CCNA/CCNP
Rick Graziani
Cabrillo College
Note to instructors
• Situation: Normal
• Link Down
• Solution #1 – no ip classless
• Solution #2 – discard route
• What about packets destined for 192.168.1.0/24?
• Final Notes
ISP Network
ISP
ISP has static routes for
172.16.0.0/16 and RTA has a static default
192.168.1.0/24 to RTA route 0.0.0.0/0 to ISP
RTA
172.16.4.0/24
172.16.2.0/24
172.16.3.0/24
192.168.1.0/24
RTB RTC
Customer Network
172.16.0.0/16 and 192.168.1.0/24
ISP Network
ISP
ISP has static routes for
172.16.0.0/16 and RTA has a static default
192.168.1.0/24 to RTA route 0.0.0.0/0 to ISP
RTA
172.16.4.0/24
172.16.2.0/24
172.16.3.0/24
192.168.1.0/24
RTB RTC
Customer Network
172.16.0.0/16 and 192.168.1.0/24
ISP Network
ISP
ISP has static routes for
172.16.0.0/16 and RTA has a static default
192.168.1.0/24 to RTA route 0.0.0.0/0 to ISP
RTA
172.16.4.0/24
172.16.2.0/24
172.16.3.0/24
192.168.1.0/24
RTB RTC
Customer Network
172.16.0.0/16 and 192.168.1.0/24
Situation: Normal
• As long as all the networks are up, everything should work fine.
• Actually, we will see later that even when all of our links are up,
there could be a problem.
ISP
ISP has static routes for
172.16.0.0/16 and RTA has a static default
192.168.1.0/24 to RTA route 0.0.0.0/0 to ISP
RTA
172.16.4.0/24
172.16.2.0/24
172.16.3.0/24
192.168.1.0/24
RTB RTC
Customer Network
172.16.0.0/16 and 192.168.1.0/24
RouterA#show ip route
ISP Network
ISP
ISP has static routes for
172.16.0.0/16 and RTA has a static default
192.168.1.0/24 to RTA route 0.0.0.0/0 to ISP
RTA
172.16.4.0/24
172.16.2.0/24
172.16.3.0/24
X
192.168.1.0/24
RTB RTC
Customer Network
172.16.0.0/16 and 192.168.1.0/24
Link down
• What would happen if our link between RTB and RTC failed?
• Obviously, the Remote Office networks would be cut-off from the
Central Office.
• After the routing tables are updated, where would RTA or RTB send
packets with the destination IP address 172.16.4.10?
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 9
Link Down
RouterA#show ip route
• After the routing tables are updated, where would RTA or RTB send
packets with the destination IP address 172.16.4.10?
• If the router is running “ip classless,” it will forward the packet using the
default route. (For information on the ip classless command, see the
presentation on Routing Table Structure.)
• These packets will eventually be sent from RTA to ISP.
• Now what will the ISP router do with these packets for 172.16.4.1?
ISP Network
ISP
ISP has static routes for
172.16.0.0/16 and RTA has a static default
192.168.1.0/24 to RTA route 0.0.0.0/0 to ISP
RTA
172.16.4.0/24
172.16.2.0/24
172.16.3.0/24
X
192.168.1.0/24
RTB RTC
Customer Network
172.16.0.0/16 and 192.168.1.0/24
• Now what will the ISP router do with these packets for 172.16.4.10?
• Since it has a route for this network pointing back to RTA, it will send it back to
RTA.
• This is known as a “blackhole” in the network.
• Now we have a routing loop!
• Theses packets will eventually be dropped when the TTL (Time-to-live) field, in
the IP headers, is decremented to 0.
• RickIsGraziani
there a solution?
graziani@cabrillo.edu 11
Link down – Solution #1: no ip classless
RouterA#show ip route
ISP
ISP has static routes for
172.16.0.0/16 and RTA has a static default
192.168.1.0/24 to RTA route 0.0.0.0/0 to ISP
RTA
172.16.4.0/24
172.16.2.0/24
172.16.3.0/24
192.168.1.0/24
RTB
X RTC
RouterA#show ip route
RouterA#show ip route
ISP
ISP has static routes for
172.16.0.0/16 and RTA has a static default
192.168.1.0/24 to RTA route 0.0.0.0/0 to ISP
RTA
172.16.4.0/24
172.16.2.0/24
172.16.3.0/24
X
192.168.1.0/24
RTB RTC
Customer Network
172.16.0.0/16 and 192.168.1.0/24
ISP
ISP has static routes for
172.16.0.0/16 and RTA has a static default
192.168.1.0/24 to RTA route 0.0.0.0/0 to ISP
RTA
172.16.4.0/24
172.16.2.0/24
172.16.3.0/24
X
192.168.1.0/24
RTB RTC
Customer Network
172.16.0.0/16 and 192.168.1.0/24
ISP
ISP has static routes for
172.16.0.0/16 and RTA has a static default
192.168.1.0/24 to RTA route 0.0.0.0/0 to ISP
RTA
172.16.4.0/24
172.16.2.0/24
172.16.3.0/24
X
192.168.1.0/24
RTB RTC
Customer Network
172.16.0.0/16 and 192.168.1.0/24
ISP
ISP has static routes for
172.16.0.0/16 and RTA has a static default
192.168.1.0/24 to RTA route 0.0.0.0/0 to ISP
RTA
172.16.4.0/24
172.16.2.0/24
172.16.3.0/24
X
192.168.1.0/24
RTB RTC
Customer Network
172.16.0.0/16 and 192.168.1.0/24
ISP
ISP has static routes for
172.16.0.0/16 and RTA has a static default
192.168.1.0/24 to RTA route 0.0.0.0/0 to ISP
RTA
172.16.4.0/24
172.16.2.0/24
172.16.3.0/24
192.168.1.0/24
RTB RTC
Customer Network
172.16.0.0/16 and 192.168.1.0/24
• So, to protect our network from blackholing traffic for routes that are in our network but
no longer reachable (172.16.4.0/24 and 192.168.1.0/24 examples), or for routes
(subnets) that our ISP is routing back to us (172.16.5.0/24 example), discard routes can
be used.
• This also is independent of the ip classless or no ip classless configuration.
• RTA discard routes:
ip route 172.16.0.0 255.255.0.0 null0
ip route 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 null0 200
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 22
Discard Routes
ISP Network
ISP
ISP has static routes for
172.16.0.0/16 and RTA has a static default
192.168.1.0/24 to RTA route 0.0.0.0/0 to ISP
RTA
172.16.4.0/24
172.16.2.0/24
172.16.3.0/24
192.168.1.0/24
RTB RTC
Customer Network
172.16.0.0/16 and 192.168.1.0/24
Final Notes
• Discard routes can be especially useful for networks that use static routes instead of
dynamic routing, in order to prevent routing loops.
• “Configuring discard routes is the only way to prevent routing loops when several major
networks are summarized into a supernet.” Alex Zinin, Cisco IP Routing
• For examples of these and other scenarios, read Cisco IP Routing, by Alex Zinin.
• For more information on the affect of the “ip classless” and “no ip classless” commands,
read my presentation on “The Routing Table -Structure, Lookups, and the ip classless
command.”
Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 23
Cisco IP Routing
by Alex Zinin
Addison-Wesley Pub Co
ISBN: 0201604736
Rick Graziani
graziani@cabrillo.edu
www.cabrillo.edu/~rgraziani