IT2203

IP Routing
Static Routes
These routes are manually configured by network administrators, have low system requirements, and apply to simple,
stable, and small networks. The disadvantage of static routes is that they cannot automatically adapt to network topology
changes and so require manual intervention.

• RTA needs to forward the packets with the

destination address 20.1.1.0/24.
• However, the IP routing table of RTA has only one
direct route, which does not match 20.1.1.0/24.
• In this case, a static route needs to be manually
configured so that the packets sent from RTA to
20.1.1.0/24 can be forwarded to the next hop,
10.0.0.2.

Static routing manually sets up the optimal paths between the source and the destination computers.
Huawei Router Configuration
Specify a next-hop IP address
[Huawei] ip route-static ip-address { mask /mask-length } nexthop-address
for a static route.
Specify an outbound
[Huawei] ip route-static ip-address { mask /mask-length } interface-type interface-number
interface for a static route.
Specify both the outbound
[Huawei] ip route-static ip-address { mask /mask-length } interface-type interface-number [
interface and next hop for a
nexthop-address ]
static route.
Example: Configure static routes on RTA and RTC for • Packets are forwarded hop by hop. Therefore, all
communication between 10.0.0.0/24 and 20.1.1.0/24. the routers along the path from the source to the
destination must have pre-determined routes.
• Forward and backward routes must be available.

Configure RTA:
[RTA] ip route-static 20.1.1.0 255.255.255.0 10.0.0.2

Configure RTC:
[RTC] ip route-static 10.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 S1/0/0

Default Routes are used only when packets

to be forwarded do not match any routing
entry in an IP routing table.

In an IP routing table, a default route is the

route to network 0.0.0.0 (with the mask
0.0.0.0), namely, 0.0.0.0/0.

A packet that matches no routing entry

other than the default route is forwarded to
an address mapped to the default route.

Note: Routers and computers may or may not have a default route stored in their IP routing table. If no default route is
available, IP packets that do not match any routing entry will be silently discarded.
Dynamic Routes

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These routing protocols provide different routing algorithms to adapt to network topology changes.
Static vs. Dynamic Routes

When the network scale expands, it becomes increasingly Dynamic routing protocols automatically discover and
complex to manually configure static routes. In addition, generate routes, and update routes when the topology
when the network topology changes, static routes cannot changes. These protocols reduce the workload of network
adapt to these changes in a timely and flexible manner. administrators and are used on large networks.

Classification of Dynamic Routes

On the Internet, routers need to exchange routing information in the interconnection of networks called Autonomous
Systems (AS or domains), a collection of networks and subnetworks.
• One AS is independent of another AS. An AS can have its own routing algorithm and can be managed
independently. Within AS, one network is connected to another network by an interior gateway.
• The autonomous systems are connected together in the form of a network called the core network (backbone).
The gateways that connect all the autonomous systems to the core network are called exterior gateways.

By Application
Routing protocols are classified as interior gateway protocols (IGPs) or exterior gateway protocols (EGPs).
A. Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) - IGP is meant to dynamically route data across a network that you fully control and
maintain. Basically, interior protocols are meant to dynamically route data across a network that you fully control and
maintain. Example: RIP, OSPF & IS-IS
B. Exterior Gateway Protocol (BGP) - Exterior routing protocols are used to exchange routes between distinctly separate
networks that you have no administrative control over. BGP is the routing protocol used on the Internet; therefore, the
most common enterprise use is to run BGP on your internet edge when connecting to your ISP. Example: Border Gateway
Protocol (BGP)

By Mechanism and Protocol Algorithm

Routing algorithms determine good paths (routes) from senders to receivers through the network of routers.
o Least-cost path - finds a path between the source and destination with the least cost.
o Shortest path - the path with the smallest number of links between the source and the destination.

A. DISTANCE-VECTOR ROUTING PROTOCOL - In this type of routing, all the routers send their routing tables to only their
neighboring routers.
• The routers use the received information to determine any changes that need to be made to their own routing
table. It is iterative in that this process continues on until no more information is exchanged between neighbors.

A router running this protocol periodically

floods routes. Through route exchange,
each router learns routes from
neighboring routers and installs the routes
into its routing table.

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Example: Routing Information Protocol (RIP) – This is a commonly used distance vector routing that uses its routing
metric to determine the best route or shortest path a packet has to traverse from the source to a destination over a
network. RIP is a distance-vector IGP and has a preference of 100.
• RIP uses a hop count as the route cost. A hop count is the number of routers through which a packet passes to
reach its destination. RIP was designed for exchanging information within a limited size network, such as a
network of 250 routes or a maximum of 15 hops.
• A router running RIP sends the contents of its routing table to each of its adjacent routers every 30 seconds.
When a route is removed from the routing table, it is flagged as unusable by the receiving routers after 180
seconds and removed from their tables after an additional 120 seconds.
• RIP routers exchange two types of RIP messages: request and response messages.
o When a RIP router starts up, it sends a RIP request to all of its neighbors to request routing information
of the entire RIP network.
o A running RIP router can also send such a message. Upon receipt of a RIP request, a RIP router
immediately replies with a RIP response that contains the routing information.
• RIPv1 uses IP broadcast packets for its announcements. RIPv2, also allows IP multicast packets for its
announcements.

B. LINK-STATE ROUTING PROTOCOL - In this type of routing, each of the routers sends the state of its own interfaces to
all other routers only when there is a change to report. Each router uses the received information to recalculate the best
path to each network and then saves this information in its routing table.

Link-State Terminologies (Karumachi et. al, 2020)

• Link-State (LS) - the description of the router interface.
o A single IP interface address and interface mask.
o Output cost - the cost of sending data packets on the interface, expressed in the link state metric.
o List of neighboring routers – these are other routers that are attached through the link-state.
• Link-State Advertisement (LSA) - an OSPF data packet containing link-state and routing information that is
shared with the other routers.
• Link-State PDU - a unit of data describing the local state of router's interfaces and adjacencies. The collected LS
advertisements of all routers and networks form the LSDB.
• Link-State Database (LSDB) – a collection of all LS PDUs originated from the area's routers. Each router
advertises directly-connected networks via LS PDU.
o Each router will have a logically separated LSDB for each area the router is connected to.
o Two routers interfacing the same area must have (for that area) identical LSDBs.
o Every router has its own view of the network–it builds a topologic database.

Link-State Process (Huawei)

Step 1. LSA Flooding - Routers
that run a link-state routing
protocol establish a neighbor
relationship and then exchange
Link State Advertisements, which
indicate the devices’ presence
with every interface port of a
router.
Step 2. LSDB Creation - Each
router generates LSAs and adds
the received LSAs to its own link-
state database (LSDB). Routers
learn the whole network topology
through the LSDB.

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Step 3. SPF Calculation - Each router uses the Shortest Path First (SPF) algorithm and LSDB information to calculate
routes. Each router calculates a loop-free tree with itself as the root and the shortest path. With this tree, a router
determines the optimal path to each corner of a network.
Step 4. Routing Table Generation - The router installs routes for the calculated preferred paths into its routing table.

Example: Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) – This is a link-state routing protocol developed by the IETF in 1988 that is
capable of quickly detecting topological changes within the autonomous system and establishing loop-free routes in a
short period of time, with minimum additional communication overhead for negotiating topology changes between
peering routers.
• Area - The OSPF area keyword identifies an OSPF area. The area is considered a logical group, and each group
is identified by an area ID.
• Router ID - uniquely identifies a router in an OSPF area. The router ID can be manually specified or
automatically assigned by the system.
• Cost Value - OSPF uses costs as route metrics. Each OSPF-enabled interface maintains a cost value.
• Important concepts about the relationship between OSPF routers: neighbor relationship and adjacency.

A HELLO packet is a special data packet

(message) that is sent out periodically from a
router to establish and confirm network
adjacency relationships to other routers in the
OSPF. (Karumachi et al., 2022)
Note: OSPF is enabled on interconnected interfaces. The routers start to send and listen to Hello packets. After the two
routers discover each other through Hello packets, they establish a neighbor relationship.

• OSPF routers exchange link

status information, but not
routes. Link status information
is key information for OSPF to
perform topology and route
calculation.
• An OSPF router collects link
status information on a
network and stores the
information in the LSDB.
Routers are aware of the
intra-area network topology
and are able to calculate loop-
free paths.

OSPF Display Commands (Huawei)

The OSPF neighbor

table describes the
status of the neighbor
relationship between
OSPF routers.
[R1] display ospf peer

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Run the command to

query the LSDB.
[R1] display ospf peer

An OSPF routing table

contains information,
such as the destination
IP address, cost, and
next-hop IP address,
which guides packet
forwarding.

[R1] display ospf routing

Example: IS-IS (Intermediate System-to-Intermediate System) forms neighbor adjacencies, has areas, exchanges link-
state packets, builds a link-state database, and runs the Dijkstra’s (Shortest Path First) algorithm to find the best path to
each destination, which is installed in the routing table. (Cisco)

IS-IS Terminologies
• IS (Intermediate System) is the ISO name for a router. It is the communication between intermediate systems
or routers.
• ES (End System) is a device on the network, such as a server or workstation. (Hosts)
• CLNS (Connection-Less Network Service) is a network service in the OSI stack.
• NSAP (Network Service Access Point) is a Layer-3 address for CLNS packets. This is like an IP address in the
TCP/IP stack. IS-IS uses NSAP addresses for communication, not IP addresses.

IS-IS Router Types

• Level 1 – A router in a normal area that does not connect to
another area. (Red)
o Level 1 Routing: Level 1 routers will only share routing
information with other Level 1 routers.
• Level 2 – A backbone router that does not connect to other
areas. (Green)
o Level 2 Routing: Level 2 routers will only share routing
information with other Level 2 routers. These routers track
routing information between areas.
• Level 1-2 – A router in a normal or backbone area that connects
different areas. (Blue)
o Level 1-2 routers are special, as they take part in both level
1 and level 2 routing. They connect areas together.

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IS-IS Inter-Area Routing (Level 1-2 Routing)

• Step 1: To route a packet outside an area, a level 1 router sends
Note: To optimize routing, it is possible to
the packet to the nearest level 2 capable router. The nearest
leak routes from the level 2 database into
router is always used, regardless of the destination. Level 1 routers
the level 1 database. This technique
don’t have enough information about other areas to make a
prevents suboptimal routing outside the
decision.
area. When leaking routes, they have a flag
• Step 2: When the packet reaches the level 2 router, it gets
added. This prevents advertising them back
forwarded across the backbone to get to the correct area. It is then
into the level 2 database elsewhere.
passed on to a level 1 router in the area for local delivery.

References:
Comer, D. (2019). The Internet book: Everything you need to know about computer networking and how the Internet
works. CRC Press.
Huawei. (2020). HCIA-Datacom V1.0 Training Material.
Introduction to IS-IS. In networkdirection.net [Web Article]. Retrieved on February 3, 2022 from
https://networkdirection.net/articles/routingandswitching/introductiontois-is/
Froehlich, A. (2016). In networkingcomputing.com. Comparing dynamic routing protocols [Web Article]. Retrieved on
February 3, 2022 from https://www.networkcomputing.com/data-centers/comparing-dynamic-routing-protocols
Karumanchi, N., Damodaram, A., & Rao, S. (2020). Elements of computer networking: An integrated approach. Career
Monk.
Kurose, T & Ross, K. (2021). Computer networking: A top-down approach. Pearson.
Robertazzi, T. (2017). Introduction to computer networking. Springer International.
Wright, G. (n.d.). HELLO packets – In techtarget.com [Web Article]. Retrieved on February 23, 2022 from
https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/HELLO-packet

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