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Week 12: Multiarea OSPF, OSPF Tuning and Troubleshooting Part 2

Configuring Multiarea OSPF

Objectives
After completing this course, students will be able to
 Explain how multiarea OSPF operates in a small to medium-sized business network.
• Explain why multiarea OSPF is used.
• Explain how multiarea OSPFv2 uses link-state advertisements.
• Explain how multiarea OSPF establishes neighbor adjacencies.

Introduction
Multiarea OSPF is used to divide a large OSPF network. Too many routers in one area
increase the load on the CPU and create a large link-state database. In this chapter, directions
are provided to effectively partition a large single area into multiple areas. Area 0, used in a
single-area OSPF, is known as the backbone area.

Discussion is focused on the LSAs exchanged between areas. In addition, activities for
configuring OSPFv2 are provided. The chapter concludes with the show commands used to
verify OSPF configurations.

Implementing Multiarea OSPF

OSPF can be implemented as single-area or multiarea. The type of OSPF implementation

chosen depends on the specific network design requirements and existing topology.

There are 4 steps to implementing multiarea OSPF, as displayed in the figure 12.1 .

Figure 12.1 OSPF Implementation

Steps 1 and 2 are part of the planning process.

Step 1. Gather the network requirements and parameters - Gather the network requirements
and parameters - This includes determining the number of host and network devices, the IP
addressing scheme (if already implemented), the size of the routing domain, the size of the
routing tables, the risk of topology changes, whether existing routers can support OSPF, and
other network characteristics.

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Week 12: Multiarea OSPF, OSPF Tuning and Troubleshooting Part 2

Step 2. Define the OSPF parameters - Based on information gathered during Step 1, the
network administrator must determine if single-area or multiarea OSPF is the preferred
implementation. If multiarea OSPF is selected, there are several considerations the network
administrator must take into account while determining the OSPF parameters, to include:

IP addressing plan - This governs how OSPF can be deployed and how well the OSPF
deployment might scale. A detailed IP addressing plan, along with the IP subnetting
information, must be created. A good IP addressing plan should enable the usage of OSPF
multiarea design and summarization. This plan more easily scales the network, as well as
optimizes OSPF behavior and the propagation of LSA.
OSPF areas - Dividing an OSPF network into areas decreases the LSDB size and limits the
propagation of link-state updates when the topology changes. The routers that are to be
ABRs and ASBRs must be identified, as are those ABRs or ASBRs that are to perform any
summarization or redistribution.
Network topology - This consists of links that connect the network equipment and belong to
different OSPF areas in a multiarea OSPF design. Network topology is important to
determine primary and backup links. Primary and backup links are defined by the changing
OSPF cost on interfaces. A detailed network topology plan should also be used to determine
the different OSPF areas, ABR, and ASBR as well as summarization and redistribution points,
if multiarea OSPF is used.
Step 3. Configure the multiarea OSPF implementation based on the parameters.

Step 4. Verify the multiarea OSPF implementation based on the parameters.

Configuring Multiarea OSPFv2

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Week 12: Multiarea OSPF, OSPF Tuning and Troubleshooting Part 2

Figure 12.2 OSPFv2 Multiarea Topology

Figure 12.2 displays the reference multiarea OSPF topology. In this example:
 R1 is an ABR because it has interfaces in area 1 and an interface in area 0.
 R2 is an internal backbone router because all of its interfaces are in area 0.
 R3 is an ABR because it has interfaces in area 2 and an interface in area 0.
Note: This topology is not a typical multiarea OSPF routing domain but is used to show an
example configuration.

There are no special commands required to implement this multiarea OSPF network. A
router simply becomes an ABR when it has two network statements in different areas.

Figure 12.3 Configuring Multiarea OSPFv2 on R1

As shown in Figure 12.3, R1 is assigned the router ID 1.1.1.1. This example enables OSPF on
the two LAN interfaces in area 1. The serial interface is configured as part of OSPF area 0.
Because R1 has interfaces connected to two different areas, it is an ABR.

Note: The inverse wildcard masks used to configure R2 and R3 purposely differ to
demonstrate the two alternatives to entering network statements. The interface method
used for R3 is simpler because the wildcard mask is always 0.0.0.0 and does not need to be
calculated.

Verifying Multiarea OSPFv2

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Week 12: Multiarea OSPF, OSPF Tuning and Troubleshooting Part 2

Figure 12.4 OSPF Multiarea OSPFv2 Topology

The same verification commands used to verify single-area OSPFv2 also can be used to verify
the multiarea OSPF topology in the figure 12.4:

show ip ospf neighbor

show ip ospf
show ip ospf interface
Commands that verify specific multiarea OSPFv2 information include:

show ip protocols
show ip ospf interface brief
show ip route ospf
show ip ospf database

Verify General Multiarea OSPFv2 Settings

Use the show ip protocols command to verify the OSPFv2 status. The output of the
command reveals which routing protocols are configured on a router. It also includes routing
protocol specifics such as the router ID, number of areas in the router, and networks included
within the routing protocol configuration.

Figure 12.5 the OSPFv2 settings of R1

Figure 12.5 displays the OSPFv2 settings of R1. Notice that the command shows there are
two areas. The Routing for Networks section identifies the networks and their respective
areas.

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Week 12: Multiarea OSPF, OSPF Tuning and Troubleshooting Part 2

Use the show ip ospf interface brief command to display concise OSPFv2-related
information of OSPFv2-enabled interfaces. This command reveals useful information, such
as the OSPFv2 process ID that the interface is assigned to, the area that the interfaces are in,
and the cost of the interface.

Figure 12.6 Verifying OSPFv2-Enabled Interfaces on R1

Figure 12.6 verifies the OSPFv2-enabled interfaces and the areas to which they belong.

Verify the OSPFv2 Routes

The most common command used to verify a multiarea OSPFv2 configuration is the show ip
route command. Add the ospf parameter to display only OSPFv2-related information.

Figure 12.7 Verifying Multiarea OSPFv2 Routes on R1

Figure 12.7 displays the routing table of R1. Notice how the O IA entries in the routing table
identify networks learned from other areas. Specifically, O represents OSPFv2 routes,
and IA represents interarea, which means that the route originated from another area. Recall
that R1 is in area 0, and the 192.168.1.0 and 192.168.2.0 subnets are connected to R3 in area
2. The [110/1295] entry in the routing table represents the administrative distance that is
assigned to OSPF (110) and the total cost of the routes (cost of 1295).

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Week 12: Multiarea OSPF, OSPF Tuning and Troubleshooting Part 2

Verify the Multiarea OSPFv2 LSDB

Use the show ip ospf database command to verify the contents of the OSPFv2 LSDB.

There are many command options available with the show ip ospf database command.

Figure 12.8 Verifying the OSPFv2 LSDB on R1

For example, Figure 12.8 displays the content of the LSDB of R1. Notice R1 has entries for
area 0 and area 1, because ABRs must maintain a separate LSDB for each area to which they
belong. In the output, Router Link States in area 0 identifies three routers. The Summary Net
Link States section identifies networks learned from other areas and which neighbor
advertised the network.

Summary

Single-area OSPF is useful in smaller networks but in larger networks multiarea OSPF is a
better choice. Multiarea OSPF solves the issues of large routing table, large link-state
database, and frequent SPF algorithm calculations, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

The main area is called the backbone area (area 0) and all other areas must connect to the
backbone area. Routing still occurs between the areas while many of the routing operations,
such as recalculating the database, are kept within an area.

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Week 12: Multiarea OSPF, OSPF Tuning and Troubleshooting Part 2

There are four different types of OSPF routers: Internal router, Backbone router, Area Border
Router (ABR), and Autonomous System Boundary Router (ASBR). A router can be classified
as more than one router type.

Link State Advertisements (LSAs) are the building blocks of OSPF. This chapter concentrated
on LSA type 1 to LSA type 5. Type 1 LSAs are referred to as the router link entries. Type 2
LSAs are referred to as the network link entries and are flooded by a DR. Type 3 LSAs are
referred to as the summary link entries and are created and propagated by ABRs. A type 4
summary LSA is generated by an ABR only when an ASBR exists within an area. Type 5
external LSAs describe routes to networks outside the OSPF autonomous system. Type 5
LSAs are originated by the ASBR and are flooded to the entire autonomous system.

OSPFv2 routes in an IPv4 routing table are identified using the following descriptors: O, O
IA, O E1 or O E2. Each router uses the SPF algorithm against the LSDB to build the SPF tree.
The SPF tree is used to determine the best paths.

There are no special commands required to implement a multiarea OSPF network. A router
simply becomes an ABR when it has two network statements in different areas.
An example of multiarea OSPF configuration:

R1(config)# router ospf 10

R1(config-router)# router-id 1.1.1.1
R1(config-router)# network 10.1.1.1 0.0.0.0 area 1
R1(config-router)# network 10.1.2.1 0.0.0.0 area 1
R1(config-router)# network 192.168.10.1 0.0.0.0 area 0
Commands that are used to verify OSPFv2 configuration consist of the following:
 show ip ospf neighbor
 show ip ospf
 show ip ospf interface
 show ip protocols
 show ip ospf interface brief
 show ip route ospf
 show ip ospf database

References and Supplementary Materials

Books and Journals
1. Bob Vachon and Allan Johnson; 2018; Scaling Networks v6; 800 East 96th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46240 USA; Cisco Press.
2. Todd Lammle; 2016; CCNA Routing and Switching Complete Study Guide Second
Edition; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
3. Wendell Odom; 2016; CCENT/ CCNA ICND1 100-105 Official Cert Guide; Cisco Press
800 East 96th Street Indianapolis, IN 46240 USA
Online Supplementary Reading Materials
1. CCNA Routing and Switching: Scaling Networks; www.netacad.com; Oct 1, 2019

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