Routing Basic

Routing is delivering the incoming packets to the

destination.

Routing involves two basic activities: Determination of optimal path to the destination.
Transport or delivery of packets to the
destination.

Routing Basic

Two methods of delivery of packets

Direct Delivery
Indirect Delivery

Direct Delivery

In Direct Delivery the final destination of the packet is a

host connected to the same physical network as the
sender.
This will occur when the source and the destination are
located in the same physical network or if the delivery is
between the last and the destination host.
The sender uses the destination IP address to find the
destinations physical address.
The IP software then delivers the destination IP address
with the destination's physical address to the data Link.

Host A

Direct Delivery
Host B

To rest of Internet

Direct Delivery

Indirect delivery

If the destination is not on the same network as

the sender the packet goes from router to router.
The packet travels until reaches the router
connected to the same physical network as its
final destination.
The last delivery is always direct delivery.

Indire

ct del

ivery

Host A
Indirect delivery

R1
Indirect delivery

R2
R3

Direct delivery

Indirect Delivery

Host B

Routing Methods

Routing requires a host or a router to have a

routing table.
Several techniques can make the size of the
routing table manageable.
They are:
Next Hop Routing
Network Specific Routing
Host specific Routing
Default Routing.

Routing Methods
Next hop routing:

In this method the routing table holds only the address of

the next hop, instead of holding complete route
information.
Network Specific Routing:
Instead of having an entry for every host connected to the
same physical network, only one entry to define the address
of the network.
Host Specific Routing:
The host address is given in the routing table.
Default Routing:
Instead of listing all networks in the entire Internet a host
can just have one entry called the default address.

Host A

Destn Next Hop

R1

Host B

----

R2
Network 1

Network 2

Destn Next Hop

Destn Next Hop

Host B

Host B

R1

Network 3

R2

Host B

Next Hop Routing

R1
N1

N2

Host Specific Routing

Destn

Next Hop

R1

R1

R1

R1

D
Network Specific Routing
Destn
Next Hop

R1

N2

R1

N1

Destn

Next Hop

Host B

R3

N2

R1

N3

R3

R3

R1
R2
N2

N3
Host Specific Routing

Dest
N2
Default

Next Hop
R1
R2
R1

N1

N2

R1

Internet

Routing Basic

When looking for the route, the router must first

check for direct delivery, then host specific delivery,
then network specific delivery and finally default
delivery.

A host or a router keeps a routing table,

with an entry for each destination , to route
IP packets.
The routing table may be
Static
Dynamic

Static Routing

Static routing table mappings are established

manually by the network administrator.
Static routing system cannot react to network
changes.
They are not suitable for Todays large
Internetwork.

Dynamic routing

By using Routing protocol the routers can

automatically update any change in the route
Dynamically. This is known as Dynamic routing.
In large WAN with multiple links between
networks Routers perform more effectively when
they under stand how the network is linked.
Routers does this by exchanging information
with other Routers.
As as result Routers create Routing Table that
shows the best path between the various links.

Routing Basic

Wide variety of Routing Protocols can be found

Some are Proprietary or Single vendor for their own
products.
Others are open that have been standardised by official
sanctioning Agencies.
Among the Proprietary are
IPX
IGRP
Open Protocols (They are standardised by Internet Activity
Board (IAB) and ISO
RIP
OSPF
Intermediate System to Intermediate System

Routing Algorithms
All dynamic routing protocols are based on some

algorithms.
Algorithms must be able to quickly determine the
Network topology.
This process is called Convergence.
Convergence must take place rapidly.
Each algorithm has a different impact on Network
and Routers.
Routing algorithms use a variety of Metrics
that affect calculation of Optimal Routs.

 Commonly used algorithms are

Distance Vector Protocol
Link Status Protocol

Path Determination

When there are multiple routes to the same destination,

a router must have a mechanism for calculating the
best path.
A metric is a variable assigned to routers as a
means of ranking them from best to worst or from
most preferred to least preferred.
Different routing protocols use different and
sometimes multiple metrics.

Metrics

The following are the metrics used.

Hop Count
Bandwidth
Load
Delay
Reliability
Cost

Distance Vector Protocol

In Distance Vector routing protocol each routers

keeps a routing table of its perspective of the
network.

The distance vector protocol is also known as FordFulkerson routing algorithm named after the
inventors.

It is also named as Bellman -Ford algorithm because

it was based on the Bellman Equation.

Each routers takes the routing information passed to

it, adds one hop to the route and passes the updated
information to the next.

Distance Vector Protocol

Routers create a network map by communicating in a

periodic and progressive sequence with other.
This information exchange helps them determine the
scope of their network in a series of router hops that
reveals more information about the network.
When the router is started it knows only the networks it
is connected directly.
Then advertises information about its immediate
connections to the other routers directly connected.
The Distance vector routing protocol uses second hand
information from their neighbor.

Link Status Protocol

Based on Shortest Path First or Dijkstra Algorithm.

SPF routers send link-state data to all routers.

Sending of link state advertisements (LSAs) to all other routers

within the same hierarchical area.
The routers perform two task
First they use the link-state data to build a complete table of
router and network connections.
Then each router calculates the optimal path to each link.

When a router detects changes in the state of its direct link the
router broadcast the change to all others through a process called
flooding.

Routing Basic

Routing protocols are divided into

Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGP)
Exterior Gateway Routing Protocol (EGP)

Routing Basic

Interior Gateway Protocol

Interior Gateway Protocol are used within an Autonomous

System to dynamically determine the best route.
They are
Distance Vector
Routing Information Protocol (RIP)
Routing Information Protocol 2 (RIP 2)

Link Status Protocol

Open Shortest path first(OSPF)

Internet Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP)
Enhanced IGRP
Integrated Intermediate System to Intermediate System

Exterior Gateway Protocol

Exterior Gateway protocol is known as inter domain

Protocol.
Used to exchange routing information between
different Autonomous systems. administration.
Exterior gateway protocols require the following three
sets of information before routing can begin.
A list of neighbor (or Peer) routers with which to
exchange routing information.
A list of Networks to advertise as directly reachable.
The Autonomous system number of the Local
Router.

Exterior Gateway Protocol

Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP)

Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
Border Gateway Protocol 4 (BGP 4)

Routing Information Protocol

RIP is a Distance Vector Protocol.

If the updates does not receive with in 180 Sec then

the route is declared as unreachable .

RIP routing table entries

the destination (Network or Host or Default)

Each router automatically sends a copy of its routing

table to each of its neighbors very 30 sec.

Metric indicating the Distance

Interface to use.
Gateway to use.
Timer, reset whenever the entry is updated.

Routing Information Protocol

RIP maintains only the best route to a destination.

RIP uses single routing metric (Hop count).

When a new information provides a better route

this will replace old route information.

RIP Features
Hop-count:
Maximum 15 hops. Beyond that unreachable.

Split Horizon:
Never send the information about a router back in the
same direction. (Called reverse route)

Split Horizon with poisoned reverse:

Advertises reverse routes but with an unreachable
metric.

Triggered Updates
If metric changes send out an update (Flash update)

Hold-Downs:
Prevents regular update for a route has gone bad.

Problems with RIP

Slow convergence
Not suitable for Larger Network. (Hop count is 15)
Not Support the variable Length Subnet Mask.
Only uses one path (Only one entry per destination)
No provision for load balancing.

HOP count are only a crude metric - does not

produce optimal route.
Max data gram size is 512 byte.

RIP 2
Support VLSM
Routing Tags to supports EGP
Support multicasting.

Interior Gateway Routing Protocol

Developed by CISCO in the mid 1980s.
IGRP uses a combination of matrics
Internetwork Delay
Bandwidth (1200 bps to 10 gigabits)
Reliability
Load (Value 1 to 255)

Enhanced IGRP

With Software Release 9.21 Cisco introduced

EIGRP.
It combines advantage of Link status with the
Distance vector protocols.
EIGRP incorporates the Diffusing Update
Algorithm.

Features of EIGRP
Fast Convergence : EIGRP stores all of its
neighbors routing tables so that it can quickly
adapt to alternate route.
If no appropriate route exists EIGRP queries
its neighbor routers to discover an alternate
route.
Supports VLSM
Partial, bounded updates: Does not make
period updates, instead it sends partial updates
only when the metric for a Route changes.
Multiple Network Layer support: Supports for
AppleTalk, IP and Novell NetWare.

Open Shortest Path First

Using Link State algorithm.
Introduced in 1989
Much lower traffic overhead.
Elimination of count to infinity problem.
Using cost as metric, Metric can be as large as
65535.
Support VLSM
Support a much larger internetwork than RIP.

Open Shortest Path First

Each Router builds a database of the Network.
Exchange only when tables are updated
Provides Load balancing.
Multiple routes to a single destination.

Looping is not formed since each router has

the complete information.
Faster convergence.
Sending link State advertisement to all other
routers.

C.K.Sundaram
SDE Computer
RGM TTC, Chennai 600 027