OSPF Tutorial

OSPF Definition:
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), is a routing protocol used to determine the correct route
for packets within IP networks. It was designed by the Internet Engineering Task Force to
serve as an Interior Gateway Protocol replacing RIP.
Advantages of OSPF:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Changes in an OSPF network are propagated quickly.

OSPF is heirarchical, using area 0 as the top as the heirarchy.
OSPF is a Link State Algorithm.
OSPF supports Variable Length Subnet Masks (VLSM).
OSPF uses multicasting within areas.
After initialization, OSPF only sends updates on routing table sections which have
changed, it does not send the entire routing table.
7. Using areas, OSPF networks can be logically segmented to decrease the size of
routing tables. Table size can be further reduced by using route summarization.
8. OSPF is an open standard, not related to any particular vendor.
Disadvantages of OSPF:
1. OSPF is very processor intensive.
2. OSPF maintains multiple copies of routing information, increasing the amount of
memory needed.
3. Using areas, OSPF can be logically segmented (this can be a good thing and a bad
thing).
4. OSPF is not as easy to learn as some other protocols.
5. In the case where an entire network is running OSPF, and one link within it is
"bouncing" every few seconds, OSPF updates would dominate the network by
informing every other router every time the link changed state (I've done this).
OSPF routers check the status of other routers on the network by sending a small hello
packet at regular intervals. If a router does not respond to the hello packet, it is assumed
dead, and routing updates are sent to every other router by using a multicast address.
In the case where there are no network changes, OSPF will use very little bandwidth
(only sending hello packets). As soon as there is an outage, however, OSPF will flood the
network as the change is sent to every router (and then every router notifies every other
router about the change). This system of near silence when possible and flooding when
necessary ensures that routing information gets propagated throughout the network as
quickly as possible.
It's now time to...

Build an OSPF network, version 1.0

Scenario: Camp Swampy is running out of IP addresses. They have a fully meshed base
backbone consisting of five seperate routers, here known as A through E:
Camp Swampy's Base Network Topology

Camp Swampy has been given the Class B network 181.160.0.0. The network uses IGRP
as their routing protocol, and they are using an 8 bit subnet mask (255.255.255.0).
Since IGRP does not support VLSM's, Camp Swampy is forced to use an 8 bit mask
throughout their entire network. For networks that contain users, this should be
acceptable, but for network connections, such as the network that connects A and B, this
is a huge waste of IP addresses. We will rebuild their base network using OSPF for one
reason only: To free up IP addresses by using Variable Length Subnet Masks.
This means we are going to have to get into binary, just a little...
Pick a class C equivalent network (in other words, pick a number out of the range
available in their third octet), and use it for network connections within their base
backbone. In this case, lets use 181.160.254.0. We could use a 14 bit subnet mask,
255.255.255.252 (which would only leave two bits for the host part) to get the maximum
number of networks out of the 254 subnet, but that only allows two hosts per network.
Since the Camp Swampy admin regularly put sniffers and other devices on their network
connections, we need to scale the subnet mask back a bit to 13, 255.255.255.248 (leaves
three bits for hosts, a total of 6 possible devices on each net).

You can't use the first or last network to connect to hosts, since the first net is always the
network address for the ENTIRE network (for instance, you don't see many IP addresses
like 181.160.0.1), and the broadcast address for the last subnetted network is also the
broadcast address for the ENTIRE network (you don't see many IP addresses like
181.160.255.1 either). Using a 13 bit subnet mask on 181.160.254.0, you get:
Routers Network

First Host Address Second Host Address Broadcast

A-B

181.160.254.8 181.160.254.9

181.160.254.10

181.160.254.15

B-C

181.160.254.16 181.160.254.17

181.160.254.18

181.160.254.23

C-D

181.160.254.24 181.160.254.25

181.160.254.26

181.160.254.31

D-E

181.160.254.32 181.160.254.33

181.160.254.34

181.160.254.39

A-C

181.160.254.40 181.160.254.41

181.160.254.42

181.160.254.47

A-D

181.160.254.48 181.160.254.49

181.160.254.50

181.160.254.55

B-D

181.160.254.56 181.160.254.57

181.160.254.58

181.160.254.63

B-E

181.160.254.64 181.160.254.65

181.160.254.66

181.160.254.71

C-E

181.160.254.72 181.160.254.73

181.160.254.74

181.160.254.79

A-E

181.160.254.80 181.160.254.81

181.160.254.82

181.160.254.87

...

...

...

...

...

Here's what is entered on the "A" Router to implement the change to OSPF:
A-router# config t
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
A-router(config)# interface e 0
A - B connection
A-router(config-if)# ip address 181.160.254.9 255.255.255.248
A-router(config-if)# exit
A-router(config)# interface e 1
A - C connection
A-router(config-if)# ip address 181.160.254.41 255.255.255.248
A-router(config-if)# exit
A-router(config)# interface e 2
A - D connection
A-router(config-if)# ip address 181.160.254.49 255.255.255.248
A-router(config-if)# exit
A-router(config)# interface e 3
A - E connection
A-router(config-if)# ip address 181.160.254.81 255.255.255.248
A-router(config-if)# exit
A-router(config)# no router igrp 200
turn off igrp routing
A-router(config)# router ospf 1
start ospf routing,
Autonomous System # 1

A-router(config)# network 181.160.0.0 0.0.255.255 area 0 entire

net is area 0
A-router(config)# ^Z
A-router(config)# write
save the configuration

Now, instead of using 181.160.100.0 to connect A-B, 181.160.101.0 to connect B-C,

181.160.102.0 to connect C-D, and so on, you can now make all the base backbone
connections using only 181.160.254.0. Ta-da, addresses saved. Still room for growth.
You go home a hero.
Well actually...you're back next year, to:

Build an OSPF network, version 2.0

Scenario: Camp Swampy has grown considerably, and so has their network. The base
backbone is still the same, but 30 new routers are now hanging off the backbone network.
The routing tables are huge. The routers are getting sluggish. Some of them are coughing
up hairballs. They want you to reduce the size of the routing tables, and save the world
yet again.
Fortunately, OSPF was designed to deal with the very real problem of huge routing tables.
Using seperate areas, a network can be logically segmented and the amount of routing
information spread throughout the network can be reduced.
Imagine a router that connects a bunch of users together on one side, and has only a
single route out to the world on the other side (this device is cleverly called a "one-armed
router" by sales droids). Since this router only has one path to send packets out to the
world, it really doesn't need to know much about the network, and nothing short of a new
connection can convince it to send it's data any other way.
To keep Camp Swampy's backbone routers from getting too much routing data from endnode routers, and to keep the end routers from getting too much information about the
entire base, we are going to divide the base network up into six areas:
Camp Swampy's OSPF Areas

Area 0 is the top level of the OSPF heirarchy. All other areas should border area 0 (what
I'm saying is, if you build an OSPF network where areas do not border area 0, you're on
your own).
Hanging off the backbone routers are other routers, which eventually lead down to the
users. From the backbone router down to the user routers is all one area, and OSPF Link
State Advertisements will only be sent to routers in that area. This can significantly
reduce the size of the routing tables.
The backbone routers are now part of two areas, area 0, and whichever area they support
for the users. This makes them border routers in OSPF parlance. OSPF routers are very
careful to keep track of where their border router is.
To further reduce the size of routing tables, we will impliment route summarization in
version 2.1. Until then, just remember that for route summarization to work correctly, the
range of IP addresses assigned within an area must be consecutive. If Area 1 has all the
networks from 181.160.16.0 to 181.160.63.0, this can be neatly summarized into one line.
To gain a further understanding of the network:

The A Router supports the base commander and her staff. Approximately 6,000
computers are currently connected, and more are expected.
The B Router supports the hospital. Approximately 8,000 computers are
connected.
The C Router supports a handful of buildings: Graphics, Wideband, etc.
Approximately 400 computers.
The D Router supports supply and several tanker squadrons. Approximately
7,000 computers.
The E Router supports everyone else. Approximately 1,000 computers.

After several days of debate, here is the IP addressing scheme that Camp Swampy wants
to use:

Area IP Address Range

Total Possible Hosts

181.160.254.0-255

180 *

181.160.1-63.0-255

16,000

181.160.64-127.0-255 16,000

181.160.128-143.0-255 3,800

181.160.144-191.0-255 11,900

181.160.192-207.0-255 3,800

Free 181.160.208-253.0-255 11,400

* - Remember that hosts are lost here due to the 13 bit subnet.
This keeps our IP numbering scheme contiguous within areas. A better explanation of
why we chose these ranges of numbers will be provided in version 2.1.
We are now prepared to move into the user area, and build some more routers. Let's look
at one leg of the base network, which connects to one of the tanker squadrons in Area 4:

The C Router to D Router connection is part of the base backbone. We assigned IP

addresses to it in version 1.0. There are several routers connected to the D Router, the one
we are interested in is Din1. Further off of Din1 is Duser2, which connects several users
to the Internet. Please remember that each router has several other network connections,
otherwise, the picture doesn't make much sense.
Within the Area 4 network, we will take a Class C equivalent subnet and use it to make
networking connections between routers, just like we did with the 181.160.254.0 network
for the base backbone. Since the range of addresses for Area 4 is 181.160.144-191.x, we
will use 181.160.144.x for network connections.
The subnetting works just like it did for the 181.160.254 net. The first available network
is 181.160.144.8. The first available host is 181.160.144.9. Piece o' cake.

At the end of this chain are the users, all connected into the hub via twisted pair. We will
assign them the 181.160.186.0 network, with an 8 bit mask (255.255.255.0).
Connection Network

Subnet Mask

First IP

Second IP

Broadcast
address

C Router 181.160.254.24 255.255.255.248 181.160.254.25 181.160.254.26 181.160.254.31

D Router
D Router 181.160.144.16 255.255.255.248 181.160.144.17 181.160.144.18 181.160.144.23
Din1
Din1 Duser2

181.160.144.8 255.255.255.248 181.160.144.9 181.160.144.10 181.160.144.15

Duser2 Users

181.160.186.0 255.255.255.0

181.160.186.1 181.160.186.2 181.160.186.255

I wont show the commands to put these addresses into the routers, it's pretty simple.
As it stands, Link State Advertisements for routers in Area 4 will stay in Area 4. To
really maximize OSPF, we need to add route summarization:

Build an OSPF network, version 2.1

OSPF learns which networks it is responsible for when you enter the network command
into the router. In version 1.0, we did:
router ospf 1
network 181.160.0.0 0.0.255.255 area 0

Think of this command as saying: Within OSPF Autonomous System 1,

181.160.anything.anything is in area 0.
Well, that's changed now. Now, the border routers need to say:
router ospf 1
network 181.160.254.0 0.0.0.255 area 0

since only 181.160.254.x is used for area 0 network connections.

To tell the border router about which networks are part of area 4, we could enter:
router ospf 1
network 181.160.144.0 0.0.0.255 area 4
network 181.160.145.0 0.0.0.255 area 4
network 181.160.146.0 0.0.0.255 area 4
...

This gets pretty tedious, though. Fortunately we are saved by the fact that the networks
within Area 4 are contiguous. We can summarize which routes Area 4 is responsible for
by moving the subnet mask up a couple bits. This not only reduces the amount of

commands that must be entered on each router, but also reduces the number of
networks that are shown in routing tables.
Since route summarization must be done using subnet masks, it might help to look at the
IP addresses in binary. Remember that Area 1 was given the 181.160.1.0 to
181.160.63.255 range of addresses:
181.160.1.0

in Binary is 10110101.10100000.00000001.00000000

181.160.63.255 in Binary is 10110101.10100000.00111111.11111111

181.160.63.255 is as high as you can go without changing one of the
bits in bold print:
181.160.64.0

in Binary is 10110101.10100000.01000000.00000000

Therefore, the following command can be entered on the A Router:

router ospf 1
Start OSPF
network 181.160.254.0 0.0.0.255 area 0 All .254 is Area 0
area 0 range 181.160.254.0 255.255.255.0
Summarize into one line in the routing tables
network 181.160.0.0 0.0.63.255 area 1
All 181.160.0.0 through 181.160.63.255
area 1 range 181.160.0.0 255.255.192.0
Summarize into one line in the routing table

If we only had four backbone routers, we could use the same mask on each, and the
routing table would only be five lines long (one for each area). But, alas, we cannot use
the same mask everywhere.
Back to Area 4, which we were working on in version 2.0. It has been assigned the range
of addresses from 181.160.144.0 to 181.160.191.255. It takes three lines to summarize
this network, using the binary bit in the 16 position for 181.160.144 through 181.160.191 :
181.160.144.0
181.160.159.0

in Binary is 10110101.10100000.10010000.00000000
in Binary is 10110101.10100000.10011111.00000000

181.160.160.0
181.160.175.0

in Binary is 10110101.10100000.10100000.00000000
in Binary is 10110101.10100000.10101111.00000000

181.160.176.0
181.160.191.0

in Binary is 10110101.10100000.10110000.00000000
in Binary is 10110101.10100000.10111111.00000000

We can now summarize the IP range of addresses on the D Router:

router ospf 1

Don't confuse AS #'s with

Areas
network 181.160.144.0 0.0.15.255 area 1
181.160.159.255
area 1 range 181.160.144.0 255.255.240.0
routing table
network 181.160.160.0 0.0.15.255 area 1
181.160.175.255
area 1 range 181.160.160.0 255.255.240.0
routing table
network 181.160.176.0 0.0.15.255 area 1
181.160.191.255

181.160.144.0 through
Summarize in the
181.160.160.0 through
Summarize in the
181.160.176.0 through

area 1 range 181.160.176.0 255.255.240.0 Summarize in the

routing table

To make sure you believe me when I say this is all worth it:

Here's a routing table without summarization:

duser2#sho ip route
Codes: C - connected, S - static, I - IGRP, R - RIP, M - mobile, B BGP
D - EIGRP, EX - EIGRP external, O - OSPF, IA - OSPF inter area
E1 - OSPF external type 1, E2 - OSPF external type 2, E - EGP
i - IS-IS, L1 - IS-IS level-1, L2 - IS-IS level-2, * - candidate
default
Gateway of last resort is not set
181.160.0.0 is variably subnetted, 4 subnets, 2 masks
C
181.160.144.8 255.255.255.248 is directly connected,
Ethernet0/0
O
181.160.144.16 255.255.255.248
[110/20] via 181.160.144.10, 00:41:52, Ethernet0/0
O
181.160.144.24 255.255.255.248
[110/20] via 181.160.144.10, 00:41:52, Ethernet0/0
O
181.160.144.32 255.255.255.248
[110/20] via 181.160.144.10, 00:41:52, Ethernet0/0
.....
C
O
O
O

181.160.186.0 255.255.255.0 is directly connected, Ethernet0/5

181.160.187.0 255.255.255.0
[110/20] via 181.160.144.10, 00:41:52, Ethernet0/0
181.160.188.0 255.255.255.0
[110/20] via 181.160.144.10, 00:41:52, Ethernet0/0
181.160.189.0 255.255.255.0
[110/20] via 181.160.144.10, 00:41:52, Ethernet0/0
.....

O IA
O IA

181.160.254.8 255.255.255.248
[110/1582] via 181.160.144.10, 00:26:54, Ethernet0/0
181.160.254.24 255.255.255.248
[110/1582] via 181.160.144.10, 00:26:54, Ethernet0/0
.....

and there's much, much more.

Here's a routing table with summarization:

duser2#sho ip route
Codes: C - connected, S - static, I - IGRP, R - RIP, M - mobile, B BGP
D - EIGRP, EX - EIGRP external, O - OSPF, IA - OSPF inter area

E1 - OSPF external type 1, E2 - OSPF external type 2, E - EGP

i - IS-IS, L1 - IS-IS level-1, L2 - IS-IS level-2, * - candidate
default
Gateway of last resort is not set
181.160.0.0 is variably subnetted, 4 subnets, 2 masks
C
181.160.144.8 255.255.255.248 is directly connected,
Ethernet0/0
O
181.160.144.0 255.255.255.0
[110/20] via 181.160.144.10, 00:41:52, Ethernet0/0
O IA
181.160.254.0 255.255.255.0
[110/1582] via 181.160.144.10, 00:26:54, Ethernet0/0
O IA
181.160.144.0 255.255.240.0
[110/1582] via 181.160.144.10, 00:26:54, Ethernet0/0
O IA
181.160.160.0 255.255.240.0
[110/1582] via 181.160.144.10, 00:26:54, Ethernet0/0
O IA
181.160.176.0 255.255.240.0
[110/1582] via 181.160.144.10, 00:26:54, Ethernet0/0
C
181.160.186.0 255.255.255.0 is directly connected, Ethernet0/5

Well, that's just about it, kids. Here's the router configurations for:

C Router
D Router
Din1
Duser2

Link State vs. Distance Vector

Distance Vector routing protocols usually send their entire routing table to their
nearest neighbors at regular intervals. Those neighbors then filter through the received
routing table to learn which direction to send traffic to reach a given network. Distance
Vector routing protocols use some sort of distance measurement (metric) to determine the
best path.
One of the simplest Distance Vector routing protocols, RIP, uses a hop count to
determine which route is best. If one router says that a network is directly connected to it,
it will have a smaller hop count than a router two links away. In RIP, routing decisions
are based entirely on this hop count.
Other Distance Vector routing protocols, such as IGRP, improve on this by using such
factors as bandwidth, current load, dollar cost or reliability as well as hop count to
determine the best path.
Link State routing protocols usually send only the parts of the routing table which
have changed to every router within their area. Routers using Link State routing
protocols maintain a picture of the entire network, and are aware of outages several hops

away. The router can then use this knowledge to determine the best route for traffic, and
can avoid sending data across the network if that network is down.

Variable Length Subnet Masking

Within an Autonomous System (AS), most routing protocols insist that every network
use the same subnet mask. Therefore, if 181.160.187.0, 181.160.188.0, and
181.160.200.0 are all in IGRP Autonomous System #1, they must all agree upon ONE
subnet mask, such as 255.255.255.0.
VLSM is simply a feature which allows a single autonomous system to have networks
with different subnet masks. If a routing protocol allows VLSM, then you can use a 14 bit
subnet mask on network connections (255.255.255.252), a 13 bit subnet mask on others
(255.255.255.248), an 8 bit mask for user networks (255.255.255.0), and even a 6 bit
mask (255.255.252.0) for networks with up to 1000 users.

Multicast Addresses
Class A networks are identified with a 1 - 127 in the first octet.
Class B networks are identified with a 128 - 191 in the first octet.
Class C networks are identified with a 192 - 223 in the first octet.
Class D networks are identified with a 224 - 239 in the first octet, and are reserved for
multicast addresses.
In OSPF, two multicast addresses are used. When an OSPF area is started, one router is
elected the Designated Router (DR), and another is made the Backup Designated Router
(BDR). The Designated Router tells all the other routers about changes in the network by
sending out Link State Advertisements (LSA's) on multicast address 224.0.0.5. When a
router notices a change in the network, it sends this information out on 224.0.0.6, the
multicast address reserved for the DR and the BDR.
When a new router is added to the net, it announces it's presence to the world by sending
out a hello message on 224.0.0.5. If it doesn't get a response, it becomes the new
Designated Router. If a Designated Router responds to the hello message, the new router
will use 224.0.0.6 from then on to send out LSA's.

Wasted IP addresses
Network protocols that do not support Variable Length Subnet Masks put network
administrators in an awkward position. If a standard 8 bit mask is used throughout the
Class B network (255.255.255.0), then IP addresses will be wasted on network
connections.

For instance, for the network that connects the "A" router to the "B" router (A,B), if it is
given 181.160.187.0, it will waste 252 IP addresses.

The network address: 181.160.187.0, subnet mask 255.255.255.0

Router A's interface: 181.160.187.1
Router B's interface: 181.160.187.2
The net's broadcast: 181.160.187.255

This leaves 181.160.187.3 through 181.160.187.254 unusable. Since networks part of

larger routed networks must be unique, the remaining IP addresses cannot be used
elsewhere.
Pelican.Smith@worldnet.att.net