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Chapter 08

Network Layer:
Routing of Packets
Data Communications and
Networking, With TCP/IP
protocol suite
Sixth Edition
Behrouz A. Forouzan

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 Chapter 8: Outline

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Routing Algorithms

8.3 Unicast Routing Protocols

8.4 Multicast Routing

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 8-1 INTRODUCTION

Unicast routing in the Internet, with a large number of routers and

a huge number of hosts, can be done only by using hierarchical
routing: routing in several steps using different routing algorithms.
In this section, we first discuss the general concept of unicast
routing in an internet. After the routing concepts and algorithms
are understood, we show how we can apply them to the Internet.

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 8.1.1 General Idea

In unicast routing, a packet is routed, hop by hop, from its source

to its destination by the help of forwarding tables. The source host
needs no forwarding table because it delivers its packet to the
default router in its local network. The destination host needs no
forwarding table either because it receives the packet from its
default router in its local network. This means that only the routers
that glue together the networks in the internet need forwarding
tables.

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 An Internet as a Graph

To find the best route, an internet can be modeled as a graph. A

graph in computer science is a set of nodes and edges (lines) that
connect the nodes. To model an internet as a graph, we can think of
each router as a node and each network between a pair of routers
as an edge. An internet is, in fact, modeled as a weighted graph, in
which each edge is associated with a cost.

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 Figure 8.1 An internet and its graphical representation

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 8.1.2 Least-Cost Routing

When an internet is modeled as a weighted graph, one of the ways

to interpret the best route from the source router to the destination
router is to find the least cost between the two. In other words, the
source router chooses a route to the destination router in such a
way that the total cost for the route is the least cost among all
possible routes.

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 Least Cost Trees

If there are N routers in an internet, there are (N - 1) least-cost

paths from each router to any other router. This means we need N *
(N - 1) least-cost paths for the whole internet. If we have only 10
routers in an internet, we need 90 least-cost paths. A better way to
see all of these paths is to combine them in a least-cost tree. A
least-cost tree is a tree with the source router as the root that spans
the whole graph (visits all other nodes) and in which the path
between the root and any other node is the shortest. Figure 8.2
shows the seven least-cost trees for the internet in Figure 8.1.

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 Figure 8.2 Least-cost trees for nodes in the internet of Figure
4.56

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 8-2 ROUTING ALGORITHMS

Several routing algorithms have been designed in the

past. The differences between these methods are in
the way they interpret the least cost and the way
they create the least-cost tree for each node. In this
section, we discuss the common algorithms; later we
show how a routing protocol in the Internet
implements one of these algorithms.

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 8.2.1 Distance-Vector Routing

The distance-vector (DV) routing uses the goal we discussed in the

introduction, to find the best route. In distance-vector routing, the
first thing each node creates is its own least-cost tree with the
rudimentary information it has about its immediate neighbors. The
incomplete trees are exchanged between immediate neighbors to
make the trees more and more complete and to represent the whole
internet. We can say that in distance-vector routing, a router
continuously tells all of its neighbors what it knows about the
whole internet (although the knowledge can be incomplete).

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 Bellman-Ford Equation

The heart of distance-vector routing is the famous Bellman-Ford

equation. This equation is used to find the least cost (shortest
distance) between a source node, x, and a destination node, y,
through some intermediary nodes (a, b, c, . . .) when the costs
between the source and the intermediary nodes and the least costs
between the intermediary nodes and the destination are given.

Dxy min {(cxa  Day ), (cxb  Dby ), (cxc  Dcy ), }

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 Figure 8.3 Graphical idea behind Bellman-Ford equation

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 Distance Vector

The concept of a distance vector is the rationale for the name

distance-vector routing. A least-cost tree is a combination of least-
cost paths from the root of the tree to all destinations. These paths
are graphically glued together to form the tree. Distance-vector
routing unglues these paths and creates a distance vector, a one-
dimensional array to represent the tree. Figure 8.4 shows the tree
for node A in the internet in Figure 8.1 and the corresponding
distance vector.

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 Figure 8.4 The distance vector corresponding to a tree

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 Figure 8.5 The first distance vector for an internet

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 Figure 8.6 Updating distance vectors

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 Distance-Vector Routing Algorithm

Now we can give a simplified pseudocode for the distance-vector

routing algorithm, as shown in Table 8.1. The algorithm is run by
its node independently and asynchronously.

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 Table 8.1 Distance-vector routing algorithm for a node
1 Distance_Vector_Routing ( )
2 {
3 // Initialize (create initial vectors for the node)
4 D[myself ] = 0
5 for (y = 1 to N)
6 {
7 if (y is a neighbor)
8 D[y] = c[myself][y]
9 Else
10 D[y] = ∞
11 }
12 send vector {D[1], D[2], …, D[N]} to all neighbors
13 // Update (improve the vector with the vector received from a neighbor)
14 repeat (forever)
15 {
16 wait (for a vector Dw from a neighbor w or any change in the link)
17 for (y = 1 to N)
18 {
19 D[y] = min [D[y], (c[myself ][w] + Dw[y])] // Bellman-Ford equation
20 }
21 if (any change in the vector)
22 send vector {D[1], D[2], …, D[N]} to all neighbors
23 }
24 }

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 Figure 8.7 Two-node instability

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 8.2.2 Link-State Routing

A routing algorithm that directly follows our discussion for

creating least-cost trees and forwarding tables is link-state (LS)
routing. This method uses the term link-state to define the
characteristic of a link (an edge) that represents a network in the
internet. In this algorithm the cost associated with an edge defines
the state of the link. Links with lower costs are preferred to links
with higher costs; if the cost of a link is infinity, it means that the
link does not exist or has been broken.

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 Link-State Database (LSDB)

To create a least-cost tree with this method, each node needs to

have a complete map of the network, which means it needs to know
the state of each link. The collection of states for all links is called
the link-state database (LSDB). There is only one LSDB for the
whole internet; each node needs to have a duplicate of it to be able
to create the least-cost tree. Figure 8.8 shows an example of an
LSDB for the graph in Figure 8.1. The LSDB can be represented as
a two-dimensional array (matrix) in which the value of each cell
defines the cost of the corresponding link.

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 Figure 8.8 Example of a link-state database

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 Figure 8.9 LSPs created and sent out by each node to build
LSDB

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 Formation of Least-Cost Tree

To create a least-cost tree for itself, using the shared LSDB, each
node needs to run the famous Dijkstra Algorithm. This iterative
algorithm uses the following steps:

1. The node chooses itself as the root of the tree, creating a tree
with a single node, and sets the total cost of each node based
on the information in the LSDB.

2. The node selects one node, among all nodes not in the tree,
which is closest to the root, and adds this to the tree.

3. The node repeats step 2 until all nodes are added to the tree.

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 Table 8.2 Dijkstra’s algorithm
1 Distance_Vector_Routing ( )
2 {
3 // Initialization
4 Tree = {root} // Tree is made only of the root
5 for (y = 1 to N) // N is the number of nodes
6 {
7 if (y is the root)
8 D [y] = 0 // D [y] is shortest distance from root to node y
9 else if (y is a neighbor)
10 D [y] = c[root][y] // c [x] [y] is cost between nodes x and y in LSDB
11 else
12 D [y] = ∞
13 }
14 // Calculation
15 repeat
16 {
17 find a node w, with D [w ] minimum among all nodes not in the Tree
18 Tree = Tree ∪ {w} // Add w to tree
19 // Update distances for all neighbor of w
20 for (every node x, which is neighbor of w and not in the Tree)
21 {
22 D[x] = min{D[x], (D[w] + c[w][x])}
23 }
24 } until (all nodes included in the Tree)
25 }

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 Figure 8.10 Least-cost tree

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 8.2.3 Path-Vector Routing

Both link-state and distance-vector routing are based on the least-

cost goal. However, there are instances where this goal is not the
priority. For example, assume that there are some routers in the
internet that a sender wants to prevent its packets from going
through. In other words, the least-cost goal, applied by LS or DV
routing, does not allow a sender to apply specific policies to the
route a packet may take. To respond to these demands, a third
routing algorithm, called path-vector (PV) routing has been
devised.

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 Spanning Tree

In path-vector routing, the path from a source to all destinations is

also determined by the best spanning tree. The best spanning tree,
however, is not the least-cost tree; it is the tree determined by the
source when it imposes its own policy. If there is more than one
route to a destination, the source can choose the route that meets
its policy best. A source may apply several policies at the same
time. One of the common policies uses the minimum number of
nodes to be visited (something similar to least-cost). Another
common policy is to avoid some nodes as the middle node in a
route.

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 Figure 8.11 Spanning trees in path-vector routing

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 Creation of Spanning Tree

Path-vector routing, like distance-vector routing, is an

asynchronous and distributed routing algorithm. The spanning
trees are made, gradually and asynchronously, by each node. When
a node is booted, it creates a path vector based on the information
it can obtain about its immediate neighbor. A node sends greeting
messages to its immediate neighbors to collect these pieces of
information. Figure 8.12 shows all of these path vectors for our
internet in Figure 8.11.

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 Figure 8.12 Path vectors made at booting time

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 Figure 8.13 Updating path vectors

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 Table 8.3 Path-vector algorithm for a node
1 Table 8.3 Path-vector algorithm for a node
2 {
3 // Initialization
4 for (y = 1 to N)
5 {
6 if ( y is myself)
7 Path[ y] = myself
8 else if (y is a neighbor)
9 Path[ y] = myself + neighbor node
10 else
11 Path[ y] = empty
12 }
13 Send vector {Path[1], Path[2], …, Path[ y]} to all neighbors
14 // Update
15 repeat (forever)
16 {
17 wait (for a vector Pathw from a neighbor w)
18 for ( y = 1 to N)
19 {
20 if (Pathw includes myself)
21 discard the path // Avoid any loop
22 else
23 Path[ y] = best {Path[ y], (myself + Pathw[ y])}
24 }
25 If (there is a change in the vector)
26 Send vector {Path[1], Path[2], …, Path[ y]} to all neighbors
27 }
28 } // End of Path Vector

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 8-3 UNICAST ROUTING PROTOCOLS

After an introduction, we discuss three common

protocols used in the Internet: Routing Information
Protocol (RIP), based on the distance-vector
algorithm; Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), based on
the link-state algorithm; and Border Gateway Protocol
(BGP), based on the path-vector algorithm.

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 8.3.1 Internet Structure

Before discussing unicast routing protocols, we need to understand

the structure of today’s Internet. The Internet has changed from a
tree-like structure, with a single backbone, to a multi-backbone
structure run by different private corporations today. Although it is
difficult to give a general view of the Internet today, we can say
that the Internet has a structure similar to what is shown in Figure
8.14.

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 Figure 8.14 Internet structure

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 Hierarchical Routing

The Internet today is made of a huge number of networks and

routers that connect them. It is obvious that routing in the Internet
cannot be done using one single protocol for two reasons: a
scalability problem and an administrative issue. Scalability
problem means that the size of the forwarding tables becomes huge,
searching for a destination in a forwarding table becomes time-
consuming, and updating creates a huge amount of traffic. The
administrative issue is related to the Internet structure described in
Figure 8.14. As the figure shows, each ISP is run by an
administrative authority.

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 Autonomous System

As we said before, each ISP is an autonomous system when it

comes to managing networks and routers under its control.
Although we may have small, medium-size, and large ASs, each AS
is given an autonomous number (ASN) by the ICANN. We have stub
ASs, multihomed ASs, and transient ASs.

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 8.3.2 Routing Information Protocol

The Routing Information Protocol (RIP) is one of the most widely

used intradomain routing protocols based on the distance-vector
routing algorithm we described earlier. RIP was started as part of
the Xerox Network System (XNS), but it was the Berkeley Software
Distribution (BSD) version of UNIX that helped make the use of
RIP widespread.

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 Hop Count

A router in this protocol basically implements the distance-vector

routing algorithm shown in Table 8.1. However, the algorithm has
been modified as described below. First, since a router in an AS
needs to know how to forward a packet to different networks
(subnets) in an AS, RIP routers advertise the cost of reaching
different networks instead of reaching other nodes in a theoretical
graph. In other words, the cost is defined between a router and the
network in which the destination host is located.

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 Figure 8.15 Hop counts in RIP

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 Forwarding Table 1

Although the distance-vector algorithm we discussed in the

previous section is concerned with exchanging distance vectors
between neighboring nodes, the routers in an autonomous system
need to keep forwarding tables to forward packets to their
destination networks.

Figure 8.16 shows the three forwarding tables for the routers in
Figure 8.15. Note that the first and the third columns together
convey the same information as does a distance vector, but the cost
shows the number of hops to the destination networks.

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 Figure 8.16 Forwarding tables

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 RIP Implementation 1

RIP is implemented as a process that uses the service of UDP on

the well-known port number 520. In BSD, RIP is a daemon process
(a process running at the background), named routed (abbreviation
for route daemon and pronounced route-dee). This means that
although RIP is a routing protocol to help IP to route its datagrams
through the AS, the RIP messages are encapsulated inside UDP
user datagrams, which in turn are encapsulated inside IP
datagrams. In other words, RIP runs at the application layer, but
creates forwarding tables for IP at the network later.

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 Figure 8.17 RIP message format

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 Example 8.1

Figure 8.18 shows a more realistic example of the operation of RIP

in an autonomous system. First, the figure shows all forwarding
tables after all routers have been booted. Then we show changes in
some tables when some update messages have been exchanged.
Finally, we show the stabilized forwarding tables when there is no
more change.

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 Figure 8.18 Example of an autonomous system using RIP (Part
I)

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 Figure 8.18 Example of an autonomous system using RIP (Part
II)

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 RIP Implementation 2

Before ending this section, let us mention the performance of RIP:

• Update Messages
• Convergence of Forwarding Tables
• Robustness

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 8.3.3 Open Shortest Path First

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is also an intradomain routing

protocol like RIP, but it is based on the link-state routing protocol
we described earlier in the chapter. OSPF is an open protocol,
which means that the specification is a public document.

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 Metric

In OSPF, like RIP, the cost of reaching a destination from the host
is calculated from the source router to the destination network.
However, each link (network) can be assigned a weight based on
the throughput, round-trip time, reliability, and so on.

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 Figure 8.19 Metric in OSPF

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 Forwarding Table 2

Each OSPF router can create a forwarding table after finding the
shortest-path tree between itself and the destination using
Dijkstra’s algorithm, described earlier in the chapter. Figure 8.20
shows the forwarding tables for the simple AS in Figure 8.19.

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 Figure 8.20 Forwarding tables in OSPF

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 Areas

Each OSPF router can create a forwarding table after finding the
shortest-path tree between itself and the destination using
Dijkstra’s algorithm, described earlier in the chapter. Figure 8.20
shows the forwarding tables for the simple AS in Figure 8.19.

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 Figure 8.21 Areas in an autonomous system

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 Link-State Advertisement

OSPF is based on the link-state routing algorithm, which requires

that a router advertise the state of each link to all neighbors for the
formation of the LSDB. When we discussed the link-state
algorithm, we used the graph theory and assumed that each router
is a node and each network between two routers is an edge. The
situation is different in the real world, in which we need to
advertise the existence of different entities as nodes, the different
types of links that connect each node to its neighbors, and the
different types of cost associated with each link.

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 Figure 8.22 Five different LSPs (Part I)

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 Figure 8.22 Five different LSPs (Part II)

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 OSPF Implementation

OSPF is implemented as a program in the network layer that uses

the service of the IP for propagation. An IP datagram that carries a
message from OSPF sets the value of the protocol field to 89. This
means that although OSPF is a routing protocol to help IP to route
its datagrams inside an AS, the OSPF messages are encapsulated
inside datagrams. OSPF has gone through two versions: version 1
and version 2. Most implementations use version 2.

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 Figure 8.23 OSPF message formats (Part I)

Attention

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 Figure 8.23 OSPF message formats (Part II)

Attention

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 Performance 1

Update Messages
The link-state messages in OSPF have a somewhat complex format. They
also are flooded to the whole area. If the area is large, these messages may
create heavy traffic and use a lot of bandwidth.

Convergence of Forwarding Tables

When the flooding of LSPs is completed, each router can create its own
shortest-path tree and forwarding table; convergence is fairly quick.
However, each router needs to run the Dijkstra’s algorithm, which may take
some time.

Robustness
The OSPF protocol is more robust than RIP because, after receiving the
completed LSDB, each router is independent and does not depend on other.

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 8.3.4 Border Gateway Protocol

The Border Gateway Protocol version 4 (BGP4) is the only

interdomain routing protocol used in the Internet today. BGP4 is
based on the path-vector algorithm we described before, but it is
tailored to provide information about the reachability of networks in
the Internet.

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 Introduction

BGP, and in particular BGP4, is a complex protocol. In this section,

we introduce the basics of BGP and its relationship with intradomain
routing protocols (RIP or OSPF). Figure 8.24 shows an example of
an internet with four autonomous systems. AS2, AS3, and AS4 are
stub autonomous systems; AS1 is a transient one. In our example,
data exchange between AS2, AS3, and AS4 should pass through AS1.

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 Figure 8.24 A sample internet with four ASs

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 Figure 8.25 eBGP operation

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 Figure 8.26 Combination of eBGP and iBGP sessions in our
internet

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 Figure 8.27 Finalized BGP path tables (Part I)

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 Figure 8.27 Finalized BGP path tables (Part II)

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 Figure 8.27 Finalized BGP path tables (Part III)

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 Figure 8.28 Forwarding tables after injection from BGP (Part I)

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 Figure 8.28 Forwarding tables after injection from BGP (Part II)

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 Path Attributes

In both intradomain routing protocols (RIP or OSPF), a

destination is normally associated with two pieces of information:
next hop and cost. The first one shows the address of the next
router to deliver the packet; the second defines the cost to the final
destination. Interdomain routing is more involved and naturally
needs more information about how to reach the final destination. In
BGP these pieces are called path attributes.

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 Figure 8.29 Format of path attribute

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 Route Selection

So far in this section, we have been silent about how a route is

selected by a BGP router mostly because our simple example has
one route to a destination. In the case where multiple routes are
received to a destination, BGP needs to select one among them.
The route selection process in BGP is not as easy as the ones in the
intradomain routing protocol that is based on the shortest-path
tree. A route in BGP has some attributes attached to it and it may
come from an eBGP session or an iBGP session. Figure 8.30 shows
the flow diagram as used by common implementations

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 Figure 20.30 Flow diagram for route selection

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 Messages

BGP uses four types of messages for communication between the

BGP speakers across the ASs and inside an AS: open, update,
keepalive, and notification (see Figure 8.31). All BGP packets
share the same common header.

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 Figure 8.31 BGP messages

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 Performance 2

BGP performance can be compared with RIP. BGP speakers

exchange a lot of messages to create forwarding tables, but BGP is
free from loops and count-to-infinity. The same weakness we
mention for RIP about propagation of failure and corruptness also
exists in BGP.

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 8-4 MULTICAST ROUTING

Communication in the Internet today is not only

unicasting; multicasting communication is growing
fast. In this section, we first discuss the general ideas
behind unicasting, multicasting, and broadcasting.
We then talk about some basic issues in multicast
routing. Finally, we discuss multicasting routing
protocols in the Internet.

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 8.4.1 Unicasting

In unicasting, there is one source and one destination network. The

relationship between the source and the destination network is one
to one. Each router in the path of the datagram tries to forward the
packet to one and only one of its interfaces.

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 Figure 8.32 Unicasting

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 8.4.2 Multicasting

In multicasting, there is one source and a group of destinations.

The relationship is one to many. In this type of communication, the
source address is a unicast address, but the destination address is a
group address, a group of one or more destination networks in
which there is at least one member of the group that is interested in
receiving the multicast datagram. The group address defines the
members of the group.

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 Multicast Applications

Multicasting has many applications today, such as access to

distributed databases, information dissemination, teleconferencing,
and distance learning.

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 Figure 8.33 Multicasting

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 Multicast Addresses

We discuss multicast addresses for IPv4 and IPv6 in Chapter 7.

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 8.4.3 Multicast Distance Vector

The Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol (DVMRP) is the

extension of the Routing Information Protocol (RIP) which is used
in unicast routing.
It uses the source-based tree approach to multicasting.
It is worth mentioning that each router in this protocol that
receives a multicast packet to be forwarded implicitly creates a
source-based multicast tree in
three steps:

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 Reverse Cast Forwarding (RPF)

The first algorithm, reverse path forwarding (RPF), forces the

router to forward a multicast packet from one specific interface:
the one which has come through the shortest path from the source
to the router. How can a router know which interface is in this path
if the router does not have a shortest-path tree rooted at the
source? The router uses the first property of the shortest-path tree
we discussed in unicast routing, which says that the shortest path
from A to B is also the shortest path from B to A.

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 Reverse Path Broadcasting (RPB)

The RPF algorithm helps a router to forward only one copy

received from a source and drop the rest. However, when we think
about broadcasting in the second step, we need to remember that
destinations are all the networks (LANs) in the internet. To be
efficient, we need to prevent each network from receiving more
than one copy of the packet. When a router that is not the parent of
the attached network receives a multicast packet, it simply drops
the packet. There are several ways that the parent of the network
related to a network can be selected; one way is to select the router
that has the shortest path to the source.

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 Figure 8.34 Multicasting versus multiple unicasting

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 Figure 8.35 RPF versus RPB

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 Reverse Cast Multicasting (RPM)

RPB does not multicast the packet, it broadcasts it. This is not
efficient. To increase efficiency, the multicast packet must reach
only those networks that have active members for that particular
group. This is called reverse path multicasting (RPM). To change
the broadcast shortest-path tree to a multicast shortest-path tree,
each router needs to prune (make inactive) the interfaces that do
not reach a network with active members corresponding to a
particular source-group combination.

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 8.4.4 Multicast Link State (MOSPF)

Multicast Open Shortest Path First (MOSPF) is the extension of

the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol, which is used in
unicast routing. It also uses the source-based tree approach to
multicasting. If the internet is running a unicast link-state routing
algorithm, the idea can be extended to provide a multicast link-
state routing algorithm. To extend unicasting to multicasting, each
router needs to have another database, as with the case of unicast
distance-vector routing, to show which interface has an active
member in a particular group.

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 Figure 8.36 Example of tree formation in MOSPF

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 8.4.5 Protocol Independent Multicast

Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) is the name given to a

common protocol that needs a unicast routing protocol for its
operation, but the unicast protocol can be either a distance-vector
protocol or a link-state protocol. In other words, PIM needs to use
the forwarding table of a unicast routing protocol to find the next
router in a path to the destination, but it does not matter how the
forwarding table is created. PIM has another interesting feature: it
can work in two different modes: dense and sparse.

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 Protocol Independent Multicast-Dense Mode)

When the number of routers with attached members is large

relative to the number of routers in the internet, PIM works in the
dense mode and is called PIM-DM. In this mode, the protocol uses
a source-based tree approach and is similar to DVMRP, but
simpler. PIM-DM uses only two strategies described in DVMRP:
RPF and RPM. But unlike DVMRP, forwarding of a packet is not
suspended awaiting pruning of the first subtree. Let us explain the
two steps used in PIM-DM to clear the matter.

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 Figure 8.37 Idea behind PIM-DM

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 Protocol Independent Multicast-Sparse Mode

When the number of routers with attached members is small

relative to the number of routers in the internet, PIM works in the
sparse mode and is called PIM-SM. In this environment, the use of
a protocol that broadcasts the packets until the tree is pruned is not
justified; PIM-SM uses a group-shared tree approach to
multicasting. The core router in PIM-SM is called the rendezvous
point (RP). Multicast communication is achieved in two steps. Any
router that has a multicast packet to send to a group of destinations
first encapsulates the multicast packet in a unicast packet
(tunneling) and sends it to the RP. The RP then decapsulates the
unicast packet and sends the multicast packet to its destination.

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 Figure 8.38 Idea behind PIM-SM

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