Basic Network and Routing Concepts

Dynamic Routing Protocols in the Enterprise Network Infrastructure

• It is a best practice that you use one IP
routing protocol throughout the
enterprise, if possible.
• One common example of when
multiple routing protocols are used is
when the organization is multihomed.
• In this scenario, the most commonly
used protocol to exchange routes with
the service provider is Border Gateway
Protocol (BGP), whereas within the
organization, Open Shortest Path First
(OSPF) or Enhanced Interior Gateway
Routing Protocol (EIGRP) is typically
used.
• In a single-homed infrastructures static
routes are commonly used between the
customer and the ISP.
Choosing a of Dynamic Routing Protocols
Input requirements :
• Size of network
• Multivendor support
• Knowledge level of specific protocol

Protocol characteristics :
• Type of routing algorithm
• Speed of convergence
• Scalability
IGP and EGP Routing Protocols
An autonomous system (AS) represents a collection of network devices under a
common administrator.

Routing protocols can be divided based on whether they exchange routes within an
AS or between different autonomous systems:

Interior Gateway Protocols (IGP)

• Support small, medium-sized, and large organizations, but their scalability has its
limits. Fast convergence, and basic functionality is not complex to configure. The
most commonly used IGPs in enterprises are EIGRP, OSPF and RIP is rarely used.
IS-IS is also commonly found as ISP IGP
Exterior Gateway Protocols (EGP)
• Used to exchange routes between different autonomous systems. BGP is the only
EGP that is used today. The main function of BGP is to exchange a huge number
of routes between different autonomous systems.
Types of Routing Protocols

Distance vector protocols

 The distance vector routing approach determines the direction (vector) and distance (such as link cost
or number of hops) to any link in the network. The only information that a router knows about a remote
network is the distance or metric to reach this network and which path or interface to use to get there.
Distance vector routing protocols do not have an actual map of the network topology.
Link-state protocols
 The link-state approach uses the Shortest Path First (SPF) algorithm to create an abstract of the exact
topology of the entire network or at least within its area. A link-state routing protocol is like having a
complete map of the network topology. The map is used to determine best path to a destination.
Path vector protocols
 Path information is used to determine the best paths and to prevent routing loops. Similar to distance
vector protocols, path vector protocols do not have an abstract of the network topology. Path vector
protocols indicate direction and distance, but also include additional information about the specific path
of the destination.
Importance of Convergence
• The process of when
routers notice change in
the network, exchange the
information about the
change, and perform
necessary calculations to
reevaluate the best routes.

 To minimize downtime and quickly respond to network changes, a

fast convergence time is desired.
Route Summarization
• Route summarization
reduces routing
overhead and improve
stability and scalability
of routing by reducing
the amount of routing
information that is
maintained and
exchanged between
routers.

Less frequent and smaller updates, as a result of route

summarization, also lower convergence time.
Routing Protocol Scalability
Scalability factors include:
• Number of routes
• Number of adjacent neighbors
• Number of routers in the network
• Network design
• Frequency of changes
• Available resources (CPU and memory)

• The scalability of the routing protocol and its configuration options to

support a larger network can play an important role when evaluating
routing protocols against each other.
Principles of Static Routing
A static route can be used in the following circumstances
• When it is undesirable to have dynamic routing updates forwarded across slow
bandwidth links, such as a dialup link.
• When the administrator needs total control over the routes used by the router.
• When a backup to a dynamically recognized route is necessary.
• When it is necessary to reach a network accessible by only one path (a stub network).
• When a router connects to its ISP and needs to have only a default route.
• When a router is underpowered and does not have the CPU or memory resources
necessary to handle a dynamic routing protocol.
Configuring an IPv4 Static Route
ip route prefix mask { address | interface [ address ]} [ dhcp ] [ distance ] [ name next-hop-name ]
[ permanent | track number ] [ tag tag ]
Configuring a Static Default Route
Policy-Based Routing.
The Need for Path Control
• Path control tools can be used to change the default destination forwarding and optimize
the path of the packets for some specific application.
• Other examples of path control include switching traffic to the backup link if there is a
primary link failure, or forwarding some traffic to the backup link if the primary link is
congested.
• Path control mechanisms can improve performance in such a situation.
• Similarly, load balancing can divide traffic among parallel paths.
• It is important to provide predictable and deterministic control over traffic patterns.
• Unfortunately, there is not a “one-command” solution to implement path control.
The Need for Path Control
• You can use all of these tools as part of an integrated strategy to implement path control.
Implementing Path Control Using
Policy-Based Routing
• PBR enables the administrator to define a routing policy other than basic destination-
based routing using the routing table.
• With PBR, route maps can be used to match source and destination addresses, protocol
types, and end-user applications.
• When a match occurs, a set command can be used to define items, such as the interface
or next-hop address to which the packet should be sent.
PBR Features
• Source-based transit-provider selection
• PBR policies can be implemented by ISPs and other organizations to route traffic that originates from
different sets of users through different Internet connections across the policy routers.
• QoS
• PBR policies can be implemented to provide quality of service (QoS) to differentiated traffic by setting the
type of service (ToS) values in the IP packet headers in routers at the periphery of the network and then
leveraging queuing mechanisms to prioritize traffic in the network’s core or backbone.
• Cost savings
• PBR policies can be implemented to direct the bulk traffic associated with a specific activity to use a
higher-bandwidth, high-cost link for a short time and to continue basic connectivity over a lower-
bandwidth, low-cost link for interactive traffic.
• Load sharing
• PBR policies can be implemented based on the traffic characteristics to distribute traffic among multiple
paths.
Steps for Configuring PBR
1. Enable PBR by configuring a route map using the route-map global configuration
command.
2. Implement the traffic-matching configuration, specifying which traffic will be
manipulated. This is done using the match commands within the route map.
3. Define the action for the matched traffic. This is done using the set commands within
the route map.
4. Optionally, fast-switched PBR or CEF-switched PBR can be enabled.
5. Apply the route map to incoming traffic or to traffic locally generated on the router
using the ip policy route-map interface configuration command.
Configuring PBR – Route-Map
• If the statement is marked as permit , such as in route-map MY-MAP permit 10 ,
packets that meet all the match criteria are policy-based routed.
• If the statement is marked as deny , such as in route-map MY-MAP deny 10 , a packet
meeting the match criteria is not policy-based routed. Instead, it is sent through the
normal forwarding channels and destination-based routing is performed.
• If no match is found in the route map, the packet is not dropped. It is forwarded through
the normal routing channel, which means that destination-based routing is performed.
PBR match Commands
PBR set Commands
Configuring PBR Example
• Verify normal traffic paths as selected by the traditional destination-based routing
• Configure PBR to alter the traffic flow for one client station
• Verify both the PBR configuration and the new traffic path
Verify Normal Traffic Paths
Configure PBR to Alter the Traffic Flow from the Notebook
Verify the PBR Configuration and Traffic Path
Implementing Path Control Using Cisco IOS IP SLAs
• PBR is a static path control mechanism. It cannot respond
dynamically to changes in network health.
IP SLA Features
• Cisco IOS IP SLAs perform network performance measurement within Cisco devices.
• The IP SLAs use active traffic monitoring (generation of traffic in a continuous, reliable,
and predictable manner) for measuring network performance.
• Cisco IOS IP SLAs actively send simulated data across the network to measure
performance between multiple network locations or across multiple network paths.
• The information collected includes data about response time, one-way latency, jitter,
packet loss, voice-quality scoring, network resource availability, application
performance, and server response time.
• In its simplest form, Cisco IOS IP SLAs verify whether a network element, such as an IP
address on a router interface or an open TCP port on an IP host, is active and responsive.
Cisco IOS IP SLA Sources and Targets
Steps for Configuring IP SLAs
• Step 1. Define one or more IP SLA operations (or probes).
• Step 2. Define one or more tracking objects to track the state of IOS IP SLA operations.
• Step 3. Define the action associated with the tracking object.
Step 1. Configuring Cisco IOS IP SLA Operations
• Use the ip sla operation-number global configuration command to begin
configuring a Cisco IOS IP SLA operation and to enter IP SLA configuration mode. The
operationnumber is the identification number of the IP SLA operation to be configured.
IP SLA icmp-echo
• The complete command syntax is icmp-echo { destination-ip-address |
destinationhostname} [ source-ip { ip - address | hostname } | source-interface
interface-name ].
IP SLA ICMP Echo Configuration Mode Commands
Schedule the IP SLA Operation
• Once a Cisco IP SLA operation is configured, it needs to be scheduled using the ip sla
schedule global configuration command.
ip sla schedule operation-number [ life { forever | seconds }] [ start-time
{ hh:mm [ :ss ] [ month day | day month ] | pending | now | after hh:mm:ss }] [
ageout seconds ] [ recurring ]
Step 2: Configuring Cisco IOS IP SLA Tracking Objects
• Use the track object-number ip sla operation-number { state |
reachability } global configuration command to track the state of an IOS IP SLA
operation, and enter track configuration mode.
delay Command Parameters
• Once in IP SLA track configuration mode, use the optional delay { up seconds
[ down seconds ] | [ up seconds ] down seconds } track configuration
command to specify a period of time to delay communicating state changes of a tracked
object.
Step 3: Defining an Action Associated with a Tracking Object
• Many types of actions can be associated with a tracked object.
• A simple path control action is to use the ip route prefix mask { ip-address
| interface-type interface-number [ ip-address ]} [ track
number ] global configuration command.
• The command can be used with the track keyword to establish a static route that tracks
an object.
Configuring IP SLA Example
• The static route to ISP1a (ISP-1), which has been assigned an administrative distance of
2
• The static route to ISP2a (ISP-2), which has been assigned an administrative distance of
3
In the example, you will
• Configure an IP SLA operation with the ISP 1 DNS server
• Define a tracking object assign an action
• Configure an IP SLA operation with the ISP 2 DNS server
• Define a tracking object assign an action
Configure IP SLA and Track Object for ISP 1
Configure IP SLA and Track Object for ISP 2
Configuring PBR and IP SLA Example
• In this scenario, traffic paths for the clients at first branch office
(router BR1) will be optimized using PBR and IP SLA. EIGRP is
already configured between HQ and BR1, and all traffic flows
over the Ethernet WAN link because it has the lowest EIGRP
metric route.
In the example, you will
• The new network policy for BR1 dictates that
• Web traffic to the HQ site should be redirected over the serial link.
• All other traffic from Notebook should go via BR2 but only if BR2 is reachable.
• In the example, you will
• Redirect web traffic from clients on the BR1 router going to the HQ router over the serial link using
PBR
• Ensure that BR2 is reachable by using an IP SLA ICMP echo test to its WAN interface
• Redirect all other traffic from Notebook to router BR2 if BR2 is reachable
Redirecting Web Traffic from BR1 to HQ Using PBR
Ensuring That BR2 Is Reachable Using IP SLA
Redirect Traffic from Notebook to BR2 If Reachable
Verify Route Maps
Verify That the Route Map Is Applied
Verify IP SLA Operations
Verify Tracking Objects
Summary
• Overview of path control tools, including PBR and Cisco IOS IP SLAs.
• Using PBR to control path selection, providing benefits including source-based transit
provider selection, QoS, cost savings, and load sharing. PBR is applied to incoming
packets; enabling PBR causes the router to evaluate all packets incoming on the
interface using a route map configured for that purpose.
• Configuring and verifying PBR, including the following steps:
• Choose the path control tool to use; for PBR, route-map commands are used
• Implement the traffic-matching configuration, specifying which traffic will be manipulated; match
commands are used within route maps
• Define the action for the matched traffic, using set commands within route maps
• Apply the route map to incoming traffic or to traffic locally generated on the router
• Verify path control results, using show commands
Summary
• Cisco IOS IP SLAs, which use active traffic monitoring, generating traffic in a continuous,
reliable, and predictable manner, to measure network performance. IOS IP SLAs can be
used in conjunction with other tools, including the following:
• Object tracking, to track the reachability of specified objects
• Cisco IOS IP SLAs probes, to send different types of probes toward the desired objects
• Static routes with tracking options, as a simpler alternative to PBR
• Route maps with PBR, to associate the results of the tracking to the routing process

• Cisco IOS IP SLA terminology, including the following:

• All the Cisco IOS IP SLA measurement probe operations are configured on the IP SLA source, either by the
CLI or through an SNMP tool that supports IP SLA operation. The source sends probe packets to the target.
• There are two types of IP SLA operations: those in which the target device is running the IP SLA responder
component, and those in which the target device is not running the IP SLA responder component (such as a
web server or IP host).
• An IP SLA operation is a measurement that includes protocol, frequency, traps, and thresholds.