C H A P T E R 46

Chapter Goals
• Discuss the use of autonomous systems.
• Describe the use of the Sorts Path First algorithm.
• Discuss the additional features of OSPF.

Open Shortest Path First

Background
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a routing protocol developed for Internet Protocol (IP) networks by
the Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The
working group was formed in 1988 to design an IGP based on the Shortest Path First (SPF) algorithm
for use in the Internet. Similar to the Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP), OSPF was created
because in the mid-1980s, the Routing Information Protocol (RIP) was increasingly incapable of serving
large, heterogeneous internetworks. This chapter examines the OSPF routing environment, underlying
routing algorithm, and general protocol components.
OSPF was derived from several research efforts, including Bolt, Beranek, and Newman’s (BBN’s) SPF
algorithm developed in 1978 for the ARPANET (a landmark packet-switching network developed in the
early 1970s by BBN), Dr. Radia Perlman’s research on fault-tolerant broadcasting of routing information
(1988), BBN’s work on area routing (1986), and an early version of OSI’s Intermediate
System-to-Intermediate System (IS-IS) routing protocol.
OSPF has two primary characteristics. The first is that the protocol is open, which means that its
specification is in the public domain. The OSPF specification is published as Request For Comments
(RFC) 1247. The second principal characteristic is that OSPF is based on the SPF algorithm, which
sometimes is referred to as the Dijkstra algorithm, named for the person credited with its creation.
OSPF is a link-state routing protocol that calls for the sending of link-state advertisements (LSAs) to all
other routers within the same hierarchical area. Information on attached interfaces, metrics used, and
other variables is included in OSPF LSAs. As OSPF routers accumulate link-state information, they use
the SPF algorithm to calculate the shortest path to each node.
As a link-state routing protocol, OSPF contrasts with RIP and IGRP, which are distance-vector routing
protocols. Routers running the distance-vector algorithm send all or a portion of their routing tables in
routing-update messages to their neighbors.

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Routing Hierarchy

Routing Hierarchy
Unlike RIP, OSPF can operate within a hierarchy. The largest entity within the hierarchy is the
autonomous system (AS), which is a collection of networks under a common administration that share
a common routing strategy. OSPF is an intra-AS (interior gateway) routing protocol, although it is
capable of receiving routes from and sending routes to other ASs.
An AS can be divided into a number of areas, which are groups of contiguous networks and attached
hosts. Routers with multiple interfaces can participate in multiple areas. These routers, which are called
Area Border Routers, maintain separate topological databases for each area.
A topological database is essentially an overall picture of networks in relationship to routers. The
topological database contains the collection of LSAs received from all routers in the same area. Because
routers within the same area share the same information, they have identical topological databases.
The term domain sometimes is used to describe a portion of the network in which all routers have
identical topological databases. Domain is frequently used interchangeably with AS.
An area’s topology is invisible to entities outside the area. By keeping area topologies separate, OSPF
passes less routing traffic than it would if the AS were not partitioned.
Area partitioning creates two different types of OSPF routing, depending on whether the source and the
destination are in the same or different areas. Intra-area routing occurs when the source and destination
are in the same area; interarea routing occurs when they are in different areas.
An OSPF backbone is responsible for distributing routing information between areas. It consists of all
Area Border Routers, networks not wholly contained in any area, and their attached routers. Figure 46-1
shows an example of an internetwork with several areas.
In the figure, routers 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, and 12 make up the backbone. If Host H1 in Area 3 wants to send a
packet to Host H2 in Area 2, the packet is sent to Router 13, which forwards the packet to Router 12,
which sends the packet to Router 11. Router 11 then forwards the packet along the backbone to Area
Border Router 10, which sends the packet through two intra-area routers (Router 9 and Router 7) to be
forwarded to Host H2.
The backbone itself is an OSPF area, so all backbone routers use the same procedures and algorithms to
maintain routing information within the backbone that any area router would. The backbone topology is
invisible to all intra-area routers, as are individual area topologies to the backbone.
Areas can be defined in such a way that the backbone is not contiguous. In this case, backbone
connectivity must be restored through virtual links. Virtual links are configured between any backbone
routers that share a link to a nonbackbone area and function as if they were direct links.

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SPF Algorithm

Figure 46-1 An OSPF AS Consists of Multiple Areas Linked by Routers

Router 8

H2 Router 7
Router 1 Router 2

Router 9
Area 2

Router 3

Area 1 Router 6 Router 10

Router 4 Router 11

Router 5 Router 12

H1

Autonomous system (AS) Area 3 Router 13

AS border routers running OSPF learn about exterior routes through exterior gateway protocols (EGPs),
such as Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP) or Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), or through configuration
information. For more information about these protocols, see Chapter 39, “Border Gateway Protocol.”

SPF Algorithm
The Shortest Path First (SPF) routing algorithm is the basis for OSPF operations. When an SPF router
is powered up, it initializes its routing-protocol data structures and then waits for indications from
lower-layer protocols that its interfaces are functional.
After a router is assured that its interfaces are functioning, it uses the OSPF Hello protocol to acquire
neighbors, which are routers with interfaces to a common network. The router sends hello packets to its
neighbors and receives their hello packets. In addition to helping acquire neighbors, hello packets also
act as keepalives to let routers know that other routers are still functional.

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Packet Format

On multiaccess networks (networks supporting more than two routers), the Hello protocol elects a
designated router and a backup designated router. Among other things, the designated router is
responsible for generating LSAs for the entire multiaccess network. Designated routers allow a
reduction in network traffic and in the size of the topological database.
When the link-state databases of two neighboring routers are synchronized, the routers are said to be
adjacent. On multiaccess networks, the designated router determines which routers should become
adjacent. Topological databases are synchronized between pairs of adjacent routers. Adjacencies control
the distribution of routing-protocol packets, which are sent and received only on adjacencies.
Each router periodically sends an LSA to provide information on a router’s adjacencies or to inform
others when a router’s state changes. By comparing established adjacencies to link states, failed routers
can be detected quickly, and the network’s topology can be altered appropriately. From the topological
database generated from LSAs, each router calculates a shortest-path tree, with itself as root. The
shortest-path tree, in turn, yields a routing table.

Packet Format
All OSPF packets begin with a 24-byte header, as illustrated in Figure 46-2.

Figure 46-2 OSPF Packets Consist of Nine Fields

Field length,
in bytes 1 1 2 4 4 2 2 8 Variable

Authent-
Version Type Packet Router ID Area ID Check- ication Authentication Data
number length sum type

The following descriptions summarize the header fields illustrated in Figure 46-2.
• Version number—Identifies the OSPF version used.
• Type—Identifies the OSPF packet type as one of the following:
– Hello—Establishes and maintains neighbor relationships.
– Database description—Describes the contents of the topological database. These messages are
exchanged when an adjacency is initialized.
– Link-state request—Requests pieces of the topological database from neighbor routers. These
messages are exchanged after a router discovers (by examining database-description packets)
that parts of its topological database are outdated.
– Link-state update—Responds to a link-state request packet. These messages also are used for
the regular dispersal of LSAs. Several LSAs can be included within a single link-state update
packet.
– Link-state acknowledgment—Acknowledges link-state update packets.
• Packet length—Specifies the packet length, including the OSPF header, in bytes.
• Router ID—Identifies the source of the packet.
• Area ID—Identifies the area to which the packet belongs. All OSPF packets are associated with a
single area.
• Checksum—Checks the entire packet contents for any damage suffered in transit.

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Additional OSPF Features

• Authentication type—Contains the authentication type. All OSPF protocol exchanges are
authenticated. The authentication type is configurable on per-area basis.
• Authentication—Contains authentication information.
• Data—Contains encapsulated upper-layer information.

Additional OSPF Features

Additional OSPF features include equal-cost, multipath routing, and routing based on upper-layer
type-of-service (TOS) requests. TOS-based routing supports those upper-layer protocols that can specify
particular types of service. An application, for example, might specify that certain data is urgent. If
OSPF has high-priority links at its disposal, these can be used to transport the urgent datagram.
OSPF supports one or more metrics. If only one metric is used, it is considered to be arbitrary, and TOS
is not supported. If more than one metric is used, TOS is optionally supported through the use of a
separate metric (and, therefore, a separate routing table) for each of the eight combinations created by
the three IP TOS bits (the delay, throughput, and reliability bits). For example, if the IP TOS bits specify
low delay, low throughput, and high reliability, OSPF calculates routes to all destinations based on this
TOS designation.
IP subnet masks are included with each advertised destination, enabling variable-length subnet masks.
With variable-length subnet masks, an IP network can be broken into many subnets of various sizes. This
provides network administrators with extra network-configuration flexibility.

Review Questions
Q—When using OSPF, can you have two areas attached to each other where only one AS has an
interface in Area 0?
A—Yes, you can. This describes the use of a virtual path. One area has an interface in Area 0 (legal),
and the other AS is brought up and attached off an ABR in Area 1, so we’ll call it Area 2. Area 2 has no
interface in Area 0, so it must have a virtual path to Area 0 through Area 1. When this is in place, Area
2 looks like it is directly connected to Area 0. When Area 1 wants to send packets to Area 2, it must send
them to Area 0, which in turn redirects them back through Area 1 using the virtual path to Area 2.
Q—Area 0 contains five routers (A, B, C, D, and E), and Area 1 contains three routers
(R, S, and T). What routers does Router T know exists? Router S is the ABR.
A—Router T knows about routers R and S only. Likewise, Router S only knows about R and T, as well
as routers to the ABR in Area 0. The AS’s separate the areas so that router updates contain only
information needed for that AS.

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Review Questions

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