How to Troubleshoot BGP Faster with Kentik AI Advisor

Kentik

Jan 22, 2026

A BGP session goes down because a transit provider exceeded the maximum prefix limit. How do you find the root cause — fast? In this 10-minute demo, we walk through two approaches using Kentik AI Advisor. First, we troubleshoot step by step using natural language: asking AI Advisor to identify the affected interface, check for interface flapping, and review syslog messages until we find the maximum-prefix violation. Then we show how custom network context and natural language runbooks let AI Advisor do the entire investigation autonomously — following the same four steps a senior engineer would: identify the interface, assess traffic impact, find root cause, and recommend next actions.

The demo uses a real network topology with two edge routers peering with Charter, Server Central, Cogent, and Equinix Internet Exchange. When the Charter BGP session drops, Kentik NMS detects it via SNMP polling and traps, raises an alert, and AI Advisor takes it from there — correlating interface status, syslog messages, traffic rerouting to Cogent, and impact on critical applications.

What you'll learn:

How AI Advisor uses natural language to troubleshoot BGP alerts step by step
The two access modes: dedicated AI Advisor page and in-portal overlay with page context
How AI Advisor correlates SNMP metrics, syslog messages, and BGP session data
How to configure custom network context (device naming, IP schema, provider contacts)
How to write natural language runbooks that teach AI Advisor your troubleshooting procedures
How AI Advisor autonomously assesses traffic impact and identifies rerouted traffic
How to verify every AI Advisor tool call and result for accuracy

Learn more about Kentik AI Advisor: https://www.kentik.com/product/ai-advisor/

─── RELATED RESOURCES ───

📊 More AI Advisor and troubleshooting demos:

Troubleshooting SD-WAN with Kentik Journeys AI: https://youtu.be/C8FRqjxmWGw
AI-Assisted Network Monitoring: Real or Hype?: https://youtu.be/Xnyg0W23jR4
Kentik Data Explorer Tutorial (Network Traffic Analysis): https://youtu.be/qYZcwEkiVUM
Detecting and Mitigating DDoS Attacks: https://youtu.be/zoYXNhQu158

📊 BGP and routing resources:

BGP Routing Security: RPKI, Route Leaks, and What to Measure: https://youtu.be/6BZ2uA4ijTw
A Brief History of BGP Incidents: https://youtu.be/-HEcnJmUwmQ

🔗 Learn more on kentik.com:

BGP Hijacking: Understanding Threats to Internet Routing: https://www.kentik.com/kentipedia/bgp-hijacking/
BGP Route Monitoring Solutions: https://www.kentik.com/solutions/bgp-route-monitoring/
Kentipedia — Network Intelligence Knowledge Base: https://www.kentik.com/kentipedia/

─── ABOUT KENTIK ───

Kentik is the network intelligence platform for modern infrastructure teams. Kentik provides network observability, DDoS protection, cloud cost optimization, BGP monitoring, and AI-powered network analytics for enterprise, cloud, and service provider networks.

🔗 Start a free trial: https://www.kentik.com/go/get-started/
🔗 Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@KentikHQ

#BGP #NetworkTroubleshooting #AIAdvisor #Routing #Kentik #NetworkIntelligence #SNMP #NetworkAutomation

CHAPTERS:

0:00 Introduction: Troubleshooting a BGP Session Drop with AI

0:27 How AI Advisor Works: Dedicated Page vs In-Portal Overlay

2:33 Demo Network: Two Edge Routers, Four Transit/Peering Providers

3:18 Step-by-Step: Which Interface Is This BGP Session On?

4:07 Checking for Interface Flapping (Not the Cause)

4:30 Finding the Root Cause: Maximum Prefix Limit Exceeded in Syslogs

5:21 Custom Network Context: Teaching AI Advisor About Your Network

6:24 Natural Language Runbooks: Automating Your Troubleshooting Steps

7:27 Autonomous Mode: AI Advisor Runs the Full Investigation Alone