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 Enterprise Networking, Security, and Automation v7.02

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 /  Single-Area OSPFv2 Concepts /  OSPF Operation

Enterprise Networking,
Security, and Automation

OSPF Operation
Single-Area OSPFv2
1 
Concepts
1.3.1

1.0 Introduction 
Video - OSPF Operation 

OSPF Features and

1.1
Characteristics 

Click Play in the figure to view a video about OSPF operation.

1.2 OSPF Packets 

1.3 OSPF Operation 

1.3.1 Video - OSPF Operation

1.3.2 OSPF Operational States

1.3.3 Establish Neighbor Adjacencies

1.3.4 Synchronizing OSPF Databases

1.3.5 The Need for a DR

1.3.6 LSA Flooding With a DR

Check Your Understanding - OSPF

1.3.7
Operation

1.4 Module Practice and Quiz 

Single-Area OSPFv2
2 Configuration 

1.3.2

3 Network Security Concepts 

OSPF Operational States 

4 ACL Concepts 
Now that you know about the OSPF link-state packets, this topic explains how they work with OSPF-enabled routers. When an
OSPF router is initially connected to a network, it attempts to:
5 ACLs for IPv4 Configuration 
Create adjacencies with neighbors
Exchange routing information
6 NAT for IPv4  Calculate the best routes
Reach convergence

7 WAN Concepts  The table details the states OSPF progresses through while attempting to reach convergence:

State Description
8 VPN and IPsec Concepts  No Hello packets received = Down.
Router sends Hello packets.
Down State
Transition to Init state.
9 QoS Concepts 

Hello packets are received from the neighbor.

They contain the Router ID of the sending router.
10 Network Management  Init State
Transition to Two-Way state.

11 Network Design  In this state, communication between the two routers is

bidirectional.
Two-Way State On multiaccess links, the routers elect a DR and a BDR.
12 Transition to ExStart state.
Network Troubleshooting 

On point-to-point networks, the two routers decide which router

13 Network Virtualization  ExStart State will initiate the DBD packet exchange and decide upon the initial
DBD packet sequence number.

Routers exchange DBD packets.

14 Network Automation  If additional router information is required then transition to
Exchange State
Loading; otherwise, transition to the Full state.

LSRs and LSUs are used to gain additional route information.

Routes are processed using the SPF algorithm.
Loading State
Transition to the Full state.

Full State The link-state database of the router is fully synchronized.

 1.3.3

Establish Neighbor Adjacencies 

Enterprise Networking,
Security, and Automation When OSPF is enabled on an interface, the router must determine if there is another OSPF neighbor on the link. To accomplish
this, the router sends a Hello packet that contains its router ID out all OSPF-enabled interfaces. The Hello packet is sent to the
reserved All OSPF Routers IPv4 multicast address 224.0.0.5. Only OSPFv2 routers will process these packets. The OSPF router
ID is used by the OSPF process to uniquely identify each router in the OSPF area. A router ID is a 32-bit number formatted like
Single-Area OSPFv2 an IPv4 address and assigned to uniquely identify a router among OSPF peers.
1 
Concepts
When a neighboring OSPF-enabled router receives a Hello packet with a router ID that is not within its neighbor list, the
1.0 Introduction  receiving router attempts to establish an adjacency with the initiating router.

OSPF Features and

1.1
Characteristics 

 Click each button below to step through the process routers use to establish adjacency on a multiaccess network.

1.2 OSPF Packets 

When OSPFv2 is enabled, the enabled Gigabit Ethernet 0/0 interface transitions from the Down
1. Down State to Init
1.3 OSPF Operation  State state to the Init state. R1 starts sending Hello packets out all OSPF-enabled interfaces to
discover OSPF neighbors to develop adjacencies with.

1.3.1 Video - OSPF Operation 2. The Init State

1.3.2 OSPF Operational States 3. Two-Way State Down State to Init State

1.3.3 Establish Neighbor Adjacencies 4. Elect the DR and .1 172.16.5.0/24

.2
BDR
R1 G0/0 G0/1 R2
1.3.4 Synchronizing OSPF Databases

Down State
1.3.5 The Need for a DR

1.3.6 LSA Flooding With a DR

Check Your Understanding - OSPF Init State

1.3.7
Operation

Hello! My router ID is 172.16.5.1. Is there anyone else on this link?

1.4 Module Practice and Quiz 
Hello Multicast to 224.0.0.5
Single-Area OSPFv2
2 Configuration 

3 Network Security Concepts    

4 ACL Concepts 
1.3.4

5 ACLs for IPv4 Configuration  Synchronizing OSPF Databases 

6 NAT for IPv4  After the Two-Way state, routers transition to database synchronization states. While the Hello packet was used to establish
neighbor adjacencies, the other four types of OSPF packets are used during the process of exchanging and synchronizing
LSDBs. This is a three step process, as follows:
7 WAN Concepts 
1. Decide first router
2. Exchange DBDs
8 3. Send an LSR
VPN and IPsec Concepts 

9 QoS Concepts 
 Click each button below to step through the process routers use to synchronize their LSDBs.

10 Network Management  1. Decide First Router

1. Decide First Router

In the ExStart state, the two routers decide which router will send the DBD packets first. The
2. Exchange DBDs router with the higher router ID will be the first router to send DBD packets during the Exchange
11 Network Design 
state. In the figure, R2 has the higher router ID and sends its DBD packets first.
3. Send an LSR
12 Network Troubleshooting 

Decide Which Router Sends the First DBD

13 Network Virtualization 

.1 172.16.5.0/24 .2
14 Network Automation  R1 G0/0 G0/1 R2

ExStart State R2 has the highest router ID, so it

will send hte DBD packet before
R1.
   

1.3.5

Enterprise Networking, The Need for a DR 

Security, and Automation

Single-Area OSPFv2
Why is a DR and BDR election necessary? Creating Adjacencies With
1 
Concepts
Multiaccess networks can create two challenges for OSPF Every Neighbor
regarding the flooding of LSAs, as follows:
1.0 Introduction 
Creation of multiple adjacencies - Ethernet networks Adjacency

OSPF Features and could potentially interconnect many OSPF routers over a
1.1
Characteristics  Adjacency Adjacency
common link. Creating adjacencies with every router is
unnecessary and undesirable. It would lead to an excessive
Adjacency Adjacency
number of LSAs exchanged between routers on the same Adjacency Adjacency
1.2 OSPF Packets 
network.
Extensive flooding of LSAs - Link-state routers flood their Adjacency
1.3 OSPF Operation  LSAs any time OSPF is initialized, or when there is a
change in the topology. This flooding can become
1.3.1 Video - OSPF Operation excessive.
Adjacency Adjacency

To understand the problem with multiple adjacencies, we must

1.3.2 OSPF Operational States
study a formula:

Number of Adjacencies = n (n - 1) / 2
1.3.3 Establish Neighbor Adjacencies For any number of routers (designated as n) on a multiaccess
n = number of routers
network, there are n (n – 1) / 2 adjacencies.
Example: 5 (5 - 1) / 2 = 10 adjacencies
1.3.4 Synchronizing OSPF Databases
For example, the figure shows a simple topology of five
routers, all of which are attached to the same multiaccess
1.3.5 The Need for a DR Ethernet network. Without some type of mechanism to reduce
the number of adjacencies, collectively these routers would
form 10 adjacencies:
1.3.6 LSA Flooding With a DR

5 (5 – 1) / 2 = 10
Check Your Understanding - OSPF
1.3.7
Operation
This may not seem like much, but as routers are added to the
network, the number of adjacencies increases dramatically.
1.4 Module Practice and Quiz  For example, a multiaccess network with 20 routers would
create 190 adjacencies.

Single-Area OSPFv2
2 Configuration 

1.3.6
3 Network Security Concepts 
LSA Flooding With a DR 

4 ACL Concepts 

A dramatic increase in the number of routers also dramatically increases the number of LSAs exchanged between the routers.
5 This flooding of LSAs significantly impacts the operation of OSPF.
ACLs for IPv4 Configuration 

6 NAT for IPv4   Click each button to compare the flooding of LSAs without and with a DR.

Flooding LSAs LSAs and DR

7 WAN Concepts 

8 VPN and IPsec Concepts 

Flooding LSAs

To understand the problem of extensive flooding of LSAs, play the animation in the figure. In the animation, R2 sends out an
9 QoS Concepts 
LSA. This event triggers every other router to also send out an LSA. Not shown in the animation are the required
acknowledgments sent for every LSA received. If every router in a multiaccess network had to flood and acknowledge all
received LSAs to all other routers on that same multiaccess network, the network traffic would become quite chaotic.
10 Network Management 

11 Network Design 

12 Network Troubleshooting 

13 Network Virtualization 

14 Network Automation 

  
 1.3.7

Check Your Understanding - OSPF Operation 

Enterprise Networking,
Security, and Automation

 Check your understanding of OSPF operation by choosing the BEST answer to the following questions.

Single-Area OSPFv2
1 
Concepts 1. During this OSPF state on multiaccess networks, the routers elect a Designated
Router (DR) and a Backup Designated Router (BDR).
1.0 Introduction 
Down State
OSPF Features and
1.1  Init State
Characteristics
Two-Way State
1.2 OSPF Packets  ExStart State

Exchange State
1.3 OSPF Operation 
Loading State

Full State
1.3.1 Video - OSPF Operation

2. During this OSPF state, routers send each other DBD packets.
1.3.2 OSPF Operational States

Down State
1.3.3 Establish Neighbor Adjacencies
Init State

Two-Way State
1.3.4 Synchronizing OSPF Databases
ExStart State

1.3.5 The Need for a DR Exchange State

Loading State
1.3.6 LSA Flooding With a DR
Full State

Check Your Understanding - OSPF

1.3.7
Operation 3. An OSPF router enters this state when it has received a Hello packet from a
neighbor, containing the sending Router ID.
1.4 Module Practice and Quiz 
Down State

Init State
Single-Area OSPFv2
2 Configuration  Two-Way State

ExStart State

Exchange State
3 Network Security Concepts 
Loading State

Full State
4 ACL Concepts 

4. During this OSPF state on point-to-point networks, the routers decide which
router initiates the exchange of DBD packets.
5 ACLs for IPv4 Configuration 
Down State

Init State
6 NAT for IPv4 
Two-Way State

ExStart State
7 WAN Concepts 
Exchange State

Loading State
8 VPN and IPsec Concepts 
Full State

5. During this OSPF state, routers have converged link-state databases.

9 QoS Concepts 

Down State

10 Network Management  Init State

Two-Way State

ExStart State
11 Network Design 
Exchange State

Loading State
12 Network Troubleshooting 
Full State

13 Network Virtualization  6. During this OSPF state, no Hello packets are received.

Down State

14 Network Automation  Init State

Two-Way State

ExStart State

Exchange State

Loading State

Full State

7. During this OSPF state, routes are processed using the SPF algorithm.
 Down State

Init State

Two-Way State

ExStart State Check

Enterprise Networking, Exchange State
Security, and Automation Loading State
Show Me

Full State
Reset
Single-Area OSPFv2
1 
Concepts

 OSPF Packets 
1.2 1.4
1.0 Introduction  Module Practice and Quiz

OSPF Features and

1.1
Characteristics 

1.2 OSPF Packets 

1.3 OSPF Operation 

1.3.1 Video - OSPF Operation

1.3.2 OSPF Operational States

1.3.3 Establish Neighbor Adjacencies

1.3.4 Synchronizing OSPF Databases

1.3.5 The Need for a DR

1.3.6 LSA Flooding With a DR

Check Your Understanding - OSPF

1.3.7
Operation

1.4 Module Practice and Quiz 

Single-Area OSPFv2
2 Configuration 

3 Network Security Concepts 

4 ACL Concepts 

5 ACLs for IPv4 Configuration 

6 NAT for IPv4 

7 WAN Concepts 

8 VPN and IPsec Concepts 

9 QoS Concepts 

10 Network Management 

11 Network Design 

12 Network Troubleshooting 

13 Network Virtualization 

14 Network Automation 