UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA SALESIANA

ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING CAREER

COMPUTER NETWORKS II

READING MATERIAL III

EIGRP and OSPF

(References and graphics: Kurose, James. “Computer Networks”, 5th Ed.)

Link-State routing protocols

The link-state routing protocols are protocols that operate using the so called “Dijkstra” algorithm, also
called the “Shortest Path First (SPF)” algorithm in order to find the best routes to any reachable
remote network. The main features of a link-state routing protocol are:

• Every router keeps a complex topology database (the data base of all the routes in the
network) through the interchange of update packets denominated the Link State
Advertisements (LSA).
• Every router also keeps a neighbors’ database (a neighbor is a router for which an adjacency
has been established to). In order to establish an adjacency, the routers periodically send and
receive “hello” packets with their neighbors (it means, two routers with a common link do not
necessarily are link-state neighbors). So, if a router stops sending hello packets to its
neighbors, it will lose the adjacency with those neighbors (Fig.1).

I’m receiving a Hello packet I’m receiving Hello packets I’m receiving a Hello packet
from R2. So, I’m going to from R1 and R3. So, I’m going from R 2. So, I’m going to
register that neighbor in my to register that neighbors in register that neighbor in
adjacency table . my adjacency table . my adjacency table .

Hello packet Hello packet

Int.2 Int.1

Int.1 Int.2
R1 R2
Hello packet Hello packet R3

Adjiacency table Adjiacency table Adjiacency table

Neighbor Gateway: Neighbor Gateway: Neighbor Gateway:
R2 Int .2 R1 Int .1
R3 Int .2 R2 Int.1

Fig.1 Adjacencies established by means of the interchange of “hello packets”

• In its initial phase, each router floods the AS with link state updates “LSUs” which actually are
composed of many LASs containing the information related with the networks and routes it
initially knows. Thus, every router in the network receives the information of all routes to any
reachable network. This way the routers keep a database, called “the link state table” with the
information of all the routes to any known network (no only the best routes, but a route map for
all the routes in the AS). Then, every router independently calculates its own routing table by
means of extracting the information of the best routes, from the link state table, through the
use of the Dijkstra (or SPF) algorithm (see Fig.2).

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LS
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Fig.2 Example of link-state table and routing table construction.

• Since every router calculates its own routing table, there are no routing loops and the
convergence is much faster than traditional distance vector protocols.
• The continuous update of the link state and routing tables is carried out by means of the
immediate notification of any topology change through the sending of link state updates to all
routers in the AS (for instance, a topology change can include events like a link becoming
down or returning to up state). For this reason this protocols are called “link state protocols”.

• The disadvantage of this type of routing protocols is the high consume of resources in the
routers’ CPU and memory.

Examples of link-state routing protocols are:

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)

Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS)

EIGRP:
The Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol “EIGRP” is a CISCO’s proprietary routing protocol,
considered as a distance vector routing protocol combined with the most relevant characteristics of a
link state routing protocol. The main features of EIGRP are:

• Distance vector protocol combined with some features of link-state protocols.

• CISCO’s proprietary.
• IGP and classless protocol.
• Composed metric: Up to five combined parameters:
o Bandwidth
o Delay
o Load
o Reliability
o MTU in the links
• EIGRP operation:
o All routers interchange “hello packets” with its neighbors in order to establish
adjacencies, then the router register its neighbors in the so called “neighbors table”.

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 o A router doesn’t send periodically its routing table to its neighbors but only triggered
updates containing the best route (so called “feasible route - FR”) and the second best
route (so called “backup feasible route - BFR”).
o Every router receives the updates from its neighbors and creates a “topology table”
containing different routes to any reachable network (it’s not a full table since is based
on the FR and BFR only). Then, by means of the use of a CISCO’s proprietary
algorithm called “Diffused Update Algorithm” DUAL, calculates its “routing table”.
• Very fast convergence (thanks to the use of backup routes).
• AD: 90
• Maximum hop count: 1 to 224 (by default: 100)
• Supports big networks.
• Support for multiple addressing protocols like IPv4, IPv6, IPX, Apple Talk, through the use of
Protocol Dependent Modules “PDM”.
• Moderate consume of CPU and memory resources in the routers.
• Relatively easy configuration.

OSPFv2:

OSPF version 2 (designed for IPv4 routing) is one of the most important routing protocols in the world.
It is an open code protocol. Routers in its initial operation flood the AS with the information they know
about the network. Then every router calculates its routing table using the SPF algorithm. Also, every
router establishes adjacencies through the interchange of “hello-packets”.

The main features of OSPFv2 are:

• Link-state protocol.
• IGP classless protocol.
• Simple metric: bandwidth.
• OSPF keeps three tables:
o Adjacencies table: neighbors table.
o Link state table: the topology table.
o Routing table: Best routes calculated from the link state table through the use of the
SPF (Dijkstra’s) algorithm.
• Fast convergence.
• AD: 110
• Maximum hop count: infinite.
• Can be configured in a multiple area hierarchical topology (multiple areas OSPF).
• Support very big networks (thanks to the multiple area option)
• Complex configuration.
• High consume of CPU and memory resources in the routers.

Multiple-area OSPF:

When a network is too big (for instance a network with 500 routers), the topology tables and router
tables are very big, so they use a lot of memory in the routers. Additionally, topology changes are so
frequent that routers continuously update the link state tables and recalculate their routing tables. So,
it’s better to up-perform the network behavior by means of splitting the big network in some or many
smaller areas, constituting a multi-area topology. OSPF is a routing protocol that supports multi-area
topologies. In Fig.3 you can see the graphic of an example of a multiple areas OSPF network. In this
type of topologies there is a backbone area denominated as “area 0”. Then all other areas must be
connected to the area 0 through the so called “Area Border Routers” (ABR). Routers inside area 0 are
called “backbone routers” and routers inside anther area (except area 0) are “interior routers”. Notice,
all areas together constitute the AS, so there is a router acting as the AS gateway router (placed in the
area 0).

Inside every area, the interior routers no longer keep a topology table of the entire AS, but only a
topology and routing table for the area they belong to. If a packet is destined to a network outside the
local area, then the router sends the packet to its ABR. The ABR keep a routing table for every
reachable network inside the AS. This way, routers alleviate their resources consumption provided that
they do not have to recalculate its routing table every time there is a topology change in any sector or
area of the AS, but only when the change occurs in the routers’ local area.
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 Fig.3 Example of a multiple-areas OSPF network.

Single-area OSPF:
When a network is not big enough for justifying a multi-area topology implementation, it can be
deployed a single-area OSPF network. It is based on the fact that there’s still one area: the area 0,
and all routers are placed inside of it. In this case the area 0 is no longer the backbone area but the
local area for all routers and the area 0 is also the AS itself.

OSPFv3:

OSPF version 3 is the release of OSPF for IPv6 packet routing. OSPFv3 has exactly the same
features of the version 2, except for the following:

• OSPFv3 routes IPv6 packets.

• OSPFv3 works over a link instead of over a subnet (same as RIPng does).
• OSPFv3 authenticates its updates (RFC 4552).
• OSPFv3 allows multiple instances in every link.

EIGRP AND OSPF CONFIGURATION BASICS (CISCO devices):

Using the simulation software “Packet Tracer” practice the following:

EIGRP configuration:
For enabling the eigrp process in a router use the following command:
router(config)#router eigrp autonomous-system-number
The autonomous system number declared for eigrp must be the same in all the eigrp routers
inside the same AS.
Register the networks to be diffused to the neighbors:
router(config-router)#network network-number
Notice you can specify the full class network as network-number.
Specify the bandwidth in a link (this is the bandwidth value that eigrp is going to use for best routes
evaluation):
router(config-if)#bandwidth bandwidth_kbps

Notice the bandwidth value must be specified in kpps. Different than the clock rate which is
specified in bps.

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 Example:
router(config)#int s0/0/0
router(config-if)#clock rate 56000
router(config-if)#bandwidth 56

router(config)#int s0/0/1
router(config-if)#clock rate 1000000
router(config-if)#bandwidth 1000

OSPFv2 configuration:
For enabling the ospf process in a router use the following command:
Router(config)#router ospf process-id
For process ID you can use a number between 1 and 65.535.

Register the networks to be diffused to the neighbors:

Router(config-router)#network address wildcard-mask area area-id

The wildcard mask correspond in this case to the binary inverse of the network mask.

Example:

Router(config)#interface s0
Router(config-int)#ip address 10.64.0.1 255.255.255.0
network mask
Router(config)#router ospf 1
Router(config-router)#network 10.64.0.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
area number
remote network
wildcard mask

OSPFv3 configuration:
For enabling the ospfv3 process in a router first you must globally enable IPv6 unicast routing
Router(config)#ipv6 unicast-routing
Enable OSPFv3 in every interface:
Router(config-if)#ipv6 ospf [process_id] area [area-id]
For process ID you can use a number between 1 and 65.535.

Example:

Router(config)#ipv6 unicast-routing
Router(config)#interface f0/0
Router(config-if)#ipv6 ospf 50 area 0

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Configuration Example:
Consider the following topology

Router DCE Clock S0/0/0 S0/0/1 Fa0/0

192.168.0.169/30 192.168.0.1/25
Quito - ABCD:1000::B1/126
-
ABCD:1000::1/121
192.168.0.173/30 192.168.0.170/30 192.168.0.129/27
Guayaq S1 56000 ABCD:1000::B5/126 ABCD:1000::B2/126 ABCD:1000::81/123
192.168.0.174/30 192.168.0.161/29
Cuenca S0 ABCD:1000::B6/126
-
ABCD:1000::A1/124

1 Configure the routers and hosts IP addresses according to the information specified in the
table.

2 Configure EIGRP in the routers

Quito(config)#router eigrp 1
Quito(config-router)#network 192.168.0.0
Quito(config-router)#end

Guayaq(config)#router eigrp 1
Guayaq(config-router)#network 192.168.0.0
Guayaq(config-router)#end
Cuenca(config)#router eigrp 1
Cuenca(config-router)#network 192.168.0.0
Cuenca(config-router)#end

Check the routers’ routing tables. There you should see the EIGRP routes for remote networks tagged
with “D” at the beginning of them.

3 Test the connectivity in the network

a. Issue ping command among the hosts in the LAN networks. They should be successful.

4 Configure single area OSPFv2

All networks must belong to area 0:

Quito(config)#router ospf 232

Quito(config-router)#network 192.168.0.168 0.0.0.3 area 0
Quito(config-router)#network 192.168.0.0 0.0.0.127 area 0
Quito(config-router)#end

Guayaq(config)#router ospf 232

Guayaq(config-router)#network 192.168.0.168 0.0.0.3 area 0
Guayaq(config-router)#network 192.168.0.172 0.0.0.3 area 0
Guayaq(config-router)#network 192.168.0.128 0.0.0.31 area 0
Guayaq(config-router)#end

Cuenca(config)#router ospf 232

Cuenca(config-router)#network 192.168.0.172 0.0.0.3 area 0
Cuenca(config-router)#network 192.168.0.160 0.0.0.7 area 0
Cuenca(config-router)#end

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Check the routers’ routing tables. Are there OSPF routes for remote networks (the OSPF routes are
tagged with “O” at the beginning of them)? That’s right they are not there and the reason is that eigrp
is preferred over ospf (eigrp AD is lower than ospf AD).

5 Stop the EIGRP process in the routers.

Quito(config)#no router eigrp 1

Guayaq(config)#no router eigrp 1
Cuenca(config)#no router eigrp 1

Check again the routers’ routing tables. Now you should see the OSPF routes for remote networks.

6 Test the connectivity in the network

a. Issue ping command among the hosts in the LAN networks. They should be successful.

7 Modify the network’s topology

Change the network topology deleting the switch and PC in router Guayaq. Now we are going to
consider two areas: the backbone area 0 and area 1. Here router Guayaq is going to act as ABR.

8 Stop the OSPFv2 process in the routers.

Quito(config)#no router ospf 232

Guayaq(config)#no router ospf 232
Cuenca(config)#no router ospf 232

9 Configure router Quito as backbone router (area 0)

Quito(config)#router ospf 105

Quito(config-router)#network 192.168.0.168 0.0.0.3 area 0
Quito(config-router)#network 192.168.0.0 0.0.0.127 area 0
Quito(config-router)#end

10 Configure router Guayaq as ABR

Guayaq(config)#router ospf 105

Guayaq(config-router)#network 192.168.0.168 0.0.0.3 area 0
Guayaq(config-router)#network 192.168.0.172 0.0.0.3 area 1
Guayaq(config-router)#end

11 Configure router Cuenca as area 1 internal router.

Cuenca(config)#router ospf 105

Cuenca(config-router)#network 192.168.0.172 0.0.0.3 area 1
Cuenca(config-router)#network 192.168.0.160 0.0.0.7 area 1
Cuenca(config-router)#end

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12 Check the IPv4 routing tables
Check the IPv4 routers’ routing tables. Now you should also see the “inter area” OSPFv2 routes for
remote networks tagged as IA at the beginning.

13 Test the IPv4 connectivity in the network

a. Issue IPv4 ping commands among the hosts in the remote LAN networks. They should be
successful.

14 Configure multi area OSPFv3

Using the multi-area network proposed in step 7 configure OSPF v3:

Quito(config)#ipv6 unicast-routing
Quito(config)#int f0/0
Quito(config-if)#ipv6 ospf 50 area 0
Quito(config)#int s0/0/0
Quito(config-if)#ipv6 ospf 50 area 0

Guayaq(config)#ipv6 unicast-routing
Guayaq(config)#int f0/0
Guayaq(config-if)#ipv6 ospf 50 area 0
Guayaq(config)#int s0/0/0
Guayaq(config-if)#ipv6 ospf 50 area 0
Guayaq(config)#int s0/0/1
Guayaq(config-if)#ipv6 ospf 50 area 0

Cuenca(config)#ipv6 unicast-routing
Cuenca(config)#int f0/0
Cuenca(config-if)#ipv6 ospf 50 area 0
Cuenca(config)#int s0/0/0
Cuenca(config-if)#ipv6 ospf 50 area 0

15 Check the IPv6 routing tables

Check the IPv6 routers’ routing tables. Now you should also see the OSPFv3 routes for remote
networks.

16 Test the IPv6 connectivity in the network

a. Issue IPv6 ping commands among the hosts in the remote LAN networks. They should be
successful.