Why OSPF paths aren’t always shortest

David Applegate
Carsten Lund
Aman Shaikh
AT&T Labs (Research)

NANOG 54
February 06, 2012
Introduction
OSPF is widely used for intra-AS routing
OSPF routes packets along shortest paths
• In terms of weights configured on links
For scalability, OSPF divides domains into areas
• Areas are widely used as well
Areas make OSPF routing complicated
• Paths are no longer shortest
• Other tweaks to areas have increased complexity
– Multi-Area Adjacencies (RFC 5185)
– Multi-Area Routers (RFC 3509)
2 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas
Outline
Introduction to OSPF
• Basics of OSPF routing
Areas
• How routes are computed with areas
Tweaks to areas
• Multi-area adjacency (RFC 5185)
• Multi-area routers (RFC 3509)
AS Border Routers (ASBRs)
Quiz

3 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

OSPF as a Link-State Protocol
With a link-state protocol, every router …
• learns entire network topology
– represents topology as a weighted graph
• computes Shortest Path Tree rooted at itself
OSPF follows this with some tweaks
• Nodes are of two types:
– Transit: routers, subnets
– Stub: prefixes advertized by routers
–  Example: /32 for loopbacks
• Path is computed from a source router to a stub
– Via one or more transit nodes
4 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas
Example
source

451 401
Router
Stub IP,
weight
Link,
weights

451 451
101 51

1 151

dest

5 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Areas
For scalability, OSPF domain is divided in areas
• Areas are numbered 0, 1, 2, …
• Conceptually a hub-and-spoke
– Area 0 is hub, non-zero areas are spokes
Each link and stub is assigned to a single area
• A router can have links in multiple areas
– Such a router is called an area border router (ABR)
– An ABR must have a link in area 0 (RFC 2328)
With areas, every router learns …
• entire topology of areas it has links to
• distance from ABRs to stubs in remote areas
6 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas
Example of OSPF Areas

ABR ABR

ABR ABR

Color indicates area Black is area 0

(Links and Stubs)

7 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Path Calculation with Areas
A router ….
• Calculates SPTs for all attached areas
– Leads to intra-area paths to stubs
• Calculates paths to all remote stubs
– Minimize the total distance from itself to the stub
•  Total distance = dist(router, ABR) in an attached area +
advertized dist(ABR, stub)
– Leads to inter-area paths to (remote) stubs

8 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Example: Path Calculation with Areas

ABR ABR
d=51 d=51

dest
ABR ABR
d=426 d=401

source

9 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Intra-area v/s Inter-area Paths
When a router has to choose between intra-
area and inter-area paths, it always chooses
intra-area path
Leads to …
• Sub-optimal paths (within an area)
– Packet takes a longer intra-area path over a shorter
inter-area path
• Area hijacking at ABRs
– Actual path (and the distance) differs from the path
(and distance) calculated by the source router

10 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Area Hijacking Example

ABR
? ABR
d=51 d=151
d=51

dest
ABR ABR
d=426 d=451
d=401

source

11 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Multi Area Adjacencies (MADJ)
RFC 5185 allows a link to be in multiple areas
• Stubs can only be in a single area
• Links have a primary area for their interface stubs
Protects against some hijacking cases, but not
all

12 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Area Hijacking Example with MADJ

ABR ABR
d=51 d=101

dest
ABR ABR
d=426 d=451

source

13 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Multi Area Routers
dest

ABR!!!

source

14 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Multi Area Routers (MAR)
RFC 3509 allows a router to be in multiple non-
zero areas without being in area 0
• Protects against dropping traffic
• Specifies subtly different behavior of Cisco and
IBM routers (only)
Leads to more opportunities for area hijacking

15 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Area Hijacking Example with MAR

MAR!!!

source dest

16 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

More Area Hijacking
(Stub Area Matters)
ABR ABR
d=351 d=251

dest

?
d=751
d=501

source

17 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Importing External Information
External routes can be imported into OSPF
• Example: static routes
Router importing external routes is called an
ASBR (AS Border Router)
• Route contains distance from ASBR to prefix
A router ….
• Calculates SPTs for all the attached areas
• Calculates paths to all remote stubs
• Calculates paths to all external stubs
– Calculates path (and distance) to ASBR and
combines that with dist(ASBR, stub)
18 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas
Routing to an ASBR
Unusual, because ASBR is not in an area
• ASBR could be reachable in multiple areas
So a router has to calculate per-area path to an
ASBR, and then choose the best path
• Tie-breaking rules depend on whether
RFC1583compatibility is set to disabled
– RFC 1583 is the older OSPF RFC
• Ties broken by
– Least cost
– Highest area number of the link

19 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Example of ASBR routing

dest
source (ASBR)
(stub)

20 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Quiz: What’s the path from source to dest?

source

dest

Black = area 0
Red = area 1
Blue = area 2
Green = area 3

21 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Answer
Depends on …
• What ‘dest’ refers to…
– Choices: r5:192.168.5.0, r5:192.168.5.3 or r5:ASBR
• Whether routers are RFC-3509 compliant or not
– i.e., can r1, r2, and r3 act as true MARs or not
• When RFC-3509 compliant:
– Whether r3 advertises routes learned in green area
into red and blue areas or not
•  Vendor dependent
–  Cisco and Junipers behave differently

22 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Quiz: What’s the path from source to dest?
dest 192.168.5.0, r1 not RFC3509

source

dest

Black = area 0
Red = area 1
Blue = area 2
Green = area 3

23 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Quiz: What’s the path from source to dest?
dest 192.168.5.0, RFC3509

source

dest

Black = area 0
Red = area 1
Blue = area 2
Green = area 3

24 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Quiz: What’s the path from source to dest?
dest 192.168.5.3, RFC3509, Cisco

source

dest

Black = area 0
Red = area 1
Blue = area 2
Green = area 3

25 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Quiz: What’s the path from source to dest?
dest 192.168.5.3, RFC3509, Juniper

source

dest

Black = area 0
Red = area 1
Blue = area 2
Green = area 3

26 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Quiz: What’s the path from source to dest?
dest r5:ASBR, RFC3509, Cisco

source

dest

Black = area 0
Red = area 1
Blue = area 2
Green = area 3

27 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas

Quiz: What’s the path from source to dest?
dest r5:ASBR, RFC3509, Juniper

source

dest

Black = area 0
Red = area 1
Blue = area 2
Green = area 3

28 NANOG 54: OSPF Routing with Areas