ISIS Tutorial

Philip Smith <[email protected]>

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5th-9th April 2009
Bahrain
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Presentation Slides
Will be available on
ftp://ftp-eng.cisco.com
/pfs/seminars/MENOG4-ISIS-Tutorial.pdf
And on the MENOG website

Feel free to ask questions any time

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Agenda
Comparing ISIS and OSPF
Introduction to ISIS
ISIS Best Practices

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Comparing ISIS and OSPF

Both Link State Protocols use the Dijkstra SPF

Algorithm
So whats the difference then??
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What Is IS-IS ?
Intermediate System to Intermediate System
An IS is ISO terminology for a router
IS-IS was originally designed for use as a dynamic
routing protocol for ISO CLNP, defined in the ISO
10589 standard
Later adapted to carry IP prefixes in addition to CLNP
(known as Integrated or Dual IS-IS) as described in
RFC 1195
Predominantly used in ISP environment

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IS-IS Timeline
1978ish New Arpanet Algorithm
Eric Rosen et al

1986 to 90 Decnet Phase V

Radia Perlman, Mike Shand

1987 ISO 10589 (IS-IS)

Dave Oran

1990 RFC 1195 (Integrated IS-IS)

Ross Callon, Chris Gunner

1990 to present: All sorts of enhancements

Everyone contributed!

2008 RFC5308 adds IPv6 support

And RFC5120 adds Multi-Topology Routing support

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What Is OSPF ?
Open Shortest Path First
Link State Protocol using the Shortest Path First
algorithm (Dijkstra) to calculate loop-free routes
Used purely within the TCP/IP environment
Designed to respond quickly to topology changes but
using minimal protocol traffic
Used in both Enterprise and ISP Environment

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OSPF Timeline
Development began in 1987 by IETF
OSPFv1 published in 1989 with RFC 1131
OSPFv2 published in 1991 with RFC 1247
Further enhancements to OSPFv2 in 1994 with RFC
1583 and in 1997 with RFC 2178
Last revision was in 1998 with RFC 2328 to fix minor
problems
All above OSPF RFCs authored by John Moy
RFC2740 introduced OSPFv3 (for IPv6) in 1999,
replaced by RFC5340 in 2008
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IS-IS & OSPF:

Similarities
Both are Interior Gateway Protocols (IGP)
They distribute routing information between routers belonging to
a single Autonomous System (AS)

With support for:

Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR)
Variable Subnet Length Masking (VLSM)
Authentication
Multi-path
IP unnumbered links

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IS-IS and OSPF Terminology

OSPF

ISIS

Host

End System (ES)

Router

Intermediate System (IS)

Link

Circuit

Packet

Protocol Data Unit (PDU)

Designated router (DR)

Designated IS (DIS)

Backup DR (BDR)

N/A (no BDIS is used)

Link-State Advertisement (LSA) Link-State PDU (LSP)

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Hello packet

IIH PDU

Database Description (DBD)

Complete sequence number

PDU (CSNP)

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IS-IS and OSPF Terminology (Cont.)

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OSPF

ISIS

Area

Sub domain (area)

Non-backbone area

Level-1 area

Backbone area

Level-2 Sub domain (backbone)

Area Border Router (ABR)

L1L2 router

Autonomous System
Boundary Router (ASBR)

Any IS

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Transport
OSPF uses IP Protocol 89 as transport
Data Link Header

IP Header

OSPF Header

OSPF Data

IS-IS is directly encapsulated in Layer 2

Data Link Header

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IS-IS Header

IS-IS Data

12

For Service Providers

Which IGP should an ISP choose?
Both OSPF and ISIS use Dijkstra SPF algorithm
Exhibit same convergence properties
ISIS less widely implemented on router platforms
ISIS runs on data link layer, OSPF runs on IP layer
Biggest ISPs tend to use ISIS
Main ISIS implementations more tuneable than equivalent
OSPF implementations

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How to choose an IGP?

OSPF
Rigid area design - all networks must have area 0 core, with
sub-areas distributed around
Suits ISPs with central high speed core network linking regional
PoPs
Teaches good routing protocol design practices

ISIS
Relaxed two level design - L2 routers must be linked through
the backbone
Suits ISPs with stringy networks, diverse infrastructure, etc,
not fitting central core model of OSPF
More flexible than OSPF, but easier to make mistakes too
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Other considerations
ISIS runs on link layer
Not possible to attack the IGP using IP as with OSPF

ISISs NSAP addressing scheme avoids dependencies

on IP as with OSPF
Because biggest ISPs use ISIS, it tends to get new
optimisation features before OSPF does

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Introduction to ISIS

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IS-IS Standards History

ISO 10589 specifies OSI IS-IS routing protocol for CLNS traffic
Tag/Length/Value (TLV) options to enhance the protocol
A Link State protocol with a 2 level hierarchical architecture.

RFC 1195 added IP support

I/IS-IS runs on top of the Data Link Layer
Requires CLNP to be configured

RFC5308 adds IPv6 address family support to IS-IS

RFC5120 defines Multi-Topology concept for IS-IS
Permits IPv4 and IPv6 topologies which are not identical

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ISIS Levels
ISIS has a 2 layer hierarchy
Level-2 (the backbone)
Level-1 (the areas)

A router can be
Level-1 (L1) router
Level-2 (L2) router
Level-1-2 (L1L2) router

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ISIS Levels
Level-1 router
Has neighbours only on the same area
Has a level-1 LSDB with all routing information for the area

Level-2 router
May have neighbours in the same or other areas
Has a Level-2 LSDB with all routing information about inter-area

Level-1-2 router
May have neighbours on any area.
Has two separate LSDBs: level-1 LSDB & level-2 LSDB

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Backbone & Areas

ISIS does not have a backbone area as such (like
OSPF)
Instead the backbone is the contiguous collection of
Level-2 capable routers
ISIS area borders are on links, not routers
Each router is identified with Network Entity Title (NET)
NET is an NSAP where the n-selector is 0

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L1, L2, and L1L2 Routers

Area-3

L1-only
L1L2
Area-2
L1L2

L2-only

L1L2
L1-only

Area-4
L1L2
Area-1

L1-only

L1L2

L1-only

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NSAP and Addressing

NSAP: Network Service Access Point

Total length between 8 and 20 bytes
Area Address: variable length field (up to 13 bytes)
System ID: defines an ES or IS in an area.
NSEL: N-selector. identifies a network service user (transport entity or the IS
network entity itself)

NET: the address of the network entity itself

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An Addressing Example
Area 3

49.0f01.0002.4444.4444.4444.00

49.0f01.0003.6666.6666.6666.00

Area 2
49.0f01.0002.3333.3333.3333.00

49.0f01.0004.7777.7777.7777.00

Area 4

49.0f01.0001.2222.2222.2222.00
49.0f01.0004.8888.8888.8888.00

Area 1
49.0f01.0001.1111.1111.1111.00

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Addressing Common Practices

ISPs typically choose NSAP addresses thus:
First 8 bits pick a number (usually 49)
Next 16 bits area
Next 48 bits router loopback address
Final 8 bits zero

Example:
NSAP: 49.0001.1921.6800.1001.00
Router: 192.168.1.1 (loopback) in Area 1

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Adjacencies
Hello PDU IIHs are exchanged between routers to form
adjacencies
ISIS adjacency through IIH

Area addresses are exchanged in IIH PDUs

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Link State PDU (LSP)

Each router creates an LSP and flood it to neighbours
A level-1 router will create level-1 LSP(s)
A level-2 router will create level-2 LSP(s)
A level-1-2 router will create
level-1 LSP(s) and
level-2 LSP(s)

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LSP Header
LSPs have

The LSP header contains

Fixed header

LSP-id

TLV coded contents

Sequence number
Remaining Lifetime
Checksum
Type of LSP (level-1, level-2)
Attached bit
Overload bit

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LSP Contents
The LSP contents are coded as TLV (Type, Length,
Value)
Area addresses
IS neighbors
Authentication Info

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LSDB content
Each router maintains a separate LSDB for level-1 and
level-2 LSPs
LSP headers and contents
SRM bits: set per interface when router has to flood this
LSP
SSN bits: set per interface when router has to send a
PSNP for this LSP

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Flooding of LSPs
New LSPs are flooded to all neighbors
It is necessary that all routers get all LSPs
Each LSP has a sequence number
2 kinds of flooding
Flooding on a p2p link
Flooding on LAN

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Flooding on a p2p link

Once the adjacency is established both routers send
CSNP packet
Missing LSPs are sent by both routers if not present in
the received CSNP
Missing LSPs may be requested through PSNP

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Flooding on a LAN
Theres a Designated Router (DIS)
DIS election is based on priority
Best practice is to select two routers and give them higher
priority then in case of failure one provides deterministic
backup to the other

Tie break is by the highest MAC address

DIS has two tasks
Conducting the flooding over the LAN
Creating and updating a special LSP describing the LAN
topology (Pseudonode LSP)

Pseudonode represents LAN (created by the DIS)

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Flooding on a LAN
DIS conducts the flooding over the LAN
DIS multicasts CSNP every 10 seconds
All routers in the LAN check the CSNP against their
own LSDB (and may ask specific re-transmissions with
PSNPs)

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Complete Sequence Number PDU

Describes all LSPs in your LSDB (in range)
If LSDB is large, multiple CSNPs are sent
Used at 2 occasions
Periodic multicast by DIS (every 10 seconds) to synchronise
LSDB over LAN subnets
On p2p links when link comes up

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Partial Sequence Number PDUs

PSNPs Exchanged on p2p links (ACKs)
Two functions
Acknowledge receipt of an LSP
Request transmission of latest LSP

PSNPs describe LSPs by its header

LSP identifier
Sequence number
Remaining lifetime
LSP checksum

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Configuration
Area-1

Area-2
Rtr-A

Rtr-B

Area-3
Rtr-C

L1, L2, L1-L2

By default cisco routers will be L1L2 routers
Routers can be manually configured to behave as
Level-1 only, Level-2 only, Level-1-2
This is what most ISPs do
Configuration can be done per interface or at the router level

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Configuration for A&B

L1L2 routers

Rtr-B
Area 49.0001

Rtr-C
Area 49.0002

Router-B
interface Loopback0
ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.255
!
Interface Pos2/0/0
ip address 192.168.222.1 255.255.255.0
ip router isis
isis circuit-type level-2
!
FastEthernet4/0/0
ip address 192.168.120.10 255.255.255.0
ip router isis
isis circuit-type level-1
!
router isis
passive-interface Loopback0
net 49.0001.1921.6800.1001.00
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Rtr-A

Rtr-D
L1routers

Router-A
interface Loopback0
ip address 192.168.1.5 255.255.255.255
!
interface FastEthernet0/0
ip address 192.168.120.5 255.255.255.0
ip router isis
!
router isis
is-type level-1
passive-interface Loopback0
net 49.0001.1921.6800.1005.00
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Configuration for C&D

L1L2 routers

Rtr-B
Area 49.0001

Rtr-C
Area 49.0002

Router-C
interface Loopback0
ip address 192.168.2.2 255.255.255.255
!
Interface Pos1/0/0
ip address 192.168.222.2 255.255.255.0
ip router isis
isis circuit-type level-2
!
interface Fddi3/0
ip address 192.168.111.2 255.255.255.0
ip router isis
isis circuit-type level-1
!
router isis
passive-interface Loopback0
net 49.0002.1921.6800.2002.00
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Rtr-A

Rtr-D
L1routers

Router-D
interface Loopback0
ip address 192.168.2.4 255.255.255.255
!
interface Fddi6/0
ip address 192.168.111.4 255.255.255.0
ip router isis
!
router isis
is-type level-1
passive-interface Loopback0
net 49.0002.1921.6800.2004.00
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Adding interfaces to ISIS

To activate ISIS on an interface:
interface HSSI 4/0
ip route isis isp-bb
isis circuit-type level-2

To disable ISIS on an interface:

router isis isp-bb
passive-interface GigabitEthernet 0/0
Disables CLNS on that interface
Puts the interface subnet address into the LSDB

No ISIS configuration on an interface

No CLNS run on interface, no interface subnet in the LSDB
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Adding interfaces to ISIS

Scaling ISIS: passive-interface default
Disables ISIS processing on all interfaces apart from those
marked as no-passive
Places all IP addresses of all connected interfaces into ISIS
Must be at least one non-passive interface:
router isis isp-bb
passive-interface default
no passive-interface GigabitEthernet 0/0
interface GigabitEthernet 0/0
ip router isis isp-bb
isis metric 1 level-2

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Status Commands in ISIS

Show clns
Shows the global CLNS status as seen on the router, e.g.
Rtr-B>show clns
Global CLNS Information:
2 Interfaces Enabled for CLNS
NET: 49.0001.1921.6800.1001.00
Configuration Timer: 60, Default Holding Timer: 300, Packet
Lifetime 64
ERPDU's requested on locally generated packets
Intermediate system operation enabled (forwarding allowed)
IS-IS level-1-2 Router:
Routing for Area: 49.0001

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Status Commands in ISIS

Show clns neighbors
Shows the neighbour adjacencies as seen by the router:
Rtr-B> show clns neighbors
System Id

SNPA

1921.6800.2002 *PPP*

Interface State Holdtime Type Protocol

PO2/0/0

Up

29

L2

IS-IS

1921.6800.1005 00e0.1492.2c00 Fa4/0/0

Up

L1

IS-IS

More recent IOSes replace system ID with router

hostname ease of troubleshooting

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Status Commands in ISIS

Show clns interface
Shows the CLNS status on a router interface:
Rtr-B> show clns interface POS2/0/0
POS2/0/0 is up, line protocol is up
Checksums enabled, MTU 4470, Encapsulation PPP
ERPDUs enabled, min. interval 10 msec.
RDPDUs enabled, min. interval 100 msec., Addr Mask enabled
Congestion Experienced bit set at 4 packets
DEC compatibility mode OFF for this interface
Next ESH/ISH in 47 seconds
Routing Protocol: IS-IS
Circuit Type: level-1-2
Interface number 0x0, local circuit ID 0x100
Level-1 Metric: 10, Priority: 64, Circuit ID: 1921.6800.2002.00
Number of active level-1 adjacencies: 0
Level-2 Metric: 10, Priority: 64, Circuit ID: 1921.6800.1001.00
Number of active level-2 adjacencies: 1
Next IS-IS Hello in 2 seconds

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Status Commands in ISIS

Show CLNS protocol
Displays the status of the CLNS protocol on the router:
Rtr-B> show clns protocol
IS-IS Router: <Null Tag>
System Id: 1921.6800.1001.00 IS-Type: level-1-2
Manual area address(es):
49.0001
Routing for area address(es):
49.0001
Interfaces supported by IS-IS:
FastEthernet4/0/0 - IP
POS2/0/0 - IP
Redistributing:
static
Distance: 110
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Other status commands

show clns traffic
Shows CLNS traffic statistics and activity for the network

show isis database

Shows the ISIS link state database
i.e. the routing table

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Network Design Issues

As in all IP network designs, the key issue is the
addressing lay-out
ISIS supports a large number of routers in a single area
When using areas, use summary-addresses
>400 routers in the backbone is quite doable

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Network Design Issues

Possible link cost
Default on all interfaces is 10
(Compare with OSPF which sets cost according to link bandwidth)
Manually configured according to routing strategy

Summary address cost

Equal to the best more specific cost
Plus cost to reach neighbor of best specific

Backbone has to be contiguous

Ensure continuity by redundancy

Area partitioning
Design so that backbone can NOT be partitioned

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Scaling Issues
Areas vs. single area
Use areas where
sub-optimal routing is not an issue
areas with one single exit point
Start with L2-only everywhere is a good choice
Future implementation of level-1 areas will be easier
Backbone continuity is ensured from start

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ISIS for IPv6

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IS-IS for IPv6

2 Tag/Length/Values added to introduce IPv6 routing
IPv6 Reachability TLV (0xEC)
External bit
Equivalent to IP Internal/External Reachability TLVs

IPv6 Interface Address TLV (0xE8)

For Hello PDUs, must contain the Link-Local address
For LSP, must only contain the non-Link Local address

IPv6 NLPID (0x8E) is advertised by IPv6 enabled routers

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IOS IS-IS dual IP configuration

LAN1: 2001:db8:1::/64

Router1#
interface ethernet-1
ip address 10.1.1.1 255.255.255.0
ipv6 address 2001:db8:1::1/64
ip router isis
ipv6 router isis

Ethernet-1

Router1
Ethernet-2

LAN2: 2001:db8:2::/64

Dual IPv4/IPv6 configuration.

Redistributing both IPv6 static routes
and IPv4 static routes.

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interface ethernet-2
ip address 10.2.1.1 255.255.255.0
ipv6 address 2001:db8:2::1/64
ip router isis
ipv6 router isis
router isis
address-family ipv6
redistribute static
exit-address-family
net 49.0001.0000.0000.072c.00
redistribute static

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IOS Configuration for IS-IS for IPv6 on

IPv6 Tunnels over IPv4
On Router1:
interface Tunnel0
no ip address
ipv6 address 2001:db8:1::1/64
ipv6 address FE80::10:7BC2:ACC9:10 link-local
ipv6 router isis
tunnel source 10.42.1.1
tunnel destination 10.42.2.1
!
router isis
net 49.0001.0000.0000.0001.00

On Router2:

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IPv6 Tunnel
IPv4
Backbone

IPv6
Network

interface Tunnel0
no ip address
ipv6 address 2001:db8:1::2/64
ipv6 address FE80::10:7BC2:B280:11 link-local
ipv6 router isis
tunnel source 10.42.2.1
tunnel destination 10.42.1.1
!
router isis
net 49.0001.0000.0000.0002.00
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IPv6
Network

IPv6
Tunnel

IPv6
Tunnel
IPv6
Network

IS-IS for IPv6 on an IPv6 Tunnel

requires GRE Tunnel; it cant work
with IPv6 configured tunnel as IS-IS
runs directly over the data link layer
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Multi-Topology IS-IS extensions

IS-IS for IPv6 assumes that the IPv6 topology is the
same as the IPv4 topology
Single SPF running, multiple address families
Some networks may be like this, but many others are not

Multi-Topology IS-IS solves this problem

New TLV attributes introduced
New Multi-Topology ID #2 for IPv6 Routing Topology
Two topologies now maintained:
ISO/IPv4 Routing Topology (MT ID #0)
IPv6 Routing Topology (MT ID #2)

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Multi-Topology IS-IS extensions

New TLVs attributes for Multi-Topology extensions:
Multi-topology TLV: contains one or more multi-topology ID in
which the router participates
MT Intermediate Systems TLV: this TLV appears as many times
as the number of topologies a node supports
Multi-Topology Reachable IPv4 Prefixes TLV: this TLV appears
as many times as the number of IPv4 announced by an IS for a
given MT ID
Multi-Topology Reachable IPv6 Prefixes TLV: this TLV appears
as many times as the number of IPv6 announced by an IS for a
given MT ID

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Multi-Topology ISIS configuration

example (IOS)
Area B

LAN1: 2001:db8:1::1/64
Ethernet 1

Router1
Ethernet 2

LAN2: 2001:db8:2::1/64

The optional keyword transition may

be used for transitioning existing IS-IS
IPv6 single SPF mode to MT IS-IS
Wide metric is mandated for MultiTopology to work
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Router1#
interface Ethernet 1
ip address 10.1.1.1 255.255.255.0
ipv6 address 2001:db8:1::1/64
ip router isis
ipv6 router isis
isis ipv6 metric 20
interface Ethernet 2
ip address 10.2.1.1 255.255.255.0
ipv6 address 2001:db8:2::1/64
ip router isis
ipv6 router isis
isis ipv6 metric 20
router isis
net 49.0001.0000.0000.072c.00
metric-style wide
!
address-family ipv6
multi-topology
exit-address-family

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Narrow to Wide Metrics Transition

When migrating from narrow to wide metrics, care is
required
Narrow and wide metrics are NOT compatible with each other
Migration is a two stage process, using the transition keyword

Networks using narrow metrics should first configure

across all routers:
router isis isp
metric-style transition

Once the whole network is changed to transition

support, the metric style can be changed to wide:
router isis isp
metric-style wide
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ISP common practices

NSAP address construction
Area and loopback address

L2
L1-L2 and L1 used later for scaling

Wide metrics
Narrow metrics are too limiting

Deploying IPv6 in addition to IPv4

Multi-topology is recommended gives increased flexibility
should there be future differences in topology

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ISP Best Practices

Extra detailed information

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Purging the RIB on link failure

For routing protocols that are capable of responding to
link failures, IOS allows such routing protocols to
quickly and more efficiently delete associated routes
from the RIB when a link, and the interface is removed
from the routing table
Without this command, the "less efficient" RIB process
is used to delete the associated next-hop routes of the
failed interface, by default
If this process has to work through a very large routing table, it
can use up a number of CPU cycles and potentially increase
convergence time.
ip routing protocol purge interface
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ISIS neighbour authentication

Create key chains to be used for HMAC-MD5
authentication for both Level-1 and Level-2
key chain isis-sec-l1
key 1
key-string xxxxx
key chain isis-sec-l2
key 1
key-string xxxxx

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Setting up Loopback Interface

Create the Loopback interface/Router-ID
It will NOT have IS-IS running on it because it is not a transit
interface
Disabling IS-IS on it, while announcing the IP prefixes into ISIS, allows the IS-IS domain to scale because LSP/Hello packets
are not unnecessarily generated for the Loopback interface
An IS-IS metric will NOT be set, which will default the Loopback
interface's metric to zero (0).
interface loopback0
ip address 192.168.0.1 255.255.255.255
ipv6 address 2001:db8:192:168:0:1/128

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Level-1 Interface Configuration

Configure addresses and enable ISIS for IPv4 and IPv6
interface gigabitethernet0/1
ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.192
ipv6 address 2001:db8:192:168:1:1/112
!
ip router isis 1
ipv6 router isis 1

Ensure this interfaces runs at Level-1

isis circuit-type level-1

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Level-1 Interface: Metrics & Auth

Set the costs for IPv4 and IPv6
interface gigabitethernet0/1
isis metric 400 level-1
isis ipv6 metric 400 level-1

Enable HMAC-MD5 for level-1

isis authentication mode md5 level-1

Associate the key-chain defined earlier

isis authentication key-chain isis-sec-l1 level-1

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Level-1 Interface: DIS and BFD

Set this IS to be the DIS in this Level-1 area
A DIS of 126 (higher than the default of 64) configured on
another IS in this area sets it up as the backup DIS
interface gigabitethernet0/1
isis priority 127 level-1

Enable BFD for fast failure detection

BFD helps reduce the convergence times of IS-IS because link
failures will be signalled much quicker
interface gigabitethernet0/1
bfd interval 250 min_rx 250 multiplier 3
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Level-2 interface
This interface is used for a trunk link to another PoP forming part of
your network-wide backbone
As such it will be a Level-2 interface, making this router a Level1/Level-2 IS.
Metric and authentication are all configured for Level-2
interface gigabitethernet0/2
ip address 192.168.2.1 255.255.255.252
ipv6 address 2001:db8:192:168:2:1:/126
ip router isis 1
ipv6 router isis 1
isis circuit-type level-2-only
isis metric 400 level-2
isis ipv6 metric 400 level-2
isis authentication mode md5 level-2
isis authentication key-chain isis-sec-l2 level-2
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Level 2 interface: more details

To make this IS-IS BCP more interesting, we will assume this trunk
link is a broadcast multi-access link, i.e., Ethernet.
As this is an Ethernet interface, IS-IS will attempt to elect a DIS
when it forms an adjacency
Because it is running as a point-to-point WAN link, with only 2 IS's on
the wire, configuring IS-IS to operate in "point-to-point mode" scales
the protocol by reducing the link failure detection times
Point-to-point mode improves convergence times on Ethernet networks
because it:
Prevents the election of a DIS on the wire,
Prevents the flooding process from using CSNP's for database
synchronization
Simplifies the SPF computations and reduces the IS's memory
footprint due to a smaller topology database.
int gi0/2
isis network point-to-point
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ISP Best Practices

We now configure parameters specific to the IS-IS routing protocol
This covers both IPv4 and IPv6, as IS-IS supports both IP protocols in
the same implementation
router isis 1

Create an NET
This is made up of a private AFI (49), an area part, a System ID (taken
from the padded Loopback interface IP address) and an N-SEL of zero
(0).
net 49.0001.1921.6800.0001.00

Enable HMAC-MD5 authentication

authentication mode md5
authentication key-chain isis-sec-l1 level-1
authentication key-chain isis-sec-l2 level-2
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ISP Best Practices

Enable iSPF (incremental SPF).
This, in the long run, reduces CPU demand because SPF calculations
are run only on the affected changes in the SPT.
As this is a Level-1/Level-2 router, enable iSPF at both levels 60
seconds after the command has been entered into the configuration.
Note that IOS only supports iSPF for IPv4.
ispf level-1-2 60

Enable wide/extended metric support for IS-IS.

IOS, by default, supports narrow metrics, which means you can define
cost values between 1-63. This is not scalable.
To solve this problem, enable wide metrics, which allows you to define
cost values between 1-16777214.
metric-style wide
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ISP Best Practices

Increase ISIS default metric
Default value is 10
All interfaces in both L1 and L2 have this value
Not useful if configured value is accidentally removed - a low priority
interface could end up taking full load by mistake
Configure a very large value as default
metric 100000

Disable IIH padding because on high speed links, it may strain

huge buffers; and on low speed links, it may waste bandwidth and
affect other time sensitive applications, e.g., voice.
Disabling IIH padding is safe because IOS will still pad the first 5 IIH's
to the full MTU to aid in the discovery of MTU mismatches.
no hello padding

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ISP Best Practices

Allow the Loopback interface IP address to be carried within IS-IS,
while preventing it from being considered in the flooding process.
passive-interface Loopback0

Log changes in the state of the adjacencies.

log-adjacency-changes

Tell the IS to ignore LSP's with an incorrect data-link checksum,

rather than purge them
Purging LSP's with a bad checksum causes the initiating IS to
regenerate that LSP, which could overload the IS if perpetuated in a
cycle
So rather than purge them, ignore them.
ignore-lsp-errors
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ISP Best Practices

Reduce the amount of control traffic, conserving CPU usage for
generation and refreshing of LSP's.
Do this by increasing the LSP lifetime to its limits.
max-lsp-lifetime 65535

Reduce the frequency of periodic LSP flooding of the topology,

which reduces link utilization
This is safe because there other mechanisms to guard against
persistence of corrupted LSP's in the LSDB.
lsp-refresh-interval 65000

Customize IS-IS throttling of SPF calculations.

Good for when you also use BFD for IS-IS.
These are recommended values for fast convergence.
spf-interval 5 1 20
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ISP Best Practices

Customize IS-IS throttling of PRC calculations.
PRC calculates routes without performing a full SFP calculation.
This is done when a change is signaled by another IS, but without a
corresponding change in the basic network topology, e.g., the need to
reinstall a route in the IS-IS RIB.
These are recommended values for fast convergence.
prc-interval 5 1 20

Customize IS-IS throttling of LSP generation.

These are recommended values for fast convergence.
lsp-gen-interval 5 1 20

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ISP Best Practices

Enable IS-IS fast-flooding of LSP's.
This tells the IS to always flood the LSP that triggered an SPF before
the router actually runs the SPF computation.
This command used to be 'ip fast-convergence' and has since been
replaced from IOS 12.3(7)T.
Below, we shall tell the IS to flood the first 10 LSP's which invoke the
SPF before the SPF computation is started
fast-flood 10

Enable IS-IS IETF Graceful Restart.

This ensures an IS going through a control plane switchover continues
to forward traffic as if nothing happened
Software and platform support is limited, so check whether your
particular platform/code supports this
Also, deploy only if it's necessary.
nsf ietf
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ISP Best Practices

Enable BFD support for IS-IS.
With BFD running on the interface, a failure of the link would signal ISIS immediately
IS-IS will then converge accordingly.
bfd all-interfaces

Tell IS-IS to ignore the attached bit

The Attached bit is set when an L1/L2 IS learns L1 routes from other
L1 routers in the same area
The Attached bit causes the installation of an IS-IS-learned default
route in the IS-IS RIB on L1 routers in the same area, as well as in the
forwarding table if IS-IS is the best routing protocol from which the
default route was learned this can lead to suboptimal routing.
ignore-attached-bit
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ISP Best Practices

Wait until iBGP is running before providing transit path
set-overload-bit on-startup wait-for-bgp

Avoids blackholing traffic on router restart

Causes ISIS to announce its prefixes with highest possible
metric until iBGP is up and running
When iBGP is running, ISIS metrics return to normal, make the
path valid

Enable the IPv6 address family for in IS-IS.

address-family ipv6

Enable multi-topology support for IPv6 in IS-IS.

Multi-topology support allows the IPv4 topology to be
independent of that of IPv6
multi-topology
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ISP Best Practices

Things to consider on routers operating as Level-1-only
IS's:
IS-IS BCP techniques under the IS-IS routing process
In addition to the interface, tell the IS-IS routing process to
operate in a Level-1 area only
router isis 1
is-type level-1

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ISP Best Practices

Things to consider on routers operating as Level-1 and Level-2 ISs:
To prevent sub-optimal routing of traffic from L1 IS's in one area to L1 IS's in
another area, configure and enable Route Leaking on L1/L2 routers that
form the backbone connectivity between two or more different areas
Route Leaking permits L1/L2 routers to install L1 routes learned from one
area into L1 ISs routing/forwarding tables in another area
This allows for reachability between L1 routers located behind L1/L2 routers
in different areas
router isis 1
redistribute isis ip level-2 into level-1 route-map FOO
!
ip prefix-list foo permit 0.0.0.0/0 le 32
!
route-map FOO permit 10
match ip address prefix-list foo
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ISP Best Practices

Doing the same for IPv6:
router isis 1
address-family ipv6
redistribute isis level-2 into level-1 route-map FOO6
!
ip prefix-list foo6 permit 0.0.0.0/0 le 32
!
route-map FOO6 permit 10
match ip address prefix-list foo6
!

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ISP Best Practices

Summary
Best practice recommendations are commonly implemented on
many ISP backbones
Ensures efficient and scalable operation of ISIS

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Introduction to ISIS

Philip Smith [email protected]

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5th-9th April 2009
Bahrain
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