Introducing Routing

In order to forward packets correctly, routers must learn the

direction to remote networks.

Two types of routing:

1. Dynamic routing - information is learned from other routers, and routing

protocols adjust routes automatically.
2. Static routing - network administrator configures information about remote
networks manually. They are used to reduce overhead and for security.

Because of the extra administrative requirements, static routing does not have
the scalability of dynamic routing.
In most networks static routes are often used in conjunction with a dynamic
routing protocol.

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Routing and Routed Protocols
Routing Protocols allow the routers to communicate with
other routers to update and maintain tables.
Examples:
RIP, IGRP, EIGRP and OSPF

Routed Protocols provide enough information in their network

layer address to allow packets to be forwarded from one
host to another host based on the addressing scheme.
Examples:
IP, IPX, AppleTalk

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Routing Protocols – Path Dertemination
Routing consists of two basic mechanisms:
1. Path Determination
Router uses the routing table to determine the best path.

2. Switching (forwarding)
Accept a packet on one interface and forward it to a second interface

Routing protocols create and maintain routing tables:

Simplified routing table.
The Default router entry
sends packets for any
other destinations out S1.

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Static Routes
Static routes between networks are manually configured by an administrator.
Static routes are added with the following command:
Router(config)# ip route 192.168.2.0 255.255.255.0 E0

Network Address Subnet Mask Gateway

This command sets a default route on a router:
Router(config)# ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1

Static routes to next hop addresses have administrative distance of 1.

Static routes out interfaces have an administrative distance of 0.

You can specify a non-default administrative distance for a static route:

Router(config)# ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 130

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 Terms to Remember

 default route
 Routing table entry that is used to direct frames for which a next hop is not
explicitly listed in the routing table.

 static route
 A route that is explicitly configured and entered into the routing table. Static
routes take precedence over routes chosen by dynamic routing protocols.

 hop
 Term describing the passage of a data packet between two network nodes
(for example, between two routers). See also hop count.

 hop count
 Routing metric used to measure the distance between a source and a
destination. RIP uses hop count as its sole metric. See also hop and RIP.

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Dynamic Routing – Distance Vector and Link-State
The success of dynamic routing depends on two basic router
functions:
1. Maintenance of a routing table
2. Timely distribution of knowledge, in the form of routing
updates, to other routers.
Dynamic routing relies on the routing protocol.
Routing Protocols can be Distant Vector or Link-State.
Hybrid protocols (like EIGRP) contain some elements of both.
Different routing protocols use different metrics to determine
the best route to a network.
Administrative Distances are used to rate the trustworthiness
of the various routing protocols.
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Distance Vector Routing Protocols
The distance-vector routing algorithm passes complete routing
tables to neighbor routers.
The neighbor routers combine the received routing table with their
own routing tables.
RIP is a distance vector routing protocol:
 Uses hop count as its metric
 Each router the packet goes through is 1 hop
1 2 3 B
A

1 2
Configuration Example:
Router(config)# router rip
Router(config-router)# network 172.16.0.0
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Link State Routing Protocols
Link-state routing algorithms (Shortest Path First algorithms),
maintain a complex database of topology information.
Link-state routing uses:
 Link-state advertisements (LSAs)

 A topological database

 The SPF algorithm, and the resulting SPF tree

 A routing table of paths and ports to each network

Link-state routing requires more memory and processing power

than distance vector, and bandwidth requirements are often
higher as well.
OSPF is the most commonly used Link-State Protocol.
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Distance Vector or Link State?
DV 1. Also known as Bellman-Ford algorithms
LS 2. Flood routing information to all routers
DV 3. Requests routing information from directly connected neighbors
LS 4. Complete view of the internetwork topology
DV 5. Decisions based upon information provided by neighbors  
DV 6. Use fewer system resources
LS 7. When a network link changes state LSA are flooded through network
LS 8. Less errors, but they use more system resources
LS 9. Calculate the shortest path to all known sites on the network
LS 10. Small update packets contain only changes
DV 11. Slower convergence
LS 12. OSPF and IS-IS
DV 13. Do not scale well to larger systems.
LS 14. Because they converge more quickly less prone to routing loops
LS 15. Event-triggered updates, so convergence is fast
DV 16. Based on finding the number of hops and direction to a link
DV 17. Passes copies of complete routing table on a periodic basis
DV 18. Each router simply inform its neighbors of its routing table
DV 19. RIP and IGRP
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LS 20. more reliable, easier to debug, and less bandwidth-intensive
Routing Protocols
Protocol Features
RIP Distance vector, hop count metric, maximum 15 hops,
broadcasts updates every 30 secs.
IGRP Cisco proprietary distance vector, bandwidth / load / delay /
reliability composite metric, broadcast updates every 90 secs.
Cisco proprietary, enhanced distance vector (hybrid), load
EIGRP balancing, uses DUAL to calculate shortest path.
Routing updates are triggered by topology changes.
OSPF Link-state, open standard, Uses SPF algorithm. Routing
updates are sent as topology changes occur.
BGP Distance vector exterior routing protocol, used between
ISPs, used to route traffic between ASs.

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Autonomous Systems
AS is a collection of networks under a common administration
and sharing a common routing strategy.
ARIN, ISP, or an administrator assigns the 16 bit AS number.
IGRP, EIGRP and BGP require assignment of a unique AS
number.
ASs divide the global internetwork into smaller, more
manageable networks.
Each AS has its own set
of rules and policies.
AS 10
The AS number uniquely
distinguish it from other
ASs around the world.

AS 20
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