The IXP Digital Twin project was developed in collaboration with NAMEX to provide a lightweight and easy-to-use tool for testing route server configurations and ensuring customer compliance with technical rules before connecting them to the IXP fabric.

The IXP Digital Twin is a purpose-built emulation platform to validate routing behavior: BGP sessions, route filtering, prefix announcements, and policy enforcement at the route server level. It provides:

• Lightweight emulation of IXP route servers using Kathará and Docker
• Configuration validation before deploying to production environments
• Customer onboarding with automated quarantine compliance checks
• RIB comparison to ensure digital twin accurately mirrors production
• Multi-vendor support for BIRD2, BIRD3, and OpenBGPD route servers

The digital twin focuses on route server validation, not physical fabric emulation. The emulated peering LAN is a simple shared layer-2 segment, sufficient for BGP sessions and route exchange. This design keeps the environment lightweight, fast to deploy, and focused on the operational risks that matter most to IXP operators: route server policy misconfigurations, incorrect filters, and problematic customer announcements.

New to the IXP Digital Twin? Start here:

• Tutorial - Complete step-by-step walkthrough with example IXP setup
• Installation - System requirements, installation steps, and deployment options

Setting up your digital twin:

• Configuration Reference - Complete reference for all configuration options
• Build Custom Docker Image - Build custom route server Docker images
• Quarantine Checks - All validation checks explained in detail
• Download Peerings List From IXP Manager - Integration with IXP Manager
• Synchronization Procedure - Keeping digital twin synchronized with production

• RIPE Labs - Testing IXP Configurations Without Breaking Production: A Digital Twin Approach
• RIPE Labs - Building a Secure Test Environment for an IXP