CCNA Exploration Chapter 10 Link State Routing Summary Link state routing protocols used on IP networks are Open

Shortest Path First (OSPF) and Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS). Both use the Shortest Path First or Dijkstra algorithm to calculate the cost of a path. OSPF was designed by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) and so it was intended for use with the TCP/IP protocol suite. IS-IS was designed by ISO (International Organization for Standardization) for use with the OSI protocol suite. Support for IP was added later. Designed to move information

efficiently within a computer network. It accomplishes this by determining the best route for datagrams through a packet-switched network. The protocol was defined in ISO/IEC 10589:2002 as an international standard within the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference design. Though originally an ISO standard, the IETF republished the protocol as an Internet Standard in RFC 1142. IS-IS has been called "the de facto standard for large service provider network backbones." Because of this IS-IS can use IPv4 or IPv6 without change unlike OSPF, which runs on top of layer 3 and therefore is dependent of the layer 3 addressing.
A link state routing protocols uses its cost metric to determine best path. A route with more hops can have a lower total cost than a route with fewer hops. The lowest cost route is taken as the shortest path so the shortest path is not necessary the path with the smallest number of hops. OSPFs routing metric is cost. Routers running a link state routing protocol become aware of neighbours that are also running the same routing protocol by exchanging Hello messages. A link state packet (LSP) contains information assembled by a router about its directly connected links. When a router receives a link state packet from a neighbour it stores the information in a database and floods the link state packet to any other neighbours. When link state packets have all been exchanged a router will use the information in its link state database to work out the complete topology of the area, and calculate the best path to each network in the area. Directly connected network routes are placed into a routers routing table first. A link is an interface on a router. A neighbour is a router on a directly connected network that is running the same routing protocol and the same process number. Before a link can be included in LSPs the interface must have an IP address and be up and the network for that link must be included in a network statement. 1. 2. 3. 4. A link state packet (LSP) will include the following: The interface's IP address and subnet mask. The type of network, such as Ethernet (broadcast) or Serial point-to-point link. The cost of that link. Any neighbour routers on that link.
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Ciscos implementation of OSPF calculates cost using the bandwidth of the link. Hello messages are used to make initial contact between neighbour routers so that they can become adjacent. They continue to be sent as a keepalive packet to show that the neighbour is still active.
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The link state packets have sequence numbers so that a router can tell whether a particular link state packet has already been received in order to determine if it is receiving new information or not. OSPF routers do not communicate best paths to each other. Each router determines the best paths for itself by using the information in its link state database. After a router has calculated the best route to each network these routes are added to the routing table. Link state routers send out LSPs when they first become adjacent and when there is a change in the topology. In principle they do not need to send out regular updates, however OSPF does send updates every 30 minutes. (Paranoid updates.) Link state routers converge more quickly than routers running a traditional distance vector routing protocol. LSPs are forwarded immediately and unchanged until all routers have received them. There is no delay while a router carries-out processing so when all routers have received the packets, the calculations are simultaneous. OSPF and IS-IS are suitable for very large groups of networks because they have a hierarchical design so that the large group of networks can be split into areas. Route aggregation can then be used between areas, and problems can generally be confined within one area. The hierarchical design can help to cut down on processing time and the use of bandwidth because routers flood LSPs only within their own area. If a link goes down then only routers in the area need to exchange LSPs and recalculate. If other areas need to be informed that a network is unavailable, then this is done in a way that does not force them to recalculate their routes. Link state routing protocols make high demands on bandwidth when routers first start up, and when a network is unstable with many topology changes. At other times there should be a low demand on bandwidth. Link state routing protocols require the use of relatively modern routers because they need more memory and processing power than more traditional distance vector routing protocols.

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