th

10 Week

ICT & Electronics

Data Communications and Networking: Dynamic Routing Protocols
T D KAVU
 1. Introduction

Dynamic routing performs the same function as static routing except it is more
robust. Static routing allows routing tables in specific routers to be set up in a
static manner so network routes for packets are set.

If a router on the route goes down the destination may become unreachable.
Dynamic routing allows routing tables in routers to change as the possible
routes change. There are several protocols used to support dynamic routing
including RIP and OSPF.

Network professionals must understand when to use static or dynamic routing.

Dynamic routing certainly has several advantages over static routing;
however, static routing is still used in networks today. In fact, networks typically
use a combination of both static and dynamic routing.

Routing protocols specify how routers communicate with each other by
spreading information. The router has prior knowledge about the adjacent
networks, which can assist in selecting the routes between two nodes.
 Difference Between Static and Dynamic Routing

Static routing is simply the process of manually entering routes into the routing
table of a device using its configuration file that is loaded when the routing device
starts up.

In static routing, all the changes in the logical network layout need to be manually
done by the system administrator.

However, dynamic routing allows routers to select the best path when there is a
real time logical network layout change.

Static routing doesn't require any routing algorithm or update mechanisms.

The ability to scale and recover from internetwork faults makes dynamic routing the
better choice for medium, large, and very large inter network.

The dynamic routing protocol is further classified into distance vector routing
protocol and link state routing protocol
Dynamic Versus Static Routing
 Advantages of Static Routing

Providing ease of routing table maintenance in smaller networks that are not
expected to grow significantly.

Routing to and from a stub network, which is a network with only one default
route out and no knowledge of any remote networks.

Accessing a single default route (which is used to represent a path to any
network that does not have a more specific match with another route in the
routing table).

Static routing is easy to implement in a small network. Static routes stay the
same, which makes them fairly easy to troubleshoot. Static routes do not send
update messages and, therefore, require very little overhead.

Very secure. No advertisements are sent, unlike with dynamic routing
protocols.

It is very predictable, as the route to the destination is always the same.

No routing algorithm or update mechanisms are required. Therefore, extra
resources (CPU and memory) are not required.
 Disadvantages

Suitable for simple topologies or for special purposes such as a default static
route.

Configuration complexity increases dramatically as the network grows.
Managing the static configurations in large networks can become time
consuming.

If a link fails, a static route cannot reroute traffic. Therefore, manual
intervention is required to re-route traffic.
 Advantages of Dynamic Routing

Dynamic routing protocols help the network administrator manage the time-
consuming and exacting process of configuring and maintaining static routes.

Suitable in all topologies where multiple routers are required.

Generally independent of the network size.

Automatically adapts topology to reroute traffic if possible.
 Disadvantages

Can be more complex to initially implement.

Less secure due to the broadcast and multicast routing updates. Additional
configuration settings such as passive interfaces and routing protocol
authentication are required to increase security.

Route depends on the current topology.

Requires additional resources such as CPU, memory, and link bandwidth.
Types of Routing Protocols
 Operations of Dynamic Routing Protocols

The operations of a dynamic routing protocol vary depending on the type of
routing protocol and the specific operations of that routing protocol.

In general, the operations of a dynamic routing protocol can be described as
follows:

1. The router sends and receives routing messages on its interfaces.

2. The router shares routing messages and routing information with other
routers that are using the same routing protocol.

3. Routers exchange routing information to learn about remote networks.

4. When a router detects a topology change, the routing protocol can advertise
this change to other routers.
 Classifying Routing Protocols

The most commonly used routing protocols are as follows:

■ RIP: A distance vector interior routing protocol

■ IGRP: The distance vector interior routing protocol developed by Cisco
(deprecated

from Cisco IOS Release 12.2 and later)

■ OSPF: A link-state interior routing protocol

■ IS-IS: A link-state interior routing protocol

■ EIGRP: The advanced distance vector interior routing protocol developed by
Cisco

■ BGP: A path vector exterior routing protocol
 Distance Vector Routing Protocols

Distance vector means that routes are advertised as vectors of distance and
direction.

Distance is defined in terms of a metric such as hop count, and direction is
simply the next hop router or exit interface

Distance vector protocols typically use the Bellman-Ford algorithm for the
best-path route determination.

Some distance vector protocols periodically send complete routing tables to all
connected neighbors. In large networks, these routing updates can become
enormous, causing significant traffic on the links.

Distance vector protocols use routers as signposts along the path to the final
destination. The only information a router knows about a remote network is the
distance or metric to reach that 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.
 Continue

Distance vector protocols work best in situations where

■ The network is simple and flat and does not require a hierarchical design.

■ The administrators do not have enough knowledge to configure and
troubleshoot linkstate protocols.

■ Specific types of networks, such as hub-and-spoke networks, are being
implemented.

■ Worst-case convergence(is when the routing tables of all routers are at a
state of consistency. The network has converged when all routers have
complete and accurate information about the network. Convergence time is
the time it takes routers to share information, calculate best paths, and update
their routing tables.) times in a network are not a concern.
 Link-State Protocol Operation

In contrast to distance vector routing protocol operation, a router configured with a
link state routing protocol can create a “complete view,” or topology, of the network
by gathering information from all the other routers.

The signposts along the way from source to destination are not necessary,
because all link-state routers are using an identical “map” of the network.

A link-state router uses the link-state information to create a topology map and to
select the best path to all destination networks in the topology.

With some distance vector routing protocols, routers send periodic updates of their
routing information to their neighbors. Link-state routing protocols do not use
periodic updates. After the network has converged, a link-state update is only sent
when there is a change in the topology.

Link-state protocols work best in situations where

■ The network design is hierarchical, usually occurring in large networks.

■ The administrators have a good knowledge of the implemented link-state routing
protocol.

■ Fast convergence of the network is crucial.
 OSPF

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a link-state routing protocol and It computes
the shortest path tree for each route using a method based on Dijkstra algorithm, a
shortest path first algorithm.

This interior gateway protocol (IGP) is most popular in large enterprise networks.

It gathers link state information from available routers and constructs a topology
map of the network.

The topology determines the routing table presented to the Internet Layer which
makes routing decisions based solely on the destination IP address found in IP
packets.

It exhibits faster routing compared to RIP. OSPF detects changes in the topology,
such as link failures and converges on a new loop-free routing structure within
seconds.

Each OSPF router stores the local network connection state with Link State
Advertisement (LSA) and advertises to the entire AS

LSA is a packet that contains all relevant information regarding a router's links and
the state of those links.

Based on the link-state database, each router or system calculates a shortest-path
spanning tree, with itself as the root, using the SPF algorithm.
 Continue

OSPF has five different packet types. Each packet has a specific purpose in
OSPF

route.

1. Hello packet.

2. Database description.

3. Link state request packet.

4. Link state update.

5. Link state acknowledgment packet.
Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP)

The Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) is an enhancement of
IGRP

A hybrid routing protocol which provides significant improvements on IGRP

It having a higher convergence than any other IGP and it is scalable because of
VLSM and route information. To implement the routing the EIGRP maintains three
unique tables to assist in routing traffic, they are neighbour table, topology table and
routing table.

EIGRP saves all routes rather than the best route to ensure the faster convergence.

EIGRP keeps neighbouring routing tables and it only exchange information that it
neighbour would not contain. This property of EIGRP helps to reduce the unwanted
traffic in the network.

EIGRP is commonly used in large networks, and it updates only when a topology
changes but not periodically unlike old Distance-Vector protocols such as RIP.
EIGRP metric is based on its bandwidth, delay, reliability and load.
 Continue

EIGRP uses the following four key technologies that combine to differentiate it
from other routing technologies: 1) Neighbour discovery/recovery mechanism:
Enables routers to dynamically learn about other routers on their directly
attached networks

2) Reliable transport Protocol: It is responsible for guaranteed, ordered
delivery of EIGRP packets to all neighbours.

3) DUAL Finite State Machine: DUAL embodies the decision process for all
route computations

4) Protocol Dependent Modules: EIGRP’s protocol-dependent modules are
responsible for network layer protocol-specific requirements