Connections of a Router for Ethernet
-2 types of connectors can be used: Straight
through and Cross-over
Straight through used to connect:
-Switch-to-Router, Switch-to-PC, Router-to-
Server, Hub-to-PC, Hub-to-Server
Cross-over used to connect:
-Switch-to-Switch, PC-to-PC, Switch-to-Hub,
Hub-to-Hub, Router-to-Router
Configuring an Ethernet interface
-By default, all serial and Ethernet interfaces are
down
-To enable an interface, use the No Shutdown
command
-A WAN Physical Layer connection has
sides:
Data Circuit-terminating Equipment (DCE)
This is the service provider. CSU/DSU is a DCE
device.
Data Terminal Equipment (DTE) Typically the
router is the DTE device.
Purpose of the debug IP routing command
Allows you to view changes that the router
performs when adding or removing routes
Example:
R2#debug ip routing
When a router only has, its interfaces configured
& no other routing protocols are configured then:
-The routing table contains only the directly
connected networks
-Only devices on the directly connected
networks are reachable.
The ping command is used to check end to end
connectivity
Purpose of CDP
A layer 2 CISCO proprietary tool used to gather
information about other directly connected
Cisco devices.
Concept of neighbors
-2 types of neighbors
Layer 3 neighbors; Layer 2 neighbors
CDP show commands
Show cdp neighbors command
-Displays the following information:
Neighbor device ID
Local interface
Holdtime value, in seconds
Neighbor device capability code
Neighbor hardware platform
Neighbor remote port ID
Show cdp neighbors detail command
-Useful in determining if an IP address
configuration error
Disabling CDP
To disable CDP globally use the following
command
Router(config)#no cdp run
Purpose of a static route
A manually configured route used when routing
from a network to a stub network
IP route command
To configure a static route, use the following
command: ip route
Example:
-Router(config)# ip route network-address
subnet-mask {ip-address | exit-interface}
*network address- address bet. Router and
switch
*ip-address- address of the specific router
Zinins 3 routing principles
Principle 1: "Every router makes its decision
alone, based on the information it has in its own
routing table.
Principle 2: "The fact that one router has certain
information in its routing table does not mean
that other routers have the same information.
Principle 3: "Routing information about a path
from one network to another does not provide
routing information about the reverse, or return
path."
Recursive route lookup - Occurs when the
router has to perform multiple lookups in the
routing table before forwarding a packet. A
static route that forwards all packets to the next-
hop IP address goes through the following
process (reclusive route lookup)
The router first must match static routes
destination IP address with the Next hop
address
The next hop address is then matched to an exit
interface
*If a static route is configured on an Ethernet link
If the packet is sent to the next-hop router, then
the destination MAC address will be the address
of the next hops Ethernet interface. This is
found by the router consulting the ARP table.
Summarizing routes reduces the size of the
routing table.
Route summarization is the process of
combining a number of static routes into a single
static route.
Default Static Route
This is a route that will match all packets.
A number of static routes all exiting the same
interface are good candidates for a default route.
Like route summarization this will help reduce
the size of the routing table.
Traceroute used to discover all of the hops
(routers) along the path between 2 points
-Show ip interface brief- used to show status
of router interfaces
-Show cdp neighbors detail used to gather
configuration information about directly
connected neighbors
Function(s) of Dynamic Routing Protocols:
-Dynamically share information between routers.
-Automatically update routing table when
topology changes.
-Determine best path to a destination.
Components of a routing protocol
Algorithm are used for facilitating routing
information and best path determination.
Routing protocol messages are messages for
discovering neighbors and exchange of routing
information.
Autonomous System is a group of routers
under the control of a single authority.
Classifying Routing Protocols
Interior Gateway Routing Protocols (IGP)
-Used for routing inside an autonomous system
& used to route within the individual networks
themselves.
-Examples: RIP, EIGRP, OSPF
Exterior Routing Protocols (EGP)
-Used for routing between autonomous systems
-Example: BGPv4
Distance vector routes are advertised as
vectors of distance & direction. Incomplete view
of network topology. Generally, periodic updates.
Link state is a complete view of network
topology created. Updates are not periodic.
Classful routing protocols - Do not send
subnet mask in routing updates
Classless routing protocols- Do send subnet
mask in routing updates.
Convergence is defined as when all routers
routing tables are at a state of consistency.
(RIP and IGRP-slower convergence, EIGRP
and OSPF- faster convergence)
Metric is a value used by a routing protocol to
determine which routes are better than others.
*Hop determines how many routers will be gone
through to reach the destination.
Metric used for each routing protocol
-RIP - hop count
-IGRP & EIGRP - Bandwidth (used by default),
Delay (used by default), Load, Reliability
-IS-IS & OSPF Cost, Bandwidth (Ciscos
implementation)
Load balancing is the ability of a router to
distribute packets among multiple same cost
paths.
Purpose of a metric
Its a calculated value used to determine the
best path to a destination
Purpose of Administrative Distance
Its a numeric value that specifies the preference
of a particular route.
Identifying the Administrative Distance (AD)
in a routing table. It is the first number in the
brackets in the routing table. [120/2] by default.
Connected interface-0; Static-1; EIGRP
Summary Route-5; IGRP-100; OSPF-110; IS-IS-
115; RIP-120; EIGRP(External)-170;
EIGRP(Internal)-90; Directly Connected-0
*A router using distance vector routing protocols
knows 2 things:
Distance to final destination
Vector, or direction, traffic should be directed
Characteristics of Distance Vector routing
protocols:
Periodic updates; Neighbors; Broadcast
updates; Entire routing table is included with
routing update
Routing Protocol Algorithm is defined as a
procedure for accomplishing a certain task.
Distance Vector Routing Protocols
Slower Convergence- because of the use of
periodic updates.
Limited Scalability Slow Convergence may
limit the size of the network because larger
networks require more time.
Routing Loops- Inconsistent routing tables are
not updated due to slow convergence.
Low resource requirements; Simple
maintenance implementation
Router initial start-up (Cold Starts)
Initial network discovery
Directly connected networks are initially placed
in routing table
* The only information that a router has is from
its own saved configuration file stored in
NVRAM.
Initial Exchange of Routing Information
If a routing protocol is configured, then routers
will exchange routing information.
Router checks update for new information
If there is new information: Metric is updated;
New information is stored in routing table.
Router convergence is reached when all
routing tables in the network contain the same
network information. Routers continue to
exchange routing information.
-If no new information is found then
Convergence is reached.
Convergence must be reached before a
network is considered completely operable
Speed of achieving convergence consists of 2
interdependent categories
Speed of broadcasting routing information;
Speed of calculating routes
Invalid timer: If an update has not been
received to refresh an existing route after 180
seconds (the
default), the route is marked as invalid by setting
the metric to 16. The route is retained in the
routing table until the flush timer expires.
Flush timer: By default, the flush timer is set for
240 seconds, which is 60 seconds longer than
the
invalid timer. When the flush timer expires, the
route is removed from the routing table.
Hold-down timer: This timer stabilizes routing
information and helps prevent routing loops
during periods when the topology is converging
on new information. When a route is marked as
unreachable, it must stay in hold-down mode
long enough for all routers in the top.
Bounded Updates: EIGRP
EIRPG routing updates are Partial updates;
Triggered by topology changes; Bounded; Non-
periodic
Triggered Updates
To speed the convergence when there is a
topology change, RIP uses triggered updates.
* It is a routing table update that is sent
immediately in response to a routing change.
* Triggered updates do not wait for update
timers to expire.
* It occurs when Conditions in which triggered
updates are sent; Interface changes state;
Route becomes unreachable; Route is placed in
routing table
Random Jitter
Over time, the update interval across the routers
in the topology can become synchronized, which
can cause problems. As more routers timers
become synchronized, more collisions of
updates and more delays occur in the network.
To prevent the synchronization of updates
between routers, the Cisco IOS uses a random
variable, called RIP_JITTER, that varies the
update interval randomly in a range from 25 to
30 seconds for the default 30-second interval.
Routing loops are condition in which a packet
is continuously transmitted within a series of
routers without ever reaching its destination.

Routing loops may be caused by:
Incorrectly configured static routes
Incorrectly configured route redistribution
Slow convergence
Incorrectly configured discard routes
Routing loops can create the following
issues
Excess use of bandwidth
CPU resources may be strained
Network convergence is degraded
Routing updates may be lost or not processed in
a timely manner
There are five mechanisms available to
eliminate routing loops:
Defining a maximum metric to prevent a count
to infinity
Hold-down timers- allow a router to not accept
any changes to a route for a specified period of
time.
Split horizon- A router should not advertise a
network through the interface from which the
update came.
Route poisoning or poison reverse- The rule
states that once a router learns of an
unreachable route through an interface,
advertise it as unreachable back through the
same interface.
Triggered updates
Count to Infinity
This is a routing loop whereby packets bounce
infinitely around a network.
* Once a router counts to infinity it marks the
route as unreachable
The TTL field is found in an IP header and is
used to prevent packets from endlessly traveling
on a network.
How the TTL field works
-TTL field contains a numeric value
The numeric value is decreased by one by every
router on the route to the destination.
If numeric value reaches 0 then Packet is
discarded.
Factors used to determine whether to use
RIP or EIGRP include
-Network size
-Compatibility between models of routers
-Administrative knowledge
Features of RIP:
-Supports split horizon & split horizon with
poison reverse
-Capable of load balancing
-Easy to configure
-Works in a multi-vendor router environment
Features of EIGRP:
-Triggered updates
-EIGRP hello protocol used to establish neighbor
adjacencies
-Supports VLSM & route summarization
-Use of topology table to maintain all routes
-Classless distance vector routing protocol
-Cisco proprietary protocol
RIP Characteristics
-A classful, Distance Vector (DV) routing
protocol
-Metric = hop count
-Routes with a hop count > 15 are unreachable
-Updates are broadcast every 30 seconds
RIP header - divided into 3 fields
-Command field
-Version field
-Must be zero
Route Entry - composed of 3 fields
-Address family identifier
-IP address
-Metric
RIP Operation
RIP uses 2 message types:
Request message
-This is sent out on startup by each RIP enabled
interface
-Requests all RIP enabled neighbors to send
routing table
Response message
-Message sent to requesting router containing
routing table
IP addresses initially divided into classes
-Class A; -Class B; -Class C
RIP is a classful routing protocol which Does
not send subnet masks in routing updates.
Administrative Distance
RIPs default administrative distance is 120
A typical topology suitable for use by RIPv1
includes: Three router set up; -No PCs attached
to LANs; -Use of 5 different IP subnets
Router RIP Command
Router rip global configuration prompt
R1(config-router)#
*networks that are only connected to a router
Use the network command to:
-Enable RIP on all interfaces
-Advertise this network in RIP updates sent to
other routers every 30 seconds
To verify and troubleshoot routing
-Use the following commands:
-show ip route;
-show ip protocols;- Displays routing protocol
configured on router (routing protocol is rip;
updates an timers)
-debug ip rip-Used to display RIP routing
updates as they are happening (R2 receives an
update from R1 advertising directly to it)
Passive interface command
-Used to prevent a router from sending updates
through an interface
Example: Router(config-router)#passive-
interface interface-type interface-number
Configuration Details
-To remove the RIP routing process use the
following command: No router rip
-To check the configuration use the following
command: Show run
Boundary Routers
RIP automatically summarizes classful networks
Boundary routers summarize RIP subnets from
one major network to another.
2 rules govern RIPv1 updates:
-If a routing update and the interface its
received on belong to the same network then
The subnet mask of the interface is
applied to the network in the routing update
-If a routing update and the interface its
received on belong to a different network
then
The classful subnet mask of the network
is applied to the network in the routing update
Sending RIP Updates
-RIP uses automatic summarization to reduce
the size of a routing table.
Advantages of automatic summarization:
-The size of routing updates is reduced
-Single routes are used to represent multiple
routes which results in faster lookup in the
routing table.
Disadvantage of Automatic Summarization:
-Does not support discontiguous networks
* RIP is a classful routing protocol that
automatically summarizes classful networks
across major network boundaries
VLSM
Classful routing -only allows for one subnet
mask for all networks
VLSM & classless routing
-This is the process of subnetting a subnet
-More than one subnet mask can be used
-More efficient use of IP addresses as compared
to classful IP addressing
RIPv2
RIPv1
-A classful distance vector routing protocol
-Does not support discontiguous subnets
-Does not support VLSM
-Does not send subnet mask in routing update
-Routing updates are broadcast
RIPv2
-A classless distance vector routing protocol that
is an enhancement of RIPv1s features.
-Next hop address is included in updates
-Routing updates are multicast
-The use of authentication is an option
Similarities between RIPv1 & RIPv2
-Use of timers to prevent routing loops
-Use of split horizon or split horizon with poison
reverse
-Use of triggered updates
-Maximum hop count of 15
RIPv2 Message format is similar to RIPv1 but
has 2 extensions- 1st extension is the subnet
mask field; 2nd extension is the addition of next
hop address
Command: R1(config)# router rip
R1(router-config)# version 2
* It will automatically summarize routes at major
network boundaries and can also summarize
routes with a subnet mask that is smaller than
the classful subnet mask.
Disable automatic summarization command:
R1(config)# router rip
R1(router-config)# no auto summary
* Supports VLSM
* Use classless routing protocols (i.e. RIPv2)
to disseminate network addresses and their
subnet masks
CIDR uses Supernetting
Supernetting is a bunch of contiguous
classful networks that is addressed as a single
network.
* To verify that supernets are being sent and
received use the following commands -Show ip
route; -Debug ip rip
Routing Table
Level 1 Routes
-Have a subnet mask equal to or less than the
classful mask of the network address.
-Default route; -Supernet route; -Network route
Level 1 Routes -Ultimate Route
Includes either: -A next-hop address; -An exit
interface
Parent and Child Routes
-A parent route is a level 1 route (network)
-A parent route does not contain any next-hop IP
address or exit interface information
Automatic creation of parent routes
-Occurs any time a subnet is added to the
routing table
Child routes (subnet)
-Child routes are level 2 routes
-Child routes are a subnet of a classful
network address
Level 2 child routes are also considered ultimate
routes
Level 2 child routes contain route source & the
network address of the route
Both child routes have the same subnet mask
-This means the parent route maintains the /24
mask
In classless networks, child routes do not have
to share the same subnet mask
The Route Lookup Process
Examine level 1 routes
-If best match a level 1 ultimate route and is not
a parent route this route is used to forward
packet
Router examines level 2 (child) routes
-If there is a match with level 2 child route then
that subnet is used to forward packet
-If no match then determine routing behavior
type
Router determines classful or classless routing
behavior
-If classful then packet is dropped
-If classless then router searches level one
supernet and default routes
-If there exists a level 1 supernet or default route
match then Packet is forwarded. If not packet is
dropped
Best match is also known as the longest match
The best match is the one that has the most
number of left most bits matching between the
destination IP address and the route in the
routing table.
 routing table for a match that may have fewer
bits in the match

Beginning with IOS 11.3, ip classless was

The process of matching
-1st there must be a match made between the
parent route & destination IP
- If a match is made then an attempt at finding a
match between the destination IP and the child
route is made.
* default); Delay (used by default); reliability; load
configured by default
Classless routing behavior works for
-Discontiguous networks; -CIDR supernets
EIGRP
Roots of EIGRP: IGRP
-Developed in 1985 to overcome RIPv1s limited
hop count
-Distance vector routing protocol
-Metrics used by IGRP bandwidth (used by

EIGRP Header
Data link frame header - contains source and
destination MAC address
IP packet header - contains source & destination
IP address
Finding a match between packets destination IP EIGRP packet header - contains AS number
address and the next route in the routing table Type/Length/Field - data portion of EIGRP
message
* Before level 2 child routes are examined
-There must be a match between EIGRP packet header contains
classful level one parent route and destination IP Opcode field; Autonomous System number
address. EIGRP Parameters contains Weights and Hold
time
How a router finds a match with one of the level
2 child routes EIGRP terms and characteristics
-First router examines parent routes for a match EIGPR uses RTP to transmit & receive EIGRP
-If a match exists then: packets
Child routes are examined EIGRP has 5 packet type:
Child route chosen is the one with the longest Hello packets
match Update packets
Acknowledgement packets
Classful & classless routing protocols Query packets
- Influence how routing table is populated Reply packets
Classful & classless routing behaviors Supports VLSM & CIDR
- Determines how routing table is searched after
it is filled EIGRP uses a hello protocol
Purpose of hello protocol is to discover &
* It is recommended to use classless routing establish adjacencies
behavior EIGRP routing updates
Reason: so supernet and default routes can Aperiodic
be used whenever needed Partial and bounded
Fast convergence
Classless Routing Behavior Search
Process The following commands are used for EIGRP
If no match is found in child routes of previous configuration
slide, then Router continues to search the RtrA(config)#router eigrp [autonomous-system
#]
RtrA(config-router)#network network-number
The following commands can be used to verify
EIGRP
Show ip protocols
Show ip eigrp neighbors
Show ip route
EIGRP metrics include
Bandwidth (default)
Delay (default)
Reliability
Load
DUAL
Purpose of DUAL
To prevent routing loops
Successor
Primary route to a destination
Feasible successor
Backup route to a destination
Feasible distance
Lowest calculated metric to a destination
Reported distance
The distance towards a destination as
advertised by an upstream neighbor
Choosing the best route
After router has received all updates from
directly connected neighbors, it can calculate its
DUAL
1st metric is calculated for each route
2nd route with lowest metric is designated
successor & is placed in routing table
3rd feasible successor is found
Criteria for feasible successor: it must have
lower reported distance to the destination than
the installed routes feasible distance
Automatic summarization
On by default
Summarizes routes on classful boundary
Summarization can be disabled using the
following command
RtrA(config-if)#no auto-summary
* EIGRP uses PDM to route several different
protocols i.e. IP, IPX & AppleTalk
Reliable Transport Protocol (RTP)
Purpose of RTP- Used by EIGRP to transmit
and receive EIGRP packets
Characteristics of RTP
Involves both reliable & unreliable delivery of
EIGRP packet
Reliable delivery requires acknowledgment from
destination
Unreliable delivery does not require an
acknowledgement from destination
Packets can be sent Unicast and Multicast
Hello packets- Used to discover & form
adjacencies with neighbors
Update packets- Used to propagate routing
information
Acknowledgement packets- Used to
acknowledge receipt of update, query & reply
packets
Purpose of Hello Protocol
To discover & establish adjacencies with
neighbor routers
Characteristics of hello protocol
Time interval for sending hello packet
Most networks it is every 5 seconds
Multipoint non broadcast multi-access networks
Unicast every 60 seconds
EIGRP Bounded Updates
EIGRP only sends update when there is a
change in route status
Partial update
A partial update includes only the route
information that has changed the whole
routing table is NOT sent
Bounded update
When a route changes, only those devices that
are impacted will be notified of the change
Reported distance (RD)
-The metric that a router reports to a neighbor
about its own cost to that network
No Feasible Successor- reported distance of the
neighbor is greater than or equal to the current
feasible distance
Feasible Successor- less than