When choosing a Hong Kong VPS, many users focus on bandwidth and latency figures but overlook the underlying logic—routing. The network experience of a Hong Kong VPS is not fundamentally determined by its hardware, but by the paths its underlying Autonomous System (AS) "declares" to the entire internet via the BGP protocol. Performing a BGP analysis before payment allows for a direct assessment of the network architecture's rationality, redundancy, and true performance potential.

BGP Information: Network Identity and Path Map

To test BGP information, you first need to understand what you're looking for. The core is the Autonomous System Number (AS). The internet consists of tens of thousands of ASs, each representing an independent network management domain (such as a ISP or a large cloud company). A Hong Kong VPS provider's IP address must belong to an AS. By querying the AS number of the IP address, you can immediately tell whether the provider is a large ISP with its own network or a secondary service provider leasing lines from others. The former usually has stronger control over the network and more direct interconnection, while the latter is more dependent on upstream providers, and its stability is more affected by upstream policies.

Secondly, look at the route declaration details. A well-designed network often advertises its IP address blocks to multiple upstream partners via BGP, creating a multi-homed network. This means that accessing your Hong Kong VPS from different directions on the internet may involve multiple paths of varying tiers. Your focus shouldn't be on the speed of a single path, but rather on the diversity and rationality of those paths. For example, does a Hong Kong VPS located in the US clearly advertise its routes to both Tier 1 carriers (such as Cogent and HE.net) and regional carriers? For a Hong Kong VPS primarily serving Asian users, do its paths include clear peering points with major Asian carriers (such as China Telecom and NTT)? Path diversity is the cornerstone of network redundancy and resilience.

The "AS path" in the routing attributes is highly informative. It records which ASs (Alternate Servers) are traversed from the source to the destination. An ideal AS path should be relatively short and avoid hopping between lower-tier or congested networks as much as possible. For example, when accessing from China, if the path is `[China Telecom AS4134] -> [an international exchange AS] -> [Hong Kong VPS provider AS]`, this usually indicates a direct or optimized path. If the path includes known, poorly performing international data forwarding providers (AS), such as `[China Telecom AS4134] -> [a cheap international bandwidth provider AS] -> [another cheap bandwidth provider AS] -> [Hong Kong VPS provider AS]`, the probability of high latency and packet loss increases significantly. The length and "quality" of the AS path directly affect latency and stability.

Practical Application: How to Obtain and Interpret BGP Information

Obtaining this information doesn't require complex equipment; publicly available internet routing registry systems and query tools can be used.

Step 1: Basic Information Query

Use the `whois` command or visit websites such as `bgp.he.net` or `ipinfo.io` to query the IP address of the target Hong Kong VPS.

In Linux/macOS terminals, you can directly use the `whois` command:

whois Hong KongVPS_IP address

For more professional BGP information, you can use `dig` to query the route registration database:

dig +short Hong KongVPS_IP address.origin.asn.cymru.com TXT

This query will return the AS number, AS name, and registration information for the IP range. Immediately, you can know your provider's AS number and name. For example, a well-known cloud service provider's AS number might be widely recognized, while an unknown small hosting provider's AS number might point to a large bandwidth wholesaler.

Step Two: Analyze Route Advertisements and Paths

Use `traceroute` in conjunction with BGP viewing tools for in-depth analysis. However, a more intuitive approach is to utilize Looking Glass servers. Many large network operators and data centers offer Looking Glass, allowing you to initiate tests from their network core. You can find the Looking Glass (if any) of the data center where your Hong Kong VPS is located, initiate `traceroute` calls from it to other test points, and observe the routing path "looking out" from the data center.

Simultaneously, when using `mtr` or `traceroute`, focus on the IP address of each hop and reverse-engineer which AS these IPs belong to. This allows you to manually draw an AS path diagram.

Use `mtr` to generate reports and analyze them in conjunction with AS information.

mtr --report --report-cycles 10 your test target IP

For batch or in-depth analysis, you can use professional websites like `bgp.tools`. Enter the IP address or AS number of your Hong Kong VPS, and the website will visually display the connection relationship between that AS and other ASs globally, which upstream servers it advertises routes to, and which internet exchange centers it peers through. Pay attention to the number of "upstream" servers and the number of "peer connections"; a higher number usually indicates a richer network.

Step 3: Derivation of Key Performance Indicators

Several crucial performance indicators, though not directly measurable in terms of speed, can be reasonably derived from BGP information:

1. Path Redundancy and Convergence: If a Hong Kong VPS provider's AS has multiple independent outbound routes in different geographical directions, then when a primary international line is interrupted, the BGP protocol can automatically switch traffic to alternative paths (i.e., route convergence) within tens of seconds to minutes. You can check the route registration information to see if its IP range is advertised through multiple ASNs in multiple geographical locations. This is a core capability to withstand single-point line failures.

2. Network Status and Interconnection Quality: An AS that has established direct peering (especially private peering) with a large number of other ASs has a higher network status, more direct traffic exchange, and lower costs, usually meaning lower latency and fewer detours. Conversely, an AS that relies entirely on a few upstream suppliers to purchase and transfer traffic will have its network quality completely dependent on the upstream packages and congestion.

3. Geographic Coverage Rationality: Check whether the geographical distribution of its AS interconnections meets your business needs. If users are primarily located in Asia, but all of their AS's public peering points are concentrated in Europe and the US, then access traffic will inevitably have to travel across oceans, making latency unoptimizable. A high-quality AS serving globally should have peering points distributed across major internet hubs worldwide.

Comprehensive Decision-Making: Transforming BGP Information into Purchase Basis

BGP insights cannot replace on-site ping, packet loss, and bandwidth tests, but they provide a framework for understanding these test results. When you find severe packet loss during peak hours in your speed tests, combined with BGP information, you might discover that it's because the provider's only upstream server is congested during that time; when you find abnormally high latency to a certain region, the BGP path may show that it's taking a detour.

Therefore, before purchasing, you should create a concise BGP checklist:

AS Background: Does the provider own or lease its AS? What is the AS's history and reputation?

Declaration Redundancy: Does its IP range advertise through multiple upstream servers in multiple locations?

Path Quality: From your target user's region, is the AS path short, and are the intermediate ASs along the way of high quality?

Interconnectivity Richness: The number and distribution of public and private peering connections within the AS.

Combined with Real-World Testing: Conduct `mtr` tests during peak evening hours, comparing and analyzing actual packet loss points with AS nodes in the BGP path graph to pinpoint bottlenecks.

Ultimately, an ideal Hong Kong VPS network profile should be: its AS has clear and redundant route advertisements; the path to your target user group within the AS is short and via a high-quality network; and the AS has rich interconnectivity within the network ecosystem. In such a network, even if a single physical line experiences fluctuations, the BGP protocol provides strong resilience, offering a solid underlying guarantee for your services. Taking the time to understand BGP is a critical architectural audit for the future stability of your business.