generating a router path metrics table in the memory;
• obtaining a path location bitmask associated with the optimal path based on the router path metrics table, wherein the path location bitmask has a value that indicates one or more locations for which the optimal path was determined to be optimal and the optimal path is a path with a lowest associated path cost of a plurality of paths;
• obtaining a router location bitmask having a value that indicates one or more locations associated with the router;
• performing a bitwise AND operation on the path location bitmask and the router location bitmask to obtain a result bitmask;
• identifying a nonzero bit in the result bitmask;
• and in response to identifying the nonzero bit:
• sending the optimal path to the router.