Packet-Switching

Networks
Routing in Packet Networks
Routing in Packet Networks
1 3
6

2 Node
5
(switch or router)

⚫ Three possible (loopfree) routes from 1 to 6:

⚫ 1-3-6, 1-4-5-6, 1-2-5-6
⚫ Which is “best”?
⚫ Min delay? Min hop? Max bandwidth? Min cost?
Max reliability?
Creating the Routing Tables
⚫ Need information on state of links
⚫ Link up/down; congested; delay or other metrics
⚫ Need to distribute link state information using a
routing protocol
⚫ What information is exchanged? How often?
⚫ Exchange with neighbors; Broadcast or flood
⚫ Need to compute routes based on information
⚫ Single metric; multiple metrics
⚫ Single route; alternate routes
Routing Algorithm Requirements
⚫ Responsiveness to changes
⚫ Topology or bandwidth changes, congestion
⚫ Rapid convergence of routers to consistent set of routes
⚫ Freedom from persistent loops
⚫ Optimality
⚫ Resource utilization, path length
⚫ Robustness
⚫ Continues working under high load, congestion, faults,
equipment failures, incorrect implementations
⚫ Simplicity
⚫ Efficient software implementation, reasonable processing
load
Routing in Virtual-Circuit Packet
Networks

2
1 7 8
1 3 B
A 3
5 1 6 5
4
2
VCI
Host 4

3 5 Switch or router
2
C 5
6
2 D

⚫ Route determined during connection setup

⚫ Tables in switches implement forwarding that
realizes selected route
Routing Tables in VC Packet
Networks
Node 3
Incoming Outgoing
Node 1 Node VCI Node VCI Node 6
Incoming Outgoing 1 2 6 7 Incoming Outgoing
Node VCI Node VCI 1 3 4 4 Node VCI Node VCI
A 1 3 2 4 2 6 1 3 7 B 8
A 5 3 3 6 7 1 2 3 1 B 5
3 2 A 1 6 1 4 2 B 5 3 1
3 3 A 5 4 4 1 3 B 8 3 7

Node 4
Incoming Outgoing
Node VCI Node VCI
Node 2 2 3 3 2
Node 5
3 4 5 5
Incoming Outgoing 3 2 2 3 Incoming Outgoing
Node VCI Node VCI 5 5 3 4 Node VCI Node VCI
C 6 4 3 4 5 D 2
4 3 C 6 D 2 4 5

⚫ Example: VCI from A to D

⚫ From A & VCI 5 → 3 & VCI 3 → 4 & VCI 4
⚫ → 5 & VCI 5 → D & VCI 2
 Routing Tables in Datagram
Packet Networks
Node 3

Node 1 Destination Next node Node 6

Destination Next node 1 1 Destination Next node
2 4 1 3
2 2
4 4 2 5
3 3
4 4 5 6 3 3
6 6 4 3
5 2
6 3 5 5

Node 4
Destination Next node
1 1
2 2
Node 2 Node 5
3 3
Destination Next node Destination Next node
5 5
1 1 6 3 1 4
3 1 2 2
4 4 3 4
5 5 4 4
6 5 6 6
Non-Hierarchical Addresses and
Routing
0000 0001
0111 0100
1010 1 4 1011
1101 1110
3
R1 R2
2 5
0011 0011
0110 0000 1 0001 4 0101
1001 0111 1 0100 4 1000
1100 1010 1 1011 4 1111
… … … …

⚫ No relationship between addresses & routing

proximity
⚫ Routing tables require 16 entries each
Flooding
Send a packet to all nodes in a network
⚫ No routing tables available

⚫ Need to broadcast packet to all nodes (e.g. to

propagate link state information)

Approach
⚫ Send packet on all ports except one where it
arrived
⚫ Exponential growth in packet transmissions
 1 3
6

2
5

Flooding is initiated from Node 1: Hop 1 transmissions

 1 3
6

2
5

Flooding is initiated from Node 1: Hop 2 transmissions

 1 3
6

2
5

Flooding is initiated from Node 1: Hop 3 transmissions

Limited Flooding
⚫ Time-to-Live field in each packet limits
number of hops to certain diameter
⚫ Each switch adds its ID before flooding;
discards repeats
⚫ Source puts sequence number in each
packet; switches records source address and
sequence number and discards repeats
Deflection Routing
⚫ Network nodes forward packets to preferred port
⚫ If preferred port busy, deflect packet to another port
⚫ Works well with regular topologies
⚫ Manhattan street network
⚫ Rectangular array of nodes
⚫ Nodes designated (i,j)
⚫ Rows alternate as one-way streets
⚫ Columns alternate as one-way avenues
⚫ Bufferless operation is possible
⚫ Proposed for optical packet networks
⚫ All-optical buffering currently not viable
0,0 0,1 0,2 0,3

1,0 1,1 1,2 1,3

Tunnel from
last column to
first column or
2,0 2,1 2,2 2,3 vice versa

3,0 3,1 3,2 3,3

Example: Node (0,2)→(1,0)
busy

0,0 0,1 0,2 0,3

1,0 1,1 1,2 1,3

2,0 2,1 2,2 2,3

3,0 3,1 3,2 3,3

Packet-Switching
Networks
Shortest Path Routing
Shortest Paths & Routing
⚫ Many possible paths connect any given
source and to any given destination
⚫ Routing involves the selection of the path to
be used to accomplish a given transfer
⚫ Typically it is possible to attach a cost or
distance to a link connecting two nodes
⚫ Routing can then be posed as a shortest path
problem
Routing Metrics
Means for measuring desirability of a path
⚫ Path Length = sum of costs or distances

⚫ Possible metrics
⚫ Hop count: rough measure of resources used
⚫ Reliability: link availability; BER
⚫ Delay: sum of delays along path; complex & dynamic
⚫ Bandwidth: “available capacity” in a path
⚫ Load: Link & router utilization along path
⚫ Cost: $$$
Shortest Path Approaches

Distance Vector Protocols

⚫ Neighbors exchange list of distances to destinations

⚫ Best next-hop determined for each destination

⚫ Ford-Fulkerson (distributed) shortest path algorithm

Link State Protocols

⚫ Link state information flooded to all routers

⚫ Routers have complete topology information

⚫ Shortest path (& hence next hop) calculated

⚫ Dijkstra (centralized) shortest path algorithm

Distance Vector
Do you know the way to San Jose?

San Jose 392

San Jose 596

Distance Vector
Local Signpost Table Synthesis
⚫ Direction ⚫ Neighbors exchange
⚫ Distance table entries
⚫ Determine current best

Routing Table next hop

For each destination list: ⚫ Inform neighbors
⚫ Periodically
⚫ Next Node
⚫ After changes
⚫ Distance dest next dist
 Shortest Path to SJ
Focus on how nodes find their shortest
path to a given destination node, i.e. SJ San
Jose

Dj
Cij
j
i
Di If Di is the shortest distance to SJ from i
and if j is a neighbor on the shortest path,
then Di = Cij + Dj
 But we don’t know the shortest
paths

i only has local info

from neighbors San
Dj' Jose
j'
Cij'
Dj
Cij j
i
Cij” Pick current
Di j"
Dj" shortest path
Why Distance Vector WorksSJ sends
accurate info

San
2 Hops
1 Hop
From SJ
Jose
3 Hops From SJ
From SJ

Hop-1 nodes
calculate current
(next hop, dist), &
Accurate info about SJ send to neighbors
ripples across network,
Shortest Path Converges
Bellman-Ford Algorithm
⚫ Consider computations for one destination d
⚫ Initialization
⚫ Each node table has 1 row for destination d
⚫ Distance of node d to itself is zero: Dd=0
⚫ Distance of other node j to d is infinite: Dj=, for j d
⚫ Next hop node nj = -1 to indicate not yet defined for j  d
⚫ Send Step
⚫ Send new distance vector to immediate neighbors across local link
⚫ Receive Step
⚫ At node j, find the next hop that gives the minimum distance to d,

⚫ Minj { Cij + Dj }
⚫ Replace old (nj, Dj(d)) by new (nj*, Dj*(d)) if new next node or distance
⚫ Go to send step
Bellman-Ford Algorithm
⚫ Now consider parallel computations for all destinations d
⚫ Initialization
⚫ Each node has 1 row for each destination d
⚫ Distance of node d to itself is zero: Dd(d)=0
⚫ Distance of other node j to d is infinite: Dj(d)=  , for j  d
⚫ Next node nj = -1 since not yet defined
⚫ Send Step
⚫ Send new distance vector to immediate neighbors across local link
⚫ Receive Step
⚫ For each destination d, find the next hop that gives the minimum
distance to d,
⚫ Minj { Cij+ Dj(d) }
⚫ Replace old (nj, Di(d)) by new (nj*, Dj*(d)) if new next node or distance
found
⚫ Go to send step
Iteration Node 1 Node 2 Node 3 Node 4 Node 5

Initial (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, )

1
2
3

Table entry Table entry

@ node 1 @ node 3
for dest SJ for dest SJ
2 3
1 1 San
5 2

4
Jose
3 1 3 6

2
2 5
4
Iteration Node 1 Node 2 Node 3 Node 4 Node 5

Initial (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, )

1 (-1, ) (-1, ) (6,1) (-1, ) (6,2)
2
3

D3=D6+1
n3=6
D6=0
2 3 1
1 1
5 2
0
4 San
3 6
1 3
Jose
2 5 2
4
2
D5=D6+2 D6=0
n5=6
Iteration Node 1 Node 2 Node 3 Node 4 Node 5

Initial (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, )

1 (-1, ) (-1, ) (6, 1) (-1, ) (6,2)
2 (3,3) (5,6) (6, 1) (3,3) (6,2)
3

3 1
2 3
1 1
5 2
3 0
4 San
3 6
1 3
Jose
2 2
5
4
6 2
Iteration Node 1 Node 2 Node 3 Node 4 Node 5

Initial (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, )

1 (-1, ) (-1, ) (6, 1) (-1, ) (6,2)
2 (3,3) (5,6) (6, 1) (3,3) (6,2)
3 (3,3) (4,4) (6, 1) (3,3) (6,2)

1
3 2 3
1 1
5 2
3 0
4 San
3 6
1 3
Jose
2
2 5
4
6 4 2
Iteration Node 1 Node 2 Node 3 Node 4 Node 5

Initial (3,3) (4,4) (6, 1) (3,3) (6,2)

1 (3,3) (4,4) (4, 5) (3,3) (6,2)
2
3

1 5
3 2
3
1 1
5 2
3 0
4 San
3 6
1 3
Jose
2
2 5
4 4
2
Network disconnected; Loop created between nodes 3 and 4
Iteration Node 1 Node 2 Node 3 Node 4 Node 5

Initial (3,3) (4,4) (6, 1) (3,3) (6,2)

1 (3,3) (4,4) (4, 5) (3,3) (6,2)
2 (3,7) (4,4) (4, 5) (5,5) (6,2)
3

5
37 2
3
1 1
5 53 2
0
4 San
3 6
1 3
Jose
2
2 5
4
4 2

Node 4 could have chosen 2 as next node because of tie

Iteration Node 1 Node 2 Node 3 Node 4 Node 5

Initial (3,3) (4,4) (6, 1) (3,3) (6,2)

1 (3,3) (4,4) (4, 5) (3,3) (6,2)
2 (3,7) (4,4) (4, 5) (5,5) (6,2)
3 (3,7) (4,6) (4, 7) (5,5) (6,2)

5 7
7 2 3
1 1
5 2
5 0
4 San
3 6
1 3
Jose
2 5 2
4
46 2

Node 2 could have chosen 5 as next node because of tie

Iteration Node 1 Node 2 Node 3 Node 4 Node 5

1 (3,3) (4,4) (4, 5) (3,3) (6,2)

2 (3,7) (4,4) (4, 5) (2,5) (6,2)
3 (3,7) (4,6) (4, 7) (5,5) (6,2)
4 (2,9) (4,6) (4, 7) (5,5) (6,2)

79 2 7
3
1 1
5 2
5 0
4 San
3 6
1 3
Jose
2
2 5
4
6 2

Node 1 could have chose 3 as next node because of tie

Link-State Algorithm
⚫ Basic idea: two step procedure
⚫ Each source node gets a map of all nodes and link metrics
(link state) of the entire network
⚫ Find the shortest path on the map from the source node to
all destination nodes
⚫ Broadcast of link-state information
⚫ Every node i in the network broadcasts to every other node
in the network:
⚫ ID’sof its neighbors: Ni=set of
neighbors of i
⚫ Distances to its neighbors: {Cij | j Ni}
⚫ Flooding is a popular method of broadcasting packets
 Dijkstra Algorithm: Finding
shortest paths in order
Find shortest paths from Closest node to s is 1 hop away
source s to all other
destinations 2nd closest node to s is 1 hop
away from s or w”
3rd closest node to s is 1 hop
w' away from s, w”, or x

z
w
x
s z'
w"
x'
Dijkstra’s algorithm
⚫ N: set of nodes for which shortest path already found
⚫ Initialization: (Start with source node s)
⚫ N = {s}, Ds = 0, “s is distance zero from itself”
⚫ Dj=Csj for all j  s, distances of directly-connected neighbors
⚫ Step A: (Find next closest node i)
⚫ Find i  N such that
⚫ Di = min Dj for j  N
⚫ Add i to N
⚫ If N contains all the nodes, stop
⚫ Step B: (update minimum costs)
⚫ For each node j  N
Minimum distance from s to
⚫ Dj = min (Dj, Di+Cij)
j through node i in N
⚫ Go to Step A
Execution of Dijkstra’s algorithm
2 2 ✓
1 3 1 1 3 1
6 6 ✓
5 2 5 2
3 3
1 4 1 4✓ 2
2
3 3
2 2
✓ 4 5 4 5

Iteration N D2 D3 D4 D5 D6
Initial {1} 3 2✓ 5  
1 {1,3} 3✓ 2 4  3
2 {1,2,3} 3 2 4 7 3 ✓
3 {1,2,3,6} 3 2 4 ✓ 5 3
4 {1,2,3,4,6} 3 2 4 5 ✓ 3
5 {1,2,3,4,5,6} 3 2 4 5 3
Shortest Paths in Dijkstra’s
Algorithm
2 3 1 2 3 1
1 1
6 6
5 2 5 2
3 3
1 4 2 1 4 2
3 3
2 2
4 5 4 5
2 3 1 2 3 1
1 1
6 6
5 2 5 2
3 3
1 4 2 1 4 2
3 3
2 2
4 5 4 5

2 3 1 2 3 1
1 1
6 6
5 2 5 2
3 3
1 4 2 1 4 2
3 3
2 2
4 5 4 5
Reaction to Failure
⚫ If a link fails,
⚫ Router sets link distance to infinity & floods the
network with an update packet
⚫ All routers immediately update their link database &
recalculate their shortest paths
⚫ Recovery very quick
⚫ But watch out for old update messages
⚫ Add time stamp or sequence # to each update
message
⚫ Check whether each received update message is new
⚫ If new, add it to database and broadcast
⚫ If older, send update message on arriving link
Source Routing
⚫ Source host selects path that is to be followed by a
packet
⚫ Strict: sequence of nodes in path inserted into header
⚫ Loose: subsequence of nodes in path specified
⚫ Intermediate switches read next-hop address and
remove address
⚫ Source host needs link state information or access
to a route server
⚫ Source routing allows the host to control the paths
that its information traverses in the network
⚫ Potentially the means for customers to select what
service providers they use
Example

3,6,B 6,B
1,3,6,B 1 3
B
6
A
4 B
Source host
2 Destination host
5
Multicasting
G1 G1
1
3 7 2
2 4
2 4 2 3
1 1
5 5 2
3
3 G1
2 4 1 8
S 1 1 3 4 G1
5 4
2
2
4
1 2
1
3 6 3
1
3 4 G2
3
G3
G3

⚫ Source S sends packets to multicast group G1

Multicast Routing
⚫ Multicast routing useful when a source wants
to transmits its packets to several destinations
simultaneously
⚫ Relying on unicast routing by transmitting
each copy of packet separately works, but can
be very inefficient if number of destination is
large
⚫ Typical applications is multi-party conferencing
over the Internet
⚫ Example: Multicast Backbone (MBONE) uses
reverse path multicasting
Reverse-Path Broadcasting
(RPB)
⚫ Fact: Set of shortest paths to the source node S forms a tree that
spans the network
⚫ Approach: Follow paths in reverse direction
⚫ Assume each router knows current shortest path to S
⚫ Upon receipt of a multicast packet, router records the packet’s
source address and the port it arrives on
⚫ If shortest path to source is through same port (“parent port”), router
forwards the packet to all other ports
⚫ Else, drops the packet
⚫ Loops are suppressed; each packet forwarded a router exactly
once
⚫ Implicitly assume shortest path to source S is same as shortest path
from source
⚫ If paths asymmetric, need to use link state info to compute shortest
paths from S
Example: Shortest Paths from S
G1 G1
1
3 7 2
2 4
2 4 2 3
1
1 5 2
5 3 3 G1
2 4
1
8
S 1 4 G1
1 3
5 4
2
2 4
1 2
1
3 6 3
1
3 4 G2
3
G3
G3

⚫ Spanning tree of shortest paths to node S and

parent ports are shown in blue
Example: S sends a packet
G1 ✓ G1
1
3 7 2
2 4
2 4 2 3
1
1 5 2
5 3 3 G1
2 4
1
8
S 1 4 G1
1 3
5 4
2
2 4
1 2
1
3 6 3
1
3 4 G2
3
G3
G3

⚫ S sends a packet to node 1

⚫ Node 1 forwards to all ports, except parent port
 Example: Hop 1 nodes broadcast
G1 ✓ G1 ✓
1
3 7 2
2 4
2 4 2 3
1
1 5
5 3
2
3 G1 ✓
2 4
1
8
1
S 1 3 4 G1 ✓
5 4
2
2 4
1 2
1
3 6 3
1
3 4 G2
3
G3
G3

⚫ Nodes 2, 3, 4, and 5 broadcast, except on parent ports

⚫ All nodes, not only G1, receive packets
 Example: Broadcast continues
G1 G1
1
3 7 2
2 4
2 4 2 3
1
1 5 2
5 3 3 G1
2 4
1
8
S 1 4 G1
1 3
5 4
2
2 4
1 2
1
3 6 3
1
3 4 G2
3
G3
G3
⚫ Truncated RPB (TRPB): Leaf routers do not broadcast if
none of its attached hosts belong to packet’s multicast group
Internet Group Management
Protocol (IGMP)
⚫ Internet Group Management Protocol:
⚫ Host can join a multicast group by sending an IGMP
message to its router
⚫ Each multicast router periodically sends an IGMP
query message to check whether there are hosts
belonging to multicast groups
⚫ Hosts respond with list of multicast groups they belong to
⚫ Hosts randomize response time; cancel response if other
hosts reply with same membership
⚫ Routers determine which multicast groups are
associated with a certain port
⚫ Routers only forward packets on ports that have
hosts belonging to the multicast group
Reverse-Path Multicasting
(RPM)
⚫ Reverse Path Multicasting (RPM) relies on IGMP to
identify multicast group membership
⚫ The first packet to a given (source, group), i.e. (S,G)
is transmitted to all leaf routers using TRPB
⚫ Each leaf router that has no hosts that belong to this
group on any of its ports, sends a prune message to
its upstream router to stop sending packets to (S, G)
⚫ Upstream routers that receive prune messages from
all their downstream routers, send prune messages
upstream
⚫ Prune entries in each router have finite lifetime
⚫ If a host requests to join a group, routers can cancel
previous pruning with a graft message
Example: Pruning for G1
G1 G1
1
3 7 2
2 4
2 4 2 3
1
1 5 2
5 3 3 G1
2 4
1
8
S 1 4 G1
1 3
5 4
2
2 4
1 2
1
3 6 3
1
3 4 G2
3
G3
G3

⚫ Routers 3, 4, and 6 send prune messages upstream

Example: RPM Multicast Tree
G1 G1
1
3 7 2
2 4
2 4 2 3
1
1 5 2
5 3 3 G1
2 4
1
8
S 1 4 G1
1 3
5 4
2
2 4
1 2
1
3 6 3
1
3 4 G2
3
G3
G3

⚫ RPM multicast tree after pruning

Example: Graft from Router 6
G1 G1
1
3 7 2
2 4
2 4 2 3
1
1 5 2
5 3 3 G1
2 4
1
8
S 1 4 G1
1 3
5 4 Graft
2
2 4
1 2
1
3 6 3
1
3 4 G1
3
G3
G3

⚫ Graft message flows upstream to router 1

Example: RPM Tree after Graft
G1 G1
1
3 7 2
2 4
2 4 2 3
1
1 5 2
5 3 3 G1
2 4
1
8
S 1 4 G1
1 3
5 4
2
2 4
1 2
1
3 6 3
1
3 4 G1
3
G3
G3
Network Address Translation
(NAT)
⚫ Class A, B, and C addresses have been set aside for
use within private internets
⚫ Packets with private (“unregistered”) addresses are
discarded by routers in the global Internet
⚫ NAT (RFC 1631): method for mapping packets from
hosts in private internets into packets that can
traverse the Internet
⚫ A device (computer, router, firewall) acts as an agent
between a private network and a public network
⚫ A number of hosts can share a limited number of registered
IP addresses
⚫ Static/Dynamic NAT: map unregistered addresses to
registered addresses
⚫ Overloading: maps multiple unregistered addresses into a
single registered address (e.g. Home LAN)
NAT Operation (Overloading)
Address Translation Table:
192.168.0.10; x 128.100.10.15; y
192.168.0.13; w 128.100.10.15; z

192.168.0.10;x
128.100.10.15;y
Private Network
NAT Public Network
192.168.0.13;w
Device
128.100.10.15; z

⚫ Hosts inside private networks generate packets with private IP

address & TCP/UDP port #s
⚫ NAT maps each private IP address & port # into shared global IP
address & available port #
⚫ Translation table allows packets to be routed unambiguously