Unit 4

Network Layer
Routing and Forwarding
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
Routing and Forwarding

Figure shows a simple network with two hosts, H1 and

H2, and several routers on the path between H1 and
H2.
Suppose that H1 is sending information to H2, and
consider the role of the network layer in these hosts
and in the intervening routers.
The network layer in H1 takes segments from the
transport layer in H1, encapsulates each segment into
a datagram (that is, a network-layer packet), and
then sends the datagrams to its nearby router, R1.
Routing and Forwarding
Routing and Forwarding

The role of the network layer is thus deceptively

simple—to move packets from a sending host to a
receiving host. To do so, two important network-layer
functions can be identified:
Forwarding: When a packet arrives at a router’s input
link, the router must move the packet to the
appropriate output link.
For example, a packet arriving from Host H1 to Router
R1 must be forwarded to the next router on a path to
H2.
Routing and Forwarding

Routing: Routing is the process of selecting best paths

in a network.
The network layer must determine the route or path
taken by packets as they flow from a sender to a
receiver.
The algorithms that calculate these paths are referred
to as routing algorithms. A routing algorithm would
determine, for example, the path along which
packets flow from H1 to H2.
Routing and Forwarding
Every router has a forwarding table. A router forwards
a packet by examining the value of a field in the
arriving packet’s header, and then using this header
value to index into the router’s forwarding table.
The value stored in the forwarding table entry for that
header indicates the router’s outgoing link interface
to which that packet is to be forwarded.
Depending on the network-layer protocol, the
header value could be the destination address of the
packet or an indication of the connection to which
the packet belongs.
Network Service Model
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
 Network Service Model
Services provided by network layer for individual
datagrams
1. Guaranteed delivery: This service guarantees that the
packet will eventually arrive at its destination.
2. Guaranteed delivery with bounded delay: This
service not only guarantees delivery of the packet, but
delivery within a specified host-to-host delay bound (for
example, within 100 msec).
 Network Service Model
Services provided by network layer for a flow of
datagrams
3. In-order packet delivery: This service guarantees that
packets arrive at the destination in the order that they
were sent.
4. Guaranteed minimal bandwidth: This network-layer
service emulates the behaviour of a transmission link of
a specified bit rate (for example, 1 Mbps) between
sending and receiving hosts. As long as the sending
host transmits bits at a rate below the specified bit rate,
then no packet is lost.
 Network Service Model
5. Guaranteed maximum jitter: This service guarantees
that the amount of time between the transmission of
two successive packets at the sender is equal to the
amount of time between their receipt at the.
 Network Service Model
6. Security services: Using a secret session key known
only by a source and destination host, the network layer
in the source host could encrypt the payloads of all
datagrams being sent to the destination host. The
network layer in the destination host would then be
responsible for decrypting the payloads. With such a
service, confidentiality would be provided to all
transport-layer segments (TCP and UDP) between the
source and destination hosts.
Virtual and Datagram
networks
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
 Virtual Circuit Switching (Connection
Oriented Service)
A VC consists of
1. a path (that is, a series of links and routers) between
the source and destination hosts
2. VC numbers, one number for each link along the
path
3. Entries in the forwarding table in each router along
the path.
 Virtual Circuit Switching (Connection
Oriented Service)
A packet belonging to a virtual circuit will carry a VC
number in its header. Because a virtual circuit may
have a different VC number on each link, each
intervening router must replace the VC number of each
traversing packet with a new VC number.

The new VC number is obtained from the forwarding

table.
Virtual Circuit Switching (Connection
Oriented Service)
Virtual Circuit Switching (Connection
Oriented Service)
The numbers next to the links of R1 in above figure are
the link interface numbers.
Suppose now that Host A requests that the network
establishes a VC between itself and Host B.
Suppose also that the network chooses the path
A-R1-R2-B and assigns VC numbers 12, 22 and 32 to
the three links in this path for this virtual circuit.
Virtual Circuit Switching (Connection
Oriented Service)
In this case, when a packet in this VC leaves Host A,
the value in the VC number field in the packet
header is 12; when it leaves R1, the value is 22; and
when it leaves R2, the value is 32.
How does the router determine the replacement VC
number for a packet traversing the router? For a VC
network, each router’s forwarding table includes VC
number translation; for example, the forwarding table
in R1 might look something like above fig.
Whenever a new VC is established across a router, an
entry is added to the forwarding table.
Virtual Circuit Switching (Connection
Oriented Service)
Similarly, whenever a VC terminates, the appropriate
entries in each table along its path are removed.
A path from the source router to the destination
router must be established before any data packets
can be sent.
This connection is called a VC (virtual circuit), and the
subnet is called a virtual-circuit subnet.
Virtual Circuit Switching (Connection
Oriented Service)

When a connection is established, a route from the

source machine to the destination machine is chosen
as part of the connection setup and stored in tables
inside the routers.
That route is used for all traffic flowing over the
connection, exactly the same way that the
telephone system works.
Virtual Circuit Switching (Connection
Oriented Service)
 Virtual Circuit Switching (Connection
Oriented Service)
There are three identifiable phases in a virtual circuit:
1. VC setup:
During the setup phase, the sending transport layer
contacts the network layer, specifies the receiver’s
address, and waits for the network to set up the VC.
The network layer determines the path between
sender and receiver, that is, the series of links and
routers through which all packets of the VC will travel.
 Virtual Circuit Switching (Connection
Oriented Service)
There are three identifiable phases in a virtual circuit:
1. VC setup:
The network layer also determines the VC number for
each link along the path.
Finally, the network layer adds an entry in the
forwarding table in each router along the path. During
VC setup, the network layer may also reserve resources
(for example, bandwidth) along the path of the VC.
 Virtual Circuit Switching (Connection
Oriented Service)
2. Data transfer:
As shown in Figure, once the VC has been
established, packets can begin to flow along the VC.
3. VC teardown:
This is initiated when the sender (or receiver) informs
the network layer of its desire to terminate the VC.
The network layer will then typically inform the end
system on the other side of the network of the call
termination and update the forwarding tables in
each of the packet routers on the path to indicate
that the VC no longer exists.
Datagram Network (Connection-Less
Service)
In connection less service, packets are injected into
the subnet individually and routed independently of
each other.
No advance setup is needed. In this context, the
packets are frequently called datagrams (in analogy
with telegrams) and the subnet is called a datagram
subnet.
Suppose that the process P1 in Figure 4 has a long
message for P2. It hands the message to the transport
layer with instructions to deliver it to process P2 on
host H2.
Datagram Network (Connection-Less
Service)
Let us assume that the message is four times longer
than the maximum packet size, so the network layer
has to break it into four packets, 1, 2, 3, and 4 and
sends each of them in turn to router A using some
point-to-point protocol, for example, PPP.
Datagram Network (Connection-Less
Service)
Datagram Network (Connection-Less
Service)
At this point the carrier takes over. Every router has an
internal table telling it where to send packets for
each possible destination. Each table entry is a pair
consisting of a destination and the outgoing line to
use for that destination.
Only directly-connected lines can be used.
Datagram Network vs.
Virtual Circuit Network
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
Datagram Network vs. Virtual Circuit
Network
Router architecture
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
Router architecture

Routers have four components:

1. Input ports
2. Switching fabric
3. Output ports
4. Routing processor
Router architecture
Router architecture

1. Input ports
An input port performs several key functions.
It performs the physical layer function of terminating an
incoming physical link at a router; this is shown in the
leftmost box of the input port and the rightmost box of
the output port in Figure.
An input port also performs link-layer functions needed
to interoperate with the link layer at the other side of
the incoming link; this is represented by the middle
boxes in the input and output ports.
Router architecture

1. Input ports
Perhaps most crucially, the lookup function is also
performed at the input port; this will occur in the
rightmost box of the input port. It is here that the
forwarding table is consulted to determine the router
output port to which an arriving packet will be
forwarded via the switching fabric.
Control packets (for example, packets carrying routing
protocol information) are forwarded from an input port
to the routing processor.
Router architecture

2. Switching fabric
The switching fabric connects the router’s input ports
to its output ports.
This switching fabric is completely contained within
the router - a network inside of a network router!
Router architecture

3. Output ports
An output port stores packets received from the
switching fabric and transmits these packets on the
outgoing link by performing the necessary link-layer
and physical-layer functions.
When a link is bidirectional (that is, carries traffic in
both directions), an output port will typically be
paired with the input port for that link on the same
line card.
Router architecture

4. Routing processor
The routing processor executes the routing protocols,
maintains routing tables and attached link state
information and computes the forwarding table for
the router.
It also performs the network management functions.
Types of switching fabrics
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
Types of switching fabrics

Three types of switching fabrics

1. Switching via memory
2. Switching via a bus
3. Switching via an interconnection network
Types of switching fabrics

1. Switching via memory

The simplest, earliest routers were traditional
computers, with switching between input and output
ports being done under direct control of the CPU
(routing processor).
An input port with an arriving packet first signalled the
routing processor via an interrupt. The packet was
then copied from the input port into processor
memory.
Types of switching fabrics

1. Switching via memory

The routing processor then extracted the destination
address from the header, looked up the appropriate
output port in the forwarding table, and copied the
packet to the output port’s buffers.
In this scenario, if the memory bandwidth is such that
B packets per second can be written into, or read
from, memory, then the overall forwarding
throughput must be less than B/2.
Types of switching fabrics

1. Switching via memory

Note also that two packets cannot be forwarded at
the same time, even if they have different destination
ports, since only one memory read/write over the
shared system bus can be done at a time.
Types of switching fabrics
Types of switching fabrics

2. Switching via a bus

In this approach, an input port transfers a packet
directly to the output port over a shared bus, without
intervention by the routing processor.
This is typically done by having the input port
pre-pend a switch-internal label (header) to the
packet indicating the local output port to which this
packet is being transferred and transmitting the
packet onto the bus.
Types of switching fabrics

2. Switching via a bus

The packet is received by all output ports, but only
the port that matches the label will keep the packet.
The label is then removed at the output port, as this
label is only used within the switch to cross the bus.
If multiple packets arrive to the router at the same
time, each at a different input port, all but one must
wait since only one packet can cross the bus at a
time. Because every packet must cross the single bus,
the switching speed of the router is limited to the bus
speed.
Types of switching fabrics

3. Switching via an interconnection network

One way to overcome the bandwidth limitation of a
single, shared bus is to use a more sophisticated
interconnection network, such as those that have
been used in the past to interconnect processors in a
multiprocessor computer architecture.
A crossbar switch is an interconnection network
consisting of 2N buses that connect N input ports to N
output ports, as shown in Figure.
Types of switching fabrics

3. Switching via an interconnection network

Each vertical bus intersects each horizontal bus at a
crosspoint, which can be opened or closed at any
time by the switch fabric controller (whose logic is
part of the switching fabric itself).
When a packet arrives from port A and needs to be
forwarded to port Y, the switch controller closes the
crosspoint at the intersection of busses A and Y, and
port A then sends the packet onto its bus, which is
picked up (only) by bus Y.
Types of switching fabrics

3. Switching via an interconnection network

Note that a packet from port B can be forwarded to
port X at the same time, since the A-to-Y and B- to-X
packets use different input and output busses.
Thus, unlike the previous two switching approaches,
crossbar networks are capable of forwarding multiple
packets in parallel.
However, if two packets from two different input ports
are destined to the same output port, then one will
have to wait at the input, since only one packet can
be sent over any given bus at a time.
IPv4 datagram format
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
IPv4 datagram format

Version number: These 4 bits specify the IP protocol

version of the datagram. It determines how to
interpret the header. Currently the only permitted
values are 4 (0100) or 6 (0110).
Header length: Specifies the length of the IP header,
in 32-bit words.
Type of service: The type of service (TOS) bits were
included in the IPv4 header to allow different types of
IP datagrams (for example, datagrams particularly
requiring low delay, high throughput, or reliability) to
be distinguished from each other.
IPv4 datagram format

Datagram length: This is the total length of the IP

datagram (header plus data), measured in bytes.
Identifier: Uniquely identifies the datagram. It is
incremented by 1 each time a datagram is sent. All
fragments of a datagram contain the same
identification value. This allows the destination host to
determine which fragment belongs to which
datagram.
IPv4 datagram format

Flags: In order for the destination host to be absolutely

sure it has received the last fragment of the original
datagram, the last fragment has a flag bit set to 0,
whereas all the other fragments have this flag bit set
to 1.
Fragmentation offset: When fragmentation of a
message occurs, this field specifies the offset, or
position, in the overall message where the data in this
fragment goes. It is specified in units of 8 bytes (64
bits).
IPv4 datagram format
IPv4 datagram format

Time-to-live: Specifies how long the datagram is

allowed to “live” on the network. Each router
decrements the value of the TTL field (reduces it by
one) prior to transmitting it. If the TTL field drops to
zero, the datagram is assumed to have taken too
long a route and is discarded.
IPv4 datagram format

Protocol: This field is used only when an IP datagram

reaches its final destination. The value of this field
indicates the specific transport-layer protocol to
which the data portion of this IP datagram should be
passed. For example, a value of 6 indicates that the
data portion is passed to TCP, while a value of 17
indicates that the data is passed to UDP.
IPv4 datagram format

Header checksum: The header checksum aids a

router in detecting bit errors in a received IP
datagram.
Source and destination IP addresses: When a source
creates a datagram, it inserts its IP address into the
source IP address field and inserts the address of the
ultimate destination into the destination IP address
field.
IPv4 datagram format

Options: The options fields allow an IP header to be

extended.
Data (payload): The data to be transmitted in the
datagram, either an entire higher-layer message or a
fragment of one.
IP addressing:
Introduction
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
IP addressing: Introduction

IP address: It is 32-bit identifier for host, router interface

Interface: It is a connection between host/router and
physical link.
A router’s typically have multiple interfaces
A host typically has one or two interfaces
There is an IP addresses associated with each
interface.
IP addressing: Introduction

Subnets: To determine the subnets, detach each

interface from its host or router, creating islands of
isolated networks, with interfaces terminating the end
points of the isolated networks. Each of these isolated
networks is called a subnet.
Subnet part: high order bits defines subnet
Host part: low order bits defines host.
IP addressing: Introduction
Classification of IP Addresses
(Classful Addressing)
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
Classification of IP Addresses (Classful
Addressing)
CIDR (Classless
Inter-Domain Routing)
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
Classless Inter-Domain Routing)

Originally, IP addresses were assigned in four major

address classes, A through D.
Each of these classes allocates one portion of the
32-bit IP address format to identify a network
gateway - the first 8 bits for class A, the first 16 for class
B, and the first 24 for class C. The remainder identify
hosts on that network.
More than 16 million in class A, 65,535 in class B and
254 in class C. (Class D addresses identify multicast
domains.)
Classless Inter-Domain Routing)

To illustrate the problems with the class system,

consider that one of the most commonly used classes
was Class B.
An organization that needed more than 254 host
machines (500 hosts) would often get a Class B
license, even though it would have far fewer than
65,534 hosts.
This resulted in most of the block of addresses
allocated going unused.
Classless Inter-Domain Routing)

CIDR reduced the problem of wasted address space

by providing a new and more flexible way to specify
network addresses in routers.
A single IP address can be used to designate many
unique IP addresses with CIDR.
A CIDR IP address looks like a normal IP address
except that it ends with a slash followed by a
number, called the IP network prefix. CIDR addresses
reduce the size of routing tables and make more IP
addresses available within organizations.
Classless Inter-Domain Routing)
Classless Inter-Domain Routing
DHCP: Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol is a protocol for

assigning dynamic IP addresses to devices on a
network.
With dynamic addressing, a device can have a
different IP address every time it connects to the
network.
In some systems, the device's IP address can even
change while it is still connected. It allows reuse of
addresses (only hold address while connected “on”).
It also support mobile users who want to join network.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

DHCP server discovery

The first task of a newly arriving host is to find a DHCP
server with which to interact.
This is done using a DHCP discover message, which a
client sends within a UDP packet to port 67.
The UDP packet is encapsulated in an IP datagram.
But to whom should this datagram be sent? The host
doesn’t even know the IP address of the network to
which it is attaching.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

Given this, the DHCP client creates an IP datagram

containing its DHCP discover message along with the
broadcast destination IP address of 255.255.255.255
and a “this host” source IP address of 0.0.0.0.
The DHCP client passes the IP datagram to the link
layer, which then broadcasts this frame to all nodes
attached to the subnet.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

DHCP server offer(s)

A DHCP server receiving a DHCP discover message
responds to the client with a DHCP offer message
that is broadcast to all nodes on the subnet, again
using the IP broadcast address of 255.255.255.255.
Since several DHCP servers can be present on the
subnet, the client may find itself in the enviable
position of being able to choose from among several
offers.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

Each server offer message contains the transaction ID

of the received discover message, the proposed IP
address for the client, the network mask, and an IP
address lease time - the amount of time for which the
IP address will be valid.
DHCP request
The newly arriving client will choose from among one
or more server offers and respond to its selected offer
with a DHCP request message, echoing back the
configuration parameters.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

DHCP ACK
The server responds to the DHCP request message
with a DHCP ACK message, confirming the requested
parameters.
Network Address
Translation (NAT)
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
Network Address Translation (NAT)

The Internet has grown larger than anyone ever

imagined it could be.
Although the exact size is unknown, the current
estimate is that there are about 100 million hosts and
more than 350 million users actively on the Internet.
In fact, the rate of growth has been such that the
Internet is effectively doubling in size each year.
So what does the size of the Internet have to do with
NAT? For a computer to communicate with other
computers and Web servers on the Internet, it must
have an IP address.
Network Address Translation (NAT)

An IP address is a unique 32-bit number that identifies

the location of your computer on a network.
When IP addressing first came out, everyone thought
that there were sufficiently of addresses to cover any
need. Theoretically, you could have 4,294,967,296
unique addresses (232).
The actual number of available addresses is smaller
(somewhere between 3.2 and 3.3 billion) because of
the way that the addresses are separated into
classes, and because some addresses are set aside
for multicasting, testing or other special uses.
Network Address Translation (NAT)

With the explosion of the Internet and the increase in

home networks and business networks, the number of
available IP addresses is simply not enough.
The obvious solution is to redesign the address format
to allow for more possible addresses. This is being
developed (called IPv6), but will take several years to
implement because it requires modification of the
entire infrastructure of the Internet.
This is where NAT (RFC 1631) comes to the rescue.
Network Address Translation (NAT)

Network Address Translation allows a single device,

such as a router, to act as an agent between the
Internet (or "public network") and a local (or "private")
network.
This means that only a single, unique IP address is
required to represent an entire group of computers.
ICMP: Internet Control
Message Protocol
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
Internet Control Message Protocol

When something unexpected occurs, the event is

reported by the ICMP (Internet Control Message
Protocol), which is also used to test the Internet.
About a dozen types of ICMP messages are defined.
The most important ones are listed below. Each ICMP
message type is encapsulated in an IP packet..
Internet Control Message Protocol
Internet Control Message Protocol

The DESTINATION UNREACHABLE message is used

when the subnet or a router cannot locate the
destination or when a packet with the DF bit cannot
be delivered because a ''small-packet'' network
stands in the way.
The TIME EXCEEDED message is sent when a packet is
dropped because its counter has reached zero.
The PARAMETER PROBLEM message indicates that an
illegal value has been detected in a header field.
Internet Control Message Protocol

This problem indicates a bug in the sending host's IP

software or possibly in the software of a router
transited.
The SOURCE QUENCH message was formerly used to
throttle hosts that were sending too many packets.
When a host received this message, it was expected
to slow down.
The REDIRECT message is used when a router notices
that a packet seems to be routed wrong. It is used by
the router to tell the sending host about the probable
error.
Internet Control Message Protocol

The ECHO and ECHO REPLY messages are used to

see if a given destination is reachable and alive.
Upon receiving the ECHO message, the destination is
expected to send an ECHO REPLY message back.
The TIMESTAMP REQUEST and TIMESTAMP REPLY
messages are similar, except that the arrival time of
the message and the departure time of the reply are
recorded in the reply.
IPv6 Datagram Format
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
IPv6 Datagram Format
IPv6 Datagram Format

Version: The size of the Version field is 4 bits. The

Version field shows the version of IP and is set to 6.
Traffic Class: The size of Traffic Class field is 8 bits.
Traffic Class field is similar to the IPv4 Type of Service
(ToS) field. The Traffic Class field indicates the IPv6
packet’s class or priority.
IPv6 Datagram Format
Flow Label: The size of Flow Label field is 20 bits. The
Flow Label field provide additional support for
real-time datagram delivery and quality of service
features. The purpose of Flow Label field is to indicate
that this packet belongs to a specific sequence of
packets between a source and destination and can
be used to prioritized delivery of packets for services
like voice.
Payload Length: The size of the Payload Length field is
16 bits. The Payload Length field shows the length of
the IPv6 payload, including the extension headers
and the upper layer protocol data
IPv6 Datagram Format
Next Header: The size of the Next Header field is 8 bits.
The Next Header field shows either the type of the first
extension (if any extension header is available) or the
protocol in the upper layer such as TCP, UDP, or
ICMPv6.
Hop Limit: The size of the Hop Limit field is 8 bits The
Hop Limit field shows the maximum number of routers
the IPv6 packet can travel. This Hop Limit field is similar
to IPv4 Time to Live (TTL) field.
Source Address: The size of the Source Address field is
128 bits. The Source Address field shows the IPv6
address of the source of the packet.
IPv6 Datagram Format

Destination Address: The size of the Destination

Address field is 128 bits. The Destination Address field
shows the IPv6 address of the destination of the
packet.
Data: The data to be transmitted in the datagram,
either an entire higher-layer message or a fragment
of one.
Difference between IPv4
and IPv6
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
Difference between IPv4 and IPv6
The Link-State (LS) Routing
Algorithm (Dijkstra’s
algorithm)
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
The Link-State (LS) Routing Algorithm

Dijkstra’s algorithm computes the least-cost path from

one node (the source, which we will refer to as u) to
all other nodes in the network.
Dijkstra’s algorithm is iterative and has the property
that after the kth iteration of the algorithm, the
least-cost paths are known to k destination nodes,
and among the least-cost paths to all destination
nodes, these k paths will have the k smallest costs.
The Link-State (LS) Routing Algorithm

Let us define the following notation:

D(v): cost of the least-cost path from the source node
to destination v as of this iteration of the algorithm.
p(v): previous node (neighbor of v) along the current
least-cost path from the source to v.
N’ : subset of nodes; v is in N’ if the least-cost path
from the source to v is definitively known.
The Link-State (LS) Routing Algorithm

The global routing algorithm consists of an initialization

step followed by a loop.
The number of times the loop is executed is equal to
the number of nodes in the network.
Upon termination, the algorithm will have calculated
the shortest paths from the source node u to every
other node in the network.
As an example, let’s consider the network in Figure
and compute the least-cost paths from u to all
possible destinations.
The Link-State (LS) Routing Algorithm
The Link-State (LS) Routing Algorithm
The Link-State (LS) Routing Algorithm

In the initialization step, the currently known least-cost

paths from u to its directly attached neighbours, v, x,
and w, are initialized to 2, 1, and 5, respectively. Note
in particular that the cost to w is set to 5 (even though
we will soon see that a lesser-cost path does indeed
exist) since this is the cost of the direct (one hop) link
from u to w. The costs to y and z are set to infinity
because they are not directly connected to u.
The Link-State (LS) Routing Algorithm

In the first iteration, we look among those nodes not

yet added to the set N’ and find that node with the
least cost as of the end of the previous iteration. That
node is x, with a cost of 1, and thus x is added to the
set N’. Line 12 of the LS algorithm is then performed to
update D(v) for all nodes v, yielding the results shown
in the second line (Step 1) in below table. The cost of
the path to v is unchanged. The cost of the path to w
(which was 5 at the end of the initialization) through
node x is found to have a cost of 4.
The Link-State (LS) Routing Algorithm

Hence this lower-cost path is selected and w’s

predecessor along the shortest path from u is set to x.
Similarly, the cost to y (through x) is computed to be
2, and the table is updated accordingly.
In the second iteration, nodes v and y are found to
have the least-cost paths (2), and we break the tie
arbitrarily and add y to the set N’ so that N’ now
contains u, x, and y. The cost to the remaining nodes
not yet in N’, that is, nodes v, w, and z are updated
via line 12 of the LS algorithm, yielding the results
shown in the third row in the below table.
The Link-State (LS) Routing Algorithm

When the LS algorithm terminates, we have, for each

node, its predecessor along the least-cost path from
the source node.
For each predecessor, we also have its predecessor,
and so in this manner we can construct the entire
path from the source to all destinations.
The forwarding table in a node, say node u, can then
be constructed from this information by storing, for
each destination, the next-hop node on the
least-cost path from u to the destination.
The Link-State (LS) Routing Algorithm
The Link-State (LS) Routing Algorithm
The Distance-Vector (DV)
Routing Algorithm
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
The Distance-Vector (DV) Routing
Algorithm
The Distance-Vector (DV) Routing Algorithm •
Distance-vector (DV) algorithm is iterative,
asynchronous, and distributed.
It is distributed in that each node receives some
information from one or more of its directly attached
neighbours, performs a calculation, and then
distributes the results of its calculation back to its
neighbours.
It is iterative in that this process continues on until no
more information is exchanged between neighbours.
The Distance-Vector (DV) Routing
Algorithm
The algorithm is asynchronous in that it does not
require all of the nodes to operate in lockstep with
each other.
Let dx(y) be the cost of the least-cost path from node
x to node y. Then the least costs are related by the
celebrated Bellman-Ford equation:
dx(y) = minv{c(x,v) + dv(y)}
where the minv in the equation is taken over all of x’s
neighbours. Indeed, after traveling from x to v, if we
then take the least-cost path from v to y, the path
cost will be c(x,v) + dv(y).
The Distance-Vector (DV) Routing Algorithm

Since we must begin by traveling to some neighbour

v, the least cost from x to y is the minimum of c(x,v) +
dv(y) taken over all neighbours v.
The Distance-Vector (DV) Routing Algorithm
The Distance-Vector (DV) Routing Algorithm
The Distance-Vector (DV) Routing Algorithm
The operation of the algorithm is illustrated in a
synchronous manner, where all nodes simultaneously
receive distance vectors from their neighbours,
compute their new distance vectors, and inform their
neighbours if their distance vectors have changed.
The leftmost column of the figure displays three initial
routing tables for each of the three nodes.
For example, the table in the upper-left corner is
node x’s initial routing table.
The Distance-Vector (DV) Routing Algorithm
Within a specific routing table, each row is a distance
vector - specifically, each node’s routing table
includes its own distance vector and that of each of
its neighbours.
Thus, the first row in node x’s initial routing table is Dx =
[Dx(x), Dx(y), Dx(z)] = [0, 2, 7].
The second and third rows in this table are the most
recently received distance vectors from nodes y and
z, respectively.
The Distance-Vector (DV) Routing Algorithm
Because at initialization node x has not received
anything from node y or z, the entries in the second
and third rows are initialized to infinity.
After initialization, each node sends its distance
vector to each of its two neighbours.
For example, node x sends its distance vector Dx = [0,
2, 7] to both nodes y and z. After receiving the
updates, each node recomputes its own distance
vector.
 The Distance-Vector (DV) Routing Algorithm
• For example, node x computes
Dx(x) = 0
Dx(y) = min{c(x,y) + Dy(y), c(x,z) + Dz(y)} = min{2 + 0, 7 +
1} = 2
Dx(z) = min{c(x,y) + Dy(z), c(x,z) + Dz(z)} = min{2 + 1, 7 +
0} = 3
The Distance-Vector (DV) Routing Algorithm
The second column therefore displays, for each
node, the node’s new distance vector along with
distance vectors just received from its neighbours.
Note, that node x’s estimate for the least cost to
node z, Dx(z), has changed from 7 to 3.
Also note that for node x, neighbouring node y
achieves the minimum in line 14 of the DV algorithm;
thus at this stage of the algorithm, we have at node x
that v*(y) =y and v*(z) = y.
The Distance-Vector (DV) Routing Algorithm
After the nodes recomputes their distance vectors,
they again send their updated distance vectors to
their neighbours (if there has been a change).
Note that only nodes x and z send updates: node y’s
distance vector didn’t change so node y doesn’t
send an update.
After receiving the updates, the nodes then
recomputes their distance vectors and update their
routing tables, which are shown in the third column.
 The Distance-Vector (DV) Routing Algorithm
The process of receiving updated distance vectors from
neighbours, recomputing routing table entries, and
informing neighbours of changed costs of the least-cost
path to a destination continues until no update
messages are sent.
At this point, since no update messages are sent, no
further routing table calculations will occur and
the algorithm will enter a quiescent state; that is, all
nodes will be performing the wait in Lines 10– 11 of the
DV algorithm.
The algorithm remains in the quiescent state until a link
cost changes.
Comparison of (Difference
between) LS and DV Routing
Algorithms
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
Comparison of LS and DV Routing Algorithms
The Count to Infinity
problem
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
 The Count to Infinity Problem
Distance vector routing works in theory but has a serious
drawback in practice.
Consider a router whose best route to destination X is
large.
If on the next exchange neighbour A suddenly reports a
short delay to X, the router just switches over to using line
to A to send traffic to X.
Suppose A is down initially and all the other routers know
this. In other words, they have all recorded the delay to
A as infinity.
 The Count to Infinity Problem
When A comes up, the other routers learn about it via
the vector exchanges.
At the time of the first exchange, B learns that its left
neighbour has zero delay to A.
B now makes an entry in its routing table that A is one
hop away to the left.
All the other routers still think that A is down. At this point,
the routing table entries for A are as shown in the
second row of Figure
 The Count to Infinity Problem
On the next exchange, C learns that B has a path of
length 1 to A, so it updates its routing table to indicate a
path of length 2, but D and E do not hear the good
news until later.
Clearly, the good news is spreading at the rate of one
hop per exchange.
The Count to Infinity Problem
 The Count to Infinity Problem
Now let us consider the situation of Figure in which all the
lines and routers are initially up. Routers B, C, D, and E
have distances to A of 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively.
Suddenly A goes down, or alternatively, the line
between A and B is cut, which is effectively the same
thing from B's point of view.
At the first packet exchange, B does not hear anything
from A.
Fortunately, C says: Do not worry; I have a path to A of
length 2.
 The Count to Infinity Problem
Little does B know that C's path runs through B itself. For
all B knows, C might have ten lines all with separate
paths to A of length 2.
As a result, B thinks it can reach A via C, with a path
length of 3. D and E do not update their entries for A on
the first exchange.
On the second exchange, C notices that each of its
neighbours claims to have a path to A of length 3.
It picks one of them at random and makes its new
distance to A 4, as shown in third row of Figure.
 The Count to Infinity Problem
Subsequent exchanges produce the history shown in the
rest of Figure.
From this figure, it should be clear why bad news travels
slowly: no router ever has a value more than one higher
than the minimum of all its neighbours.
Gradually, all routers work their way up to infinity, but the
number of exchanges required depends on the
numerical value used for infinity.
For this reason, it is wise to set infinity to the longest path
plus 1.
Not entirely surprisingly, this problem is known as the
count-to-infinity problem.
Hierarchical Routing
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
 Hierarchical Routing
As networks grow in size, the router routing tables grow
proportionally.
Not only is router memory consumed by ever-increasing
tables, but more CPU time is needed to scan them and
more bandwidth is needed to send status reports about
them.
At a certain point the network may grow to the point
where it is no longer feasible for every router to have an
entry for every other router, so the routing will have to be
done hierarchically, as it is in the telephone network.
 Hierarchical Routing
When hierarchical routing is used, the routers are divided
into what called regions, with each router knowing all
the details about how to route packets to destinations
within its own region, but knowing nothing about the
internal structure of other regions.
Hierarchical Routing
 Hierarchical Routing
Figure 17 gives a quantitative example of routing in a
two-level hierarchy with five regions. The full routing table
for router 1A has 17 entries, as shown in Figure.
When routing is done hierarchically, as in Figure there
are entries for all the local routers as before, but all other
regions have been condensed into a single router, so all
traffic for region 2 goes via the 1B -2A line, but the rest of
the remote traffic goes via the 1C -3B line. Hierarchical
routing has reduced the table from 17 to 7 entries.
 Hierarchical Routing
As the ratio of the number of regions to the number of
routers per region grows, the savings in table space
increase.
Unfortunately, these gains in space are not free. There is
a penalty to be paid, and this penalty is in the form of
increased path length.
For example, the best route from 1A to 5C is via region 2,
but with hierarchical routing all traffic to region 5 goes
via region 3, because that is better for most destinations
in region 5.
 Hierarchical Routing
When a single network becomes very large, an
interesting question is: How many levels should the
hierarchy have? For example, consider a subnet with
720 routers.
If there is no hierarchy, each router needs 720 routing
table entries. If the subnet is partitioned into 24 regions of
30 routers each, each router needs 30 local entries plus
23 remote entries for a total of 53 entries.
Broadcast Routing
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
 Broadcast Routing
In some applications, hosts need to send messages to
many or all other hosts.
For example, a service distributing weather reports, stock
market updates, or live radio programs might work best
by broadcasting to all machines and letting those that
are interested read the data.
Sending a packet to all destinations simultaneously is
called broadcasting.
First broadcasting method that requires no special
features from the subnet is for the source to simply send
a distinct packet to each destination.
 Broadcast Routing
Not only is the method wasteful of bandwidth, but it also
requires the source to have a complete list of all
destinations. In practice this may be the only possibility,
but it is the least desirable of the methods.
 Broadcast Routing
Flooding is another Second method. Although flooding is
ill-suited for ordinary point-to-point communication, for
broadcasting it might rate serious consideration,
especially if none of the methods described below are
applicable.
The problem with flooding as a broadcast technique is
the same problem it has as a point-to-point routing
algorithm: it generates too many packets and consumes
too much bandwidth.
 Broadcast Routing
A third algorithm is multi destination routing.
If this method is used, each packet contains either a list
of destinations or a bit map indicating the desired
destinations.
When a packet arrives at a router, the router checks all
the destinations to determine the set of output lines that
will be needed.
The router generates a new copy of the packet for each
output line to be used and includes in each packet only
those destinations that are to use the line.
 Broadcast Routing
A fourth broadcast algorithm makes explicit use of the
sink tree for the router initiating the broadcast-or any
other convenient spanning tree for that matter.
A spanning tree is a subset of the subnet that includes all
the routers but contains no loops.
If each router knows which of its lines belong to the
spanning tree, it can copy an incoming broadcast
packet onto all the spanning tree lines except the one it
arrived on.
Fifth broadcast algorithm is reverse path forwarding, is
remarkably simple once it has been pointed out.
 Broadcast Routing
When a broadcast packet arrives at a router, the router
checks to see if the packet arrived on the line that is
normally used for sending packets to the source of the
broadcast.
If so, there is an excellent chance that the broadcast
packet itself followed the best route from the router and
is therefore the first copy to arrive at the router.
This being the case, the router forwards copies of it onto
all lines except the one it arrived on.
Multicast Routing
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
 Multicast Routing
Sending a message to a group is called multicasting,
and its routing algorithm is called multicast routing.
Multicasting requires group management. Some way is
needed to create and destroy groups, and to allow
processes to join and leave groups.
To do multicast routing, each router computes a
spanning tree covering all other routers.
For example, in Figure (a) we have two groups, 1 and 2.
Some routers are attached to hosts that belong to one
or both of these groups, as indicated in the figure.
 Multicast Routing
A spanning tree for the leftmost router is shown in Figure
(b).
When a process sends a multicast packet to a group,
the first router examines its spanning tree and prunes it,
removing all lines that do not lead to hosts that are
members of the group.
In our example, Figure (c) shows the pruned spanning
tree for group 1.
Similarly, Figure (d) shows the pruned spanning tree for
group 2. Multicast packets are forwarded only along the
appropriate spanning tree.
Multicast Routing
Intra-AS Routing
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
 Intra-AS Routing
It is also known as interior gateway protocols (IGP)
Most common intra-AS routing protocols:
1. RIP: Routing Information Protocol
2. OSPF: Open Shortest Path First
3. IGRP: Interior Gateway Routing Protocol
 Intra-AS Routing
RIP (Routing Information Protocol)
The Routing Information Protocol (RIP) defines a way for
routers, which connect networks using the Internet
Protocol (IP), to share information about how to route
traffic among networks.
Each RIP router maintains a routing table, which is a list
of all the destinations (networks) it knows how to reach,
along with the distance to that destination.
RIP uses a distance vector algorithm to decide which
path to put a packet on to get to its destination.
 Intra-AS Routing
It stores in its routing table the distance for each network
it knows how to reach, along with the address of the
"next hop" router - another router that is on one of the
same networks – through which a packet has to travel to
get to that destination.
If it receives an update on a route and the new path is
shorter, it will update its table entry with the length and
next-hop address of the shorter path; if the new path is
longer, it will wait through a "hold-down" period to see if
later updates reflect the higher value as well, and only
update the table entry if the new, longer path is stable.
 Intra-AS Routing
Using RIP, each router sends its entire routing table to its
closest neighbours every 30 seconds. (The neighbours
are the other routers to which this router is connected
directly - that is, the other routers on the same network
segments this router is on.)
The neighbours in turn will pass the information on to their
nearest neighbours, and so on, until all RIP hosts within
the network have the same knowledge of routing paths,
a state known as convergence.
OSPF (Open Shortest Path
First)
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
 OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)
The Internet is made up of a large number of
Autonomous Systems (AS).
A routing algorithm within an AS is called an interior
gateway protocol; an algorithm for routing between AS
is called an exterior gateway protocol.
Many of the ASes in the Internet are themselves large
and nontrivial to manage.
OSPF allows them to be divided into numbered areas,
where an area is a network or a set of contiguous
networks.
 OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)
Areas do not overlap but need not be exhaustive, that
is, some routers may belong to no area. An area is a
generalization of a subnet.
Every AS has a backbone area, called area 0.
All areas are connected to the backbone, possibly by
tunnels, so it is possible to go from any area in the AS to
any other area in the AS via the backbone.
Each router that is connected to two or more areas is
part of the backbone. As with other areas, the topology
of the backbone is not visible outside the backbone.
OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)
 OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)
Within an area, each router has the same link state
database and runs the same shortest path algorithm.
Its main job is to calculate the shortest path from itself to
every other router in the area, including the router that is
connected to the backbone, of which there must be at
least one.
A router that connects to two areas needs the
databases for both areas and must run the shortest path
algorithm for each one separately.
 OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)
This algorithm forces a star configuration on OSPF with
the backbone being the hub and the other areas being
spokes. Packets are routed from source to destination
''as is.''
They are not encapsulated or tunneled, unless going to
an area whose only connection to the backbone is a
tunnel. Figure shows part of the Internet with ASes and
areas.
 OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)
OSPF distinguishes four classes of routers:
1. Internal routers are wholly within one area.
2. Area border routers connect two or more areas.
3. Backbone routers are on the backbone.
4. AS boundary routers talk to routers in other ASes.
 OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)
Area border router (ABR)
An area border router (ABR) is a router that connects
one or more areas to the main backbone network.
It is considered a member of all areas it is connected to.
An ABR keeps multiple copies of the link-state database
in memory, one for each area to which that router is
connected.
 OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)
Autonomous system boundary router (ASBR)
An autonomous system boundary router (ASBR) is a
router that is connected to more than one Routing
protocol and that exchanges routing information with
routers in other protocols.
ASBRs typically also run an exterior routing protocol (e.g.,
BGP), or use static routes, or both.
An ASBR is used to distribute routes received from other,
external ASs throughout its own autonomous system.
 OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)
Internal router (IR)
internal router is a router that has OSPF neighbour
relationships with interfaces in the same area. An internal
router has all its interfaces in a single area.
Backbone router (BR)
The backbone routers accept information from the area
border routers in order to compute the best route from
each backbone router to every other router.
This information is propagated back to the area border
routers, which advertise it within their areas.
Comparison between RIP
OSPF and BGP
Prepared By: Ami Mehta
[email protected]
Comparison between RIP OSPF and BGP