Network Layer

Routing
 Routing
• Routing algorithm
– Network Layer responsible for deciding on which output
line to transmit an incoming packet.

• Remember:
– For virtual circuit subnets the routing decision is made
ONLY at set up.
 Routing Algorithms
• Goal: determine “good” path (sequence of routers)
through network from source to destination
• Routing algorithms for both datagrams and virtual
circuits should satisfy:
- Correctness - Simplicity
- Simplicity - Robustness
- Stability - Fairness
- Optimality
• Impossible to satisfy everything at the same time
 Routing Algorithm: Graph Abstraction
• Graph abstraction for routing algorithms:
– graph nodes are routers
– graph edges are “physical” links
– Link cost: delay, $cost, or congestion level
• “good” path:
– minimum cost path
 Forwarding vs. Routing
• Forwarding: data plane
• Directing a data packet to an outgoing link
• Individual router using a forwarding table
• Routing: control plane
• Computing paths the packets will follow
• Routers talking amongst themselves
• Individual router creating a forwarding table
 Router Architecture Overview
• Two key router functions:
• Run routing algorithms/protocol (RIP, OSPF, BGP)
• Forwarding datagrams from incoming to outgoing
link

switching
fabric

router input ports routing router output ports

processor
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 Input Port Functions

lookup,
link forwarding
line layer
termination protocol
(receive)
queueing
physical layer:
bit-level reception
data link layer: decentralized switching:
e.g., Ethernet given datagram destination, lookup output port
using forwarding table in input port memory
goal: complete input port processing at ‘line
speed’
queuing: if datagrams arrive faster than
forwarding rate into switch fabric
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 Switching Fabrics
• Transfer packet from input buffer to appropriate output buffer
• Switching rate: rate at which packets can be transfer from inputs
to outputs
– Often measured as multiple of input/output line rate
– N inputs: switching rate N times line rate desirable
• Three types of switching fabrics

memory

memory bus crossbar

 Routing Design Parameters
• Performance Criteria: cost, delay, hops, throughput,
distance, bandwidth, traffic, queue length, ...
• Decision Time: packet-wise, session-wise
• Decision Place: each node, central node, originated
node
• Network information source: none, local, adjacent
node, all nodes
• Network information update time: continuous,
periodic, major load change, topology change
 Routing Classification
• Static vs Dynamic
• Adaptive vs Non-Adaptive
• Single path vs Multi path
• Flat vs Hierarchical
• Inter-Domain vs Intra-Domain
• Link-state vs Distance-vector
• Host intelligent vs Router intelligent
 Shortest Path Routing
1. Bellman-Ford Algorithm [Distance Vector]
2. Dijkstra’s Algorithm [Link State]

What does it mean to be the shortest (or optimal)

route?

1. Minimize mean packet delay

2. Maximize the network throughput
3. Mininize the number of hops along the path
 Shortest-Path Problem
• Given: network topology with link costs
– c(x, y): link cost from node x to node y
– Infinity if x and y are not direct neighbors

• Compute: least-cost paths to all nodes

– From a given source u to all other nodes
– p(v): predecessor node along path from source to v
Routing: Link-State Algorithm
 Dijkstra’s Shortest-Path Algorithm
• Each node has entire map of network.
• Iterative algorithm
– After k iterations, know least-cost path to k nodes
• S: nodes whose least-cost path definitively known
– Initially, S = {u} where u is the source node
– Add one node to S in each iteration
• D(v): current cost of path from source to node v
– Initially, D(v) = c(u,v) for all nodes v adjacent to u
– … and D(v) = ∞ for all other nodes v
• Continually update D(v) as shorter paths are learned
 Dijsktra’s Algorithm
1 Initialization:
2 S = {u}
3 for all nodes v
4 if v adjacent to u {
5 D(v) = c(u,v)
6 else D(v) = ∞
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8 Loop
9 find w not in S with the smallest D(w)
10 add w to S
11 update D(v) for all v adjacent to w and not in S:
12 D(v) = min{D(v), D(w) + c(w,v)}
13 until all nodes in S
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Dijkstra Algorithm: Example

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Dijkstra Algorithm: Example

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Dijkstra Algorithm: Example

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Dijkstra Algorithm: Example

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Dijkstra Algorithm: Example

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Dijkstra Algorithm: Example

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Dijkstra Algorithm: Example

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Dijkstra Algorithm: Example

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Dijkstra Algorithm: Example

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Dijkstra Algorithm: Example

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 Link-State Routing
• Dijkstra’s algorithm nice and well
• But how to obtain centralized view of the entire
network to be able to apply Dijkstra’s algorithm?
– Assumption: only direct neighbors know the (current)
cost of a link or know whether a link has failed/been
restored/upgraded/...
• Solution: Have each node distribute this
information – state of all its links – in the entire
network
 Link-State Routing
• Each router keeps track of its incident links
– Whether the link is up or down
– The cost on the link
• Each router broadcasts the link state
– To give every router a complete view of the graph
• Each router runs Dijkstra’s algorithm
– To compute the shortest paths
– … and construct the forwarding table
• Example protocols
– Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)
– Intermediate System – Intermediate System (IS-IS)
Link State Routing - Concept

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Link State Knowledge

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 Link State Routing
• Strategy
– send to all nodes (not just neighbors)
– information about directly connected links (not entire
routing table)
• Link State Packet (LSP)
– id of the node that created the LSP
– cost of link to each directly connected neighbor
– sequence number
– time-to-live (TTL) for this packet
 Link State Routing
• Reliable flooding
– store most recent LSP from each node
– forward LSP to all nodes but the one that sent it
– generate new LSP periodically (in 1-2 hours)
– increment sequence number
– Start sequence number at 0 when reboot
• Route Calculation
– Dijkstra’s shortest path algorithm
 Link State Routing
• Reaction to Failure
– Router sets link distance to infinity & floods the network
with an update packet
– All routers immediately update their link database &
recalculate their shortest paths
– Recovery very quick
 Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)
• OSPF divides an autonomous system into areas.
• Each area is a collection of networks, hosts and
routers.
• Every router in the same area has the same link state
database
• Special routers called autonomous system boundary
routers are responsible for dissipate information about
other autonomous systems into the current system.
• Metric based on type of service
– Administrator can assign the cost to each route based on
type of service (minimum delay, maximum throughput...etc)
OSPF: Areas in an autonomous system

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OSPF: type of links
OSPF: link state advertisement

Network Link

Router Link
 OSPF: LSA cont.

Summary link to Network

Summary link to AS boundary router

External Link
Example of an AS and its graphical
representation in OSPF
Shortest Path Calculation
Types of OSPF packets and header
format
 Neighbor Discovery and Maintenance
• OSPF Hello Protocol
• Hello packets sent out every 10 seconds
• Helps to detect failed neighbors
• RouterDeadInterval (default 40 seconds)
• Also ensures that link is bidirectional
• Neighboring routers agree on interval
 Summary
• Why OSPF is needed in the Internet?
• The basics of the protocol
– The Link state Advertisements
– Neighbor Discovery (Hello Protocol)
– Database Synchronization and reliable flooding
• Hierarchical Routing in OSPF
• OSPF Areas and Area Organization
– Interaction with External Routing Information
Routing: Distance-Vector Algorithm
 Basic Approaches
• Static
– Type in the right answers and hope they are always true
– ...So far

• Link state
– Tell everyone what you know about your neighbors

• Distance vector
– Tell your neighbors when you know about everyone
 Distance vector algorithm
● Base assumption
– Each router knows its own address and the cost to reach
each of its directly connected neighbors
● Bellman-Ford algorithm
– Distributed route computation using only neighbor’s
info
● Mitigating loops
● Split horizon and posion reverse
 Bellman-Ford Algorithm
• Define distances at each node X
– dx(y) = cost of least-cost path from X to Y
• Update distances based on neighbors
– dx(y) = min {c(x,v) + dv(y)} over all neighbors V
 Distance Vector Algorithm
• Basic Idea
– Each network node maintains a Distance Vector table
containing the distance between itself and ALL possible
destination nodes.
• Iterative, asynchronous: each local iteration caused by:
– Local link cost change
– Distance vector update message from neighbor
• Distributed
– Each node notifies neighbors only when its DV changes
– Neighbors then notify their neighbors if necessary
Distance Vector Routing Table

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 Distance Vector Routing Table

• In distance vector routing, each node

shares its routing table with its
immediate neighbors periodically and
when there is a change.
• The chosen route is with minimum
distance.
Initialization of tables in distance vector
routing

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 Updating in distance vector routing
Process:
• Initialization
– Each node can know only distance with its immediate
neighbors.
– Not neighbor; entry in table is mark as infinite(unreachable)
• Sharing
– Sharing table with neighbors.
• Updating
– Update the routing table: calculate the distance, add new
node, modify the existing record if needed.
Updating in distance vector routing
 Characteristics of Distance Vector Routing
• Periodic Updates: Updates to the routing tables are sent at
the end of a certain time period. A typical value is 90
seconds.
• Triggered Updates: If a metric changes on a link, a router
immediately sends out an update without waiting for the end
of the update period.
• Full Routing Table Update: Most distance vector routing
protocol send their neighbors the entire routing table (not
only entries which change).
• Route invalidation timers: Routing table entries are invalid if
they are not refreshed. A typical value is to invalidate an
entry if no update is received after 3-6 update periods.

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 Network Discovery
• Router initial start up (Cold Starts)
– Initial network discovery
• Directly connected networks are initially placed in the routing
table
• Initial Exchange of Routing Information
– If a routing protocol is configured then
• Routers will exchange routing information
 Network Discovery – cont.
• Routing updates received from other routers
– Router checks update for new information
If there is new information:
Metric is updated
New information is stored in routing table
• Exchange of Routing Information
– Router convergence is reached when
– All routing tables in the network contain the same network
information
– Routers continue to exchange routing information
– If no new information is found then Convergence is reached
– Convergence must be reached before a network is
considered completely operable
 Routing Loops
• Routing loops are
– A condition in which a packet is continuously
transmitted within a series of routers without ever
reaching its destination.
Two-node instability
Three-node Instability
 Count-to-Infinity
• The reason for the count-to-infinity problem is that
each node only has a “next-hop-view”
• For example, in the first step, B did not realize that
its route (with cost 6) to X went through node A

• How can the Count-to-Infinity problem be solved?

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 Solution: Count-to-Infinity
• Solution 1: Loop avoidance:
– Always advertise the entire path in an update message
(Path vectors)
• If routing tables are large, the routing messages require
substantial bandwidth
• BGP uses this solution

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 Solution: Count-to-Infinity
• Solution 2: Split Horizon
– Split Horizon: A router should not advertise a network
through the interface from which the update came.
• Example: A would not send the first routing update to B, since
B is the next hop on A’s current route to C
• Split Horizon does not solve count-to-infinity in all cases!
– Split horizon with poison reverse
• The rule states that once a router learns of an unreachable
route through an interface, advertise it as unreachable back
through the same interface

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 In practice
• RIP: Routing Information Protocol
– DV protocol with hop count as metric
• Infinity value is 16 hops; limits network size
• Includes split horizon with poison reverse
– Routers send vectors every 30 seconds
• With triggered updates for link failures
• Time-out in 180 seconds to detect failures
– Destination network identified by IP address
• Netmasks in RIPv2
– Encapsulated as UDP packets, port 520
– Largely implemented (routed on Unix)
– Authentication in RIPv2 by MD5 (shared secret)
 Summary
• Distance Vector shortest-path routing
– Each node sends list of its shortest distance to each
destination to its neighbors
– Neighbors update their lists; iterate
• Weak at adapting to changes out of the box
• Problems include loops and count to infinity
 Link-state vs. Distance-vector
• Message complexity
– LS: with n nodes, E links,
O(nE) messages sent
– DV: exchange between
neighbors only
• Speed of Convergence
– LS: relatively fast
– DV: convergence time varies
• May be routing loops
• Count-to-infinity problem
• Robustness: what happens
if router malfunctions?
– LS:
• Node can advertise incorrect
link cost
• Each node computes only its
own table
– DV:
• Node can advertise incorrect
path cost
• Each node’s table used by
others (error propagates)