This document provides an overview of OSPF fundamentals including:
- OSPF protocol mechanics such as neighbor relationships, router types, packet types, and the topology exchange process.
- The tables used by OSPF including the neighbor table, topology table, and IP routing table.
- How OSPF metrics are calculated and how route selection preferences are determined.
- Configuration examples for tuning OSPF metrics on interfaces.
This document provides an overview of OSPF fundamentals including:
- OSPF protocol mechanics such as neighbor relationships, router types, packet types, and the topology exchange process.
- The tables used by OSPF including the neighbor table, topology table, and IP routing table.
- How OSPF metrics are calculated and how route selection preferences are determined.
- Configuration examples for tuning OSPF metrics on interfaces.
OSPF Fundamentals Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals In This Lesson: OSPF Protocol Mechanics Tables Used by OSPF OSPF Metric Calculations Configuration of Basic OSPF Lab Exercises Verification of OSPF Process/Operation Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals OSPF Protocol Mechanics 1. OSPF Neighbor Relationships 2. OSPF Router Types 3. OSPF Packet Types 4. Topology Exchange Process Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals OSPF Protocol Mechanics OSPF Neighbor Relationships OSPF Establishes Formal Neighbor Relationships Must be directly connected Peering must be on primary subnets Router IDs must be unique Neighbor configuration settings must match, including: Hello and Dead Timers Authentication strings (if used) Area settings IP Maximum Transmission Unit Stub area flag 10.10.10.2/15 10.42.16.1/24 192.168.68.0/23 Hello to 224.0.0.5 (10 sec) Hello to 224.0.0.5 (30 sec) 2. U pdate Sent 3. Flooded to neighbors DR/BDR Messages to 224.0.0.6 Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals OSPF Protocol Mechanics OSPF Neighbor Relationships OSPF Uses Hello Messages for Neighbor Discovery and Maintenance Multicast to 224.0.0.5 Single peering relationship between all routers on multi-access networks Sent at regular intervals on all configured interfaces Every 10 seconds (high speed interfaces, LAN, etc.) Every 30 seconds (low speed interfaces, frame-relay, etc) Dead-interval 4x hello interval 10.10.10.2/15 10.42.16.1/24 192.168.68.0/23 Hello to 224.0.0.5 (10 sec) Hello to 224.0.0.5 (30 sec) 2. U pdate Sent 3. Flooded to neighbors DR/BDR Messages to 224.0.0.6 Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals OSPF Protocol Mechanics OSPF Neighbor Relationships OSPF Routers Pass through Stages in Establishing Neighbor Adjacency Down Neighbors not connected or aware of one another Init Link comes up, Hello packets sent Two-Way Neighbor sees its own router ID in the Hello Packet Exstart Adjacency formed, Database Description Packets formed Exchange Database Description Packets sent to neighbor R1 R2 Router ID 10.1.1.1 Router ID 10.2.2.2 1. Down 2. Init 3. Two-Way 4. Exstart 5. Exchange 6. Loading 7. Full Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals OSPF Protocol Mechanics OSPF Neighbor Relationships OSPF Routers Pass through Stages in Establishing Neighbor Adjacency Loading Slave device sends LSRs and receives LSAs in response Full Neighbors ready to forward traffic R1 R2 Router ID 10.1.1.1 Router ID 10.2.2.2 1. Down 2. Init 3. Two-Way 4. Exstart 5. Exchange 6. Loading 7. Full Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals OSPF Protocol Mechanics OSPF Neighbor Relationships OSPF DR/BDR Election Process General principles Not used on point-to-point links Default priority is set at 1 Priority of 0 disables election Election process for DR/BDR Router sending hello with highest priority becomes the DR If priority settings are identical the router with the highest router ID becomes the DR There is no preempt process Frame Relay WAN 607 706 R6 R7 R8 608 806 708 807 Priority 100 Elected DR Priority 1 Elected BDR Priority 0 Not Part of Election Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals OSPF Protocol Mechanics OSPF Router Types OSPF Routers Serve in Different Roles Internal: Router with all interface(s) in a single (non-backbone) area Backbone: Router with at least one interface in Area 0 ABR: Area Border Router, router with interfaces in one or more areas ASBR: Autonomous System Boundary Router, router connected to non-OSPF routers that exchange/inject external routes into to OSPF domain Some routers serve in multiple roles Frame Relay WAN 607 706 VLAN 79 VLAN 910 R6 R7 R8 R10 R9 608 806 708 807 OSPF Area 0 OSPF Area 79 OSPF Area 8 (Stub) OSPF Area 910 ASBR ABR & Backbone ABR Backbone Internal Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals OSPF Protocol Mechanics OSPF Packet Types All packets use IP protocol 89 (does not use TCP/UDP) Five Primary OSPF Packet Types: Hello Database Description Link State Request Link State Update Link State Acknowledgement # Name Acronym Function(s) 1 Hello None Neighbor discovery and maintenance, DR/BDR Election 2 Database Description DBD Election of master or slave role for database exchange process, exchange LSA headers 3 Link State Request LSR Request for specific LSA seen during DBD exchange process 4 Link State Update LSU Sent to neighbor that requested specific LSA through LSU, also used in flooding 5 Link State Acknowledg ement LSAck Acknowledges receipt of LSU Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals OSPF Protocol Mechanics Topology Exchange Process Fully adjacent neighbors exchange messages in order to have identical copies of the Link State Database (LSDB) Link State Advertisements (LSAs) are the data structures in memory that contain link information LSA data is sent in LSUs Information includes: Router ID (RID) Router interfaces, IP address/mask Routers reachable on each interface Frame Relay WAN 607 706 VLAN 79 VLAN 910 R6 R7 R8 R10 R9 608 806 708 807 OSPF Area 0 OSPF Area 79 OSPF Area 8 (Stub) OSPF Area 910 ASBR ABR & Backbone ABR Backbone Router LSA Network LSA Router LSA Network Summary LSA AS External LSA ASBR Summary LSA Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals OSPF Protocol Mechanics Topology Exchange Process Link State Advertisement Types: Type 1: Router LSA Created by each OSPF router For each interface with no DR, lists neighbor RID, interface subnet/mask and cost For each interface with a DR, lists RID of DR Type 2: Network LSA Created by the Designated Router References the type 1 LSAs for each router in the multi-access network Frame Relay WAN 607 706 VLAN 79 VLAN 910 R6 R7 R8 R10 R9 608 806 708 807 OSPF Area 0 OSPF Area 79 OSPF Area 8 (Stub) OSPF Area 910 ASBR ABR & Backbone ABR Backbone Router LSA Network LSA Router LSA Network Summary LSA AS External LSA ASBR Summary LSA Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals OSPF Protocol Mechanics Topology Exchange Process Link State Advertisement Types: Type 3: Network Summary LSA Created by the ABR to summarize networks in an area Generated for each subnet Advertised to other areas Type 4: ASBR Summary LSA Specifies path leading to an ASBR Type 5: AS External LSA Generated by the ASBR Contains external route data Frame Relay WAN 607 706 VLAN 79 VLAN 910 R6 R7 R8 R10 R9 608 806 708 807 OSPF Area 0 OSPF Area 79 OSPF Area 8 (Stub) OSPF Area 910 ASBR ABR & Backbone ABR Backbone Router LSA Network LSA Router LSA Network Summary LSA AS External LSA ASBR Summary LSA Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals Tables Used by OSPF 1. Neighbor Table 2. Topology Table 3. IP Routing Table Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals Tables Used by OSPF Neighbor Table List of Active Fully Adjacent Neighbors (show ip ospf neighbors) Neighbor ID: Router ID of neighbor Pri: OSPF neighbor priority (default 1, 0 means router will not be DR/BDR) State: State of neighbor relationship, also lists DR status (DR, BDR, or DROTHER) Dead Time: Time left before declaring the neighbor dead Address: Interface address of neighboring router Interface: Interface adjacency is on Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals Tables Used by OSPF Topology Table (Link State Database) List of OSPF Link State Information (show ip ospf database) Link ID: Link network/subnet ADV Router: Router ID of the advertising router AGE: Age of the link state SEQ #: Link state sequence number Checksum: Checksum of LSA Link Count: Interfaces detected per router Lists LSA types per area, more data available by adding the detail command Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals Tables Used by OSPF IP Routing Table List of OSPF routes installed and usable for routing (show ip route OSPF) O: OSPF intra-area route (AD of 110) O IA: OSPF intra-area route O E1/E3: OSPF external route X.X.X.X/24: Destination prefix/bits 110/XXXX: Administrative distance of the route/cost of the route via: Source of the routing update/next-hop address Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals OSPF Metric Calculations 1. OSPF Metric Calculation Process 2. OSPF Route Selection Preferences 3. Tuning Metric Settings Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals OSPF Metric Calculations OSPF Metric Calculation Process Values used in metric calculation may look somewhat random OSPF metrics are always expressed in integer format (no decimals, rounded up) OSPF metric to 10.6.6.6 (R7 Loopback) is calculated using Serial 0/0 (256K) path Using an Excel-based calculator, the metric from R6 to R7 for network 10.6.6.6/32 results in a value of 391 Metric values are displayed in the OSPF topology and IP routing tables Remember that cost is cumulative Frame Relay WAN 607 706 R6 R7 R8 608 806 708 807 OSPF Area 0 BW 256K BW 128K 10.6.6.6/32 Metric to 10.6.6.6/32 391 OSPF METRIC CALCULATOR INPUTS RESULT 256,000 Interface Bandwidth 391 METRIC Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals OSPF Metric Calculations OSPF Route Selection Preferences OSPF chooses the lowest cost-route to a destination network but uses preferences that trump the lowest-cost metric: Intra-Area Route (O): Route within an area preferred above all others Inter-Area Route (O IA): Route within an area preferred over external External Type 1 (E1): External route including cost to reach ASBR External Type 1 (E2): External route without cost to reach ASBR (default for redistributed routes) OSPF Area 0 OSPF Area 10 Cost 30 Cost 30 Cost 10 Cost 10 C o s t 1 0 Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals OSPF Metric Calculations Tuning Metric Settings Changing the cost of a single interface Using the ip ospf cost interface subcommand Command syntax is ip ospf cost <1- 65535> Changing the cost of all interfaces Using the auto-cost reference- bandwidth router subcommand Default is 100 Mbps Command syntax is auto-cost reference-bandwidth <Mbps> (values range from 1 to 4294967) Frame Relay WAN 607 706 R6 R7 R8 608 806 708 807 OSPF Area 0 BW 256K BW 128K 10.6.6.6/32 Metric to 10.6.6.6/32 391 Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals Configuration of Basic OSPF Lab Exercises 1. Review of OSPF Configuration Commands 2. Devices Involved in OSPF Domain 3. Configuration of OSPF Routers Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals Configuration of Basic OSPF Lab Exercises Review of OSPF Configuration Commands Creation of the OSPF Routing Process router ospf <process-id> Process id is locally significant only Specifying the Router-ID (best practice) router-id <address> LSDB is seeded from two sources: Networks/subnets on interfaces using the network subcommand Networks learned through the redistribute subcommand Frame Relay WAN 607 706 VLAN 79 VLAN 910 R6 R7 R8 R10 R9 608 806 708 807 OSPF Area 0 OSPF Area 79 OSPF Area 8 (Stub) OSPF Area 910 Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals Configuration of Basic OSPF Lab Exercises Review of OSPF Configuration Commands Adjusting Bandwidth Specifications LAN interfaces automatically calculate correct bandwidth Serial interfaces default to 1544 Kbps Adjusted with bandwidth <kbps> interface subcommand Router-ID Selection Process (preference) router-id command Highest configured loopback address Highest physical interface address Frame Relay WAN 607 706 VLAN 79 VLAN 910 R6 R7 R8 R10 R9 608 806 708 807 OSPF Area 0 OSPF Area 79 OSPF Area 8 (Stub) OSPF Area 910 Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals Configuration of Basic OSPF Lab Exercises Devices Involved in OSPF Domain Router 6 (R6) Multipoint (physical) frame-relay interface ASBR and Backbone Router roles Router 7 (R7) Multipoint (physical) frame-relay interface ABR and Virtual-Link roles Router 8 (R8): Backbone Router role Router 9 (R9): ABR and Virtual-Link roles Router 10 (R10): Internal Router role Frame Relay WAN 607 706 VLAN 79 VLAN 910 R6 R7 R8 R10 R9 608 806 708 807 OSPF Area 0 OSPF Area 79 OSPF Area 8 (Stub) OSPF Area 910 Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals Configuration of Basic OSPF Lab Exercises Configuration of OSPF Routers Using Process-ID 1 on all OSPF Routers Specifying Loopback 0 as Router-ID Manually Configuring Serial Interface Bandwidth R6: 256 Kbps R7/R8: 128 Kbps Not using the broadcast keyword on frame-relay mappings Setting priority of 0 on R7 and R8 Manual configuration of neighbor settings Frame Relay WAN 607 706 VLAN 79 VLAN 910 R6 R7 R8 R10 R9 608 806 708 807 OSPF Area 0 OSPF Area 79 OSPF Area 8 (Stub) OSPF Area 910 Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals Verification of OSPF Process/Operation 1. Verifying Basic OSPF Configuration 2. Verifying Functional Neighbor Relationships 3. Verifying Full Reachability Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals Verification of OSPF Process/Operation Verifying Basic OSPF Configuration Confirming that OSPF is Operational Examine the output of the show ip protocols command (see left) Verify process is running Verify networks/subnets Confirming OSPF is on Interfaces Examine the output of the show ip ospf interfaces command Expected interfaces appear Process-ID is displayed Neighbors are listed in command output Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals Verification of OSPF Process/Operation Verifying Functional Neighbor Relationships Confirming that neighbors are peering Examine the output of the show ip OSPF neighbors command (see left) Correct interface displayed Correct IP address(es) displayed State is FULL Use ping and trace commands to confirm connectivity is active Confirm the presence of expected networks in IP routing table using the show ip route ospf command Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals Configuration of Basic OSPF Lab Exercises Verifying Full Reachability Step 1: Verify routes are in routing table All loopback interfaces (10.X.X.X) All LAN interfaces (192.168.X.X) All WAN interfaces (172.17.X.X) Step 2: Verify routes are all reachable ping X.X.X.X (with reply) traceroute X.X.X.X Step 3: Verify that application level connectivity exists telnet X.X.X.X Repeat for each subnet Frame Relay WAN 607 706 VLAN 79 VLAN 910 R6 R7 R8 R10 R9 608 806 708 807 OSPF Area 0 OSPF Area 79 OSPF Area 8 (Stub) OSPF Area 910 Backbone Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals Key Terms You Should Know Cost Metric value in OSPF which reflects the configured bandwidth on a link or interface Hello Interval Frequency with which hello messages are sent out an OSPF interface, 10 seconds on fast interfaces and 30 on slower ones Dead Timer Expressed as a multiplier of 4X the hello-interval, it designates how long to wait before declaring a neighbor dead ABR Area Border Router, an OSPF router with interfaces in multiple areas ASBR Autonomous System Boundary Router, OSPF router redistributing routes from other protocols LSA Link State Advertisement, the data structure contained in the OSPF Link State Database with information on destination links Cisco CCNP ROUTE Training OSPF Fundamentals What We Covered OSPF Protocol Mechanics Tables Used by OSPF OSPF Metric Calculations Configuration of Basic OSPF Lab Exercises Verification of OSPF Process/Operation