IS-IS Hellos and
Circuit IDs
IIHs (IS-IS Hellos)
Hellos are used to establish adjacencies. IS-IS
links can be point-to-point or broadcast.
P2P links combine the hellos, so they send
L1L2 hellos for both levels regardless of the
configuration. Broadcast has IIHs for L1 and L2.
Default hello timer is 10s.
Default Holdtime multiplier is 3.
CSNPs, PSNPs and LSPs and broadcast IIHs
are send to the following multicast MAC
addresses:
> 0180.c200.0014 for level 1
> 0180.c200.0015 for level 2
IIHs for point-to-point networks use the
destination MAC of 0900.2b00.0005
by Steven Crutchley
Circuit IDs
Each interface has a Local Circuit ID (1 byte)
unless an extended circuit ID is used, in which
case it is 4 bytes.
On point-to-point links these are only used in
IIHs to a detect change of identity on the other
end.
On broadcast links the local-circuit ID is the
pseudo-node of the router that is the DIS.
The formats of the IIHs are different for
Point-to-point and broadcast networks.
Point-to-point uses an state based system
(down, init and up) whereas broadcast
networks recognise their own MAC
addresses in the IIHs of their potential
neighbours and then perform a DIS
election. Details are on the following pages.
www.netquirks.co.uk
 IS-IS
Point-to-Point Networks
Forming Adjacency Synchronisation

ISIS Point-to-Point Adjacency States IIH Point-to-Point TLVs CSNP

Both routers 3-way
State Description TLV Contents
state is up
Down No IIHs received from neighbors. Adjacency 3-way State
IIH received from neighbor but unclear its sent Extended Local Circuit ID
Initializing R1 R2
IIHs are being received. Neighbor System ID
Two way communication has been seen and Neighbor Extended Local
Up LSP Send LSP? CSNP LSP Send LSP?
adjacency is up. Circuit ID #1 YES #1 YES
#2 (old) YES Both routers want to #2 YES
#3 YES
send all LSPs, but #3 YES
they exchange
TLV Contents TLV Contents #4 YES #6 YES
CSNPs first to see if
Adjacency 3-way State Down #5 YES it is necessary. #7 YES
Initiating router sets Adjacency
Extended Local Circuit
ID
0x1 to Down and local circuit ID to
its own value. CSNP
Neighbor System ID - LSPID of All zeros
LSPID # 1
Neighbor Extended
- Close-up of LSPID # 2 CSNP
Local Circuit ID
CSNP LSPID # 3LSPID # 5
CSNP format LSPID # 4LSPID # 6
LSPID # 7
Adj State: Down IIH Adj State: Down LSPID of All Fs

R1 R2 R1 R2

LSP Send LSP? CSNP LSP Send LSP?

#1 NO #1 NO
Upon receipt of their neighbours
TLV Contents TLV Contents #2 (old) REQUEST #2 REQUEST
CSNPs the each router will discover:
Adjacency 3-way State Initializing #3 NO #3 NO
Extended Local Circuit
0x2 Receiving router responds but
#4 YES > Which LSPs they both already have. #6 YES
ID
moves to initialising state #5 YES > Which LSPs the neighbor has but #7 YES
Neighbor System ID 0000.0000.0001 they don’t.
#6 REQUEST #4 REQUEST
Neighbor Extended > Which LSPs the neighbor has a
0x1 #7 REQUEST #5 REQUEST
Local Circuit ID more up-to-date version of.

IIH Adj State:

Adj State: Down
Initializing

R1 R2

PSNP

TLV Contents TLV Contents

R1 R2
Adjacency 3-way State Initializing
Extended Local Circuit
ID
0x1 When R1 sees its own LSP Send LSP? PSNP LSP Send LSP?
Neighbor System ID it too
Neighbor System ID 0000.0000.0001 #1 NO #1 NO
moves to initialising,
Neighbor Extended #2 (old) REQUEST #2 REQUEST
0x2
Local Circuit ID
#3 NO To optionally increase #3 NO
#4 YES efficiency each router will #6 YES
Adj State: IIH Adj State: request the ones it needs from
#5 YES #7 YES
Initializing Initializing its neighbor using PSNPs.
#6 REQUEST #4 REQUEST
R1 R2
#7 REQUEST #5 REQUEST

TLV Contents TLV Contents

LSP
Adjacency 3-way State Up Upon receipt of an IIH, and
Extended Local Circuit being in an initiliaztion state
0x2
ID itself, R2 knows there is full
Neighbor System ID 0000.0000.0001 two-way communication so
Neighbor Extended
moves to an Up state.
0x1 R1 R2
Local Circuit ID

IIH Adj State: Up LSP LSP

Adj State: PSNP
#1 #1
Initializing
#2 #2
R1 R2 LSPs are exchanged. Each
#3 #3
LSP is acknowledged with a
#4 PSNP containing the same #4
#5 LSPID. This is because #5
R1, receiving an IIH with the CSNPs are not periodically
#6 #6
neighbors state set to Up, Adj State: Up sent on point-to-point links by
Adj State: Up #7 #7
moves to Up itself. default. You can change this
behaviour using the Cisco
R1 R2 IOS isis csnp-interval
<sec> interface command.
Older Handshake method
There is an older method of using a 3-way handshake, in which the neighbor
information is not included in the TLV. The first router sending an IIH moves
straight to initialising before seeing its own neighbor ID in an IIH. The
receiving router immediately moves to an Up state before responding. This
was abandoned due to potential issues over non-broadcast multi-access
networks like frame relay. Change to this method using Cisco IOS isis
three-way-handshake ietf interface command.
by Steven Crutchley www.netquirks.co.uk
 IS-IS
Broadcast Networks
DIS Election

The broadcast network IIHs include the MAC

addresses of any potential neighbors that the DIS Election
sending router sees out of its interface. Once 1. Highest interface priority (range
routers see their own MAC addresses in the 0-127, default 64)
IIHs of its neighbours a DIS election is 2. Highest SNPA (MAC)
3. Highest System ID
performed.

IIH IIH
MAC Addresses
R1 BBBB.BBBB.BBB2
Interface CCCC.CCCC.CCC3
priority 65

Routers R2 and R3 see

their own MAC addresses
in the IIHs. R1 wins the DIS
IIH IIH election based on interface
R2 R3 priority.

Synchronization
CSNP
LSPID of All zeros
DIS Close-up of LSPID # 1
LSP (Every CSNP format LSPID # 2 CSNP
#1 10s) LSPID # 3LSPID # 5
LSPID # 4LSPID # 6
#2 R1 CSNP
LSPID # 7
#3 LSPID of All Fs

Once the DIS election has

been completed the DIS will
R2 R3 send out CSNPs, to
maintain synchronisation,
every 10 seconds.
LSP LSP
#1 #1
#2 (old) #2
#3 #4

DIS
LSP
#1
#2 R1
#3
Non-DIS routers request
missing or outdated LSPs
using PSNPs.

If the DIS has a missing or

outdated LSPs the non-DIS
PSNP PSNP LSP #4 routers will send updates to
(sent only inform the DIS.
once)
R2 R3

LSP Send LSP? LSP Send LSP?

#1 NO #1 NO
#2 (old) REQUEST #2 NO
#3 NO #4 YES
#3 REQUEST

LSP #2
LSP
#1
LSP #3
#2 R1 LSP #4
#3 CSNP
#4 The DIS will respond to
requests by sending LSPs.
It will also send periodic
updates.

R2 R3

LSP LSP Though not shown here,

#1 #1 once R2 and R3 receive the
#2 (old) #2
LSPs, all LSDBs will be
synchronised.
#3 #4
#3
by Steven Crutchley www.netquirks.co.uk