Output state synchronization for border gateway protocol (BGP) processes

A method of operating an active Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) process running on one or more processors, the method comprising:

• establishing a communication session with a peer device;
• adding the peer device to an outbound update group listing one or more peers sharing a common outbound policy;
• advertising a collection of routes to at least the peer device;
• performing initial synchronization operations with a standby Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) process by
• adding a shadow peer device corresponding to the peer device to the outbound update group, and
• sending, with update logic, the collection of routes to the standby BGP process in accordance with the shadow peer device being listed in the outbound update group;
• after the initial synchronization operations are complete, sending a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) message to the standby BGP process;
• and
• receiving the BGP message from the standby BGP process.

A system comprising:

• an active Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) process executed on one or more processors;
• a standby Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) process executed on one or more processors;
• and
• a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) peer configured to communicate with the active BGP process via a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) session, wherein the active BGP process is configured to
• add the BGP peer to an outbound update group listing one or more peers sharing a same outbound policy, and
• add a synchronization peer corresponding to the BGP peer to the outbound update group, wherein the active BGP process is configured to leverage update generation logic associated with the active BGP process to send outbound state information in the form of one or more Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) update messages to the standby BGP process in accordance with the synchronization peer being listed in the outbound update group.