ICETA 2018 • 16th IEEE International Conference on Emerging eLearning Technologies and Applications • November 15-16, 2018, Starý

Smokovec, The High Tatras, Slovakia

Convergence of routing protocols in real and

simulated environments
R. Petija*, M. Michalko* and F. Jakab*, P. Feciak
*Department of Computers and Informatics, Košice, Slovakia
rastislav.petija@cnl.sk, miroslav.michalko@cnl.sk, frantisek.jakab@cnl.sk

Abstract — In this paper, the comparative analysis of note that the most important information for routing
dynamic routing protocols EIGRP and OSPF is presented. protocols is information about state of local network. The
The objective of analysis was to determine which routing purpose of routing protocols is to determine the best path
protocol is converging faster. For testing, three approaches to destination network. This decision is done based on
were used, namely simulation using OPNET simulator,
metric information. The time needed to exchange routing
emulation using GNS3 emulator and testing using real
devices. Network topology that was used for testing purpose information and calculate the best path to the target
provide three possible paths between source and destination network is a time to achieve convergence. Authors in [2]
device. Generating large amount of echo request messages point out that the most common reasons for change in
and observing echo reply message before and after link computer network is a link failure, a metric change, and a
failure provide time needed to achieve convergence in network device failure. All these changes will cause
network. Comparing the results obtained using real devices calculations in dynamic routing protocols.
and simulator / emulator showed some shortcomings of
OPNET and GNS. From the test results, it can be said that A. Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol
the dynamic routing protocol EIGRP is converging faster. EIGRP is an advanced distance vector routing protocol
This protocol is therefore more suitable for implementation that is used in LAN environment to share routing
in production infrastructures.
information with neighboring routers in order to route
Keywords— dynamic routing protocols; EIGRP; OSPF; traffic within autonomous system. In publication [3] is
OPNET; GNS said that it is only protocol that ensures loop free
topology at any time since it is implemented. For
I. INTRODUCTION calculate paths to the remote networks is used Diffusing
Update Algorithm.
Usually, in a business environment, are used services
and software systems, which are sensitive to the delay of
the data being transmitted. It is therefore appropriate to
implement a dynamic routing protocol that will provide
the shortest time to recover from the link failure.
During the initial design and also during the change of
the already functioning infrastructure we have to test the
planned implementation or change in the network at first.
We are able to test routing protocols using computer
simulation or emulation programs. Selecting the routing
protocol is one of the most important questions when
designing a computer network. All protocols ensure
Figure 1. Finite state machine Dual algorithm [1]
convergence, but after different time interval has elapsed.
The speed of convergence is possible to determine based
In Fig. 1 is shown finite state machine of DUAL
on the theoretical knowledge of individual protocols, but
algorithm. The network is in a passive state when it is
many real situations can affect standard behavior.
stable. If change occurs, we lose information about
The aim of this work is to verify and compare duration
reaching the network, so we go to an active state in order
of convergence dynamic routing protocols on a selected
to trying to get information to reach the lost network
scenario, both in simulated environments and on real
through other neighbors.
facilities under laboratory conditions. Subsequently, the
The advantage of this protocol is that change in the
individual results will be compared and analyzed.
network cause only calculation on routers that is
II. DYNAMIC ROUTING PROTOCOLS influenced by the change. Research conducted by [4]
highlights that protocol EIGRP is suitable for big
In the following section the most commonly used complex networks because provide fast convergence and
dynamic routing protocols in local area network is consumes less bandwidth than other routing protocols.
introduced. Routing protocols EIGRP and OSPF are the
best choice for implementation in LAN. In [1] authors

425

Authorized licensed use limited to: ULB Darmstadt. Downloaded on December 19,2022 at 21:32:52 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 ICETA 2018 • 16th IEEE International Conference on Emerging eLearning Technologies and Applications • November 15-16, 2018, Starý Smokovec, The High Tatras, Slovakia
B. Open Shortest Path First
OSPF is a link state routing protocol operating within
autonomous system. All routers in AS have information
about all networks and connections between network
devices in topology. In case of change in network
topology, routers that detect change have to advertise this
event to all routers in area. For calculating paths to the
remote networks is used Djikstra’s shortest path first
algorithm. In [5], author note that the most important part
of OSPF process is synchronization of topology
databases. The synchronization occurs during initial
establishment of adjacency or in case of topology change.
Figure 2. FSM establishing adjacency [1]
In Fig. 2 is shown the process of establishing adjacency
between connected routers. As we can see, there are eight
states from which exchange and loading take the most
time. Number of routers in topology influence the time
needed for achieve convergention.
III. SIMULATION AND EMULATION SOFTWARE
Simulators and emulators can help network
administrators to test configuration before implemented
into production. This type of software reduce money
needed for buying real devices and also reduce time to
gain result of tested topology. Simulators can simulate
complex scenarios consisting of several devices in a short
time. It is possible to configure lots of application and
services into topology and then observe the impact of the
change. On the other hand emulator is more reliable than
simulator because emulator use real internetwork
operating system and emulate behavior of real devices.
Problem is that if we have complex topology we must
have powerful device because emulation need lots of
system resources.
A. Optimized Network Engineering Tools
Authors in [6] point out that OPNET is a commercial tool
designed to simulate the lifecycle of a computer network,
measure its performance, and identify its possible
vulnerabilities and network problems. Often, it is also
used for research purposes and the practical
implementation of developed protocols and technologies
before deploying them to the real environment. Accuracy
of results, rich functionality and simple user environment
426
Authorized licensed use limited to: ULB Darmstadt. Downloaded on December 19,2022 at 21:32:52 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
enable it to be used to simulate both simple and complex
topologies and models.
It is suitable not only for computer network experts but
even for beginners. In the program itself, it is possible to
work at different levels. From the lowest level where we
can develop protocols and modules using C++, through
the creation of finite state machines, to their use, and
modeling computer network.
In publication [7] is said that OPNET Modeler uses
discrete event-driven simulation. The simulation time is
updated after performing the next event. This approach
leads to a more efficient use of system resources. DES
creates a detailed packet model, resulting in achieve
accurate simulation. This property is a disadvantage
because it increases the simulation time in case of
topology that includes several computing devices. To
solve this problem it is used in simulations not only DES
but also is used mathematical analysis. This combined
model is called hybrid simulation. In this type of
simulation DES computes interesting data and an
analytical method are used for simulation of all data
running in the background. Hybrid simulation helps
achieve the accuracy of the monitored data and save time
and resources.
B. Graphical Network Simulator
GNS3 is a free available graphical network emulator.
Following the [8] GNS3 is most commonly used by
networking professionals to emulate network devices
such as Cisco and Juniper, and also emulates virtual PCs
and in a limited extent, ethernet switches. The advantage
of this software is possibility of use on various operating
systems (Windows, Linux, OS X). GNS can be also
connected with VirtualBox, so it is possible to simulate
real topologies using multiple endpoints with different
operating systems. Directly in this system is a Wireshark
that is a network analyzer, which allows perfect control
over network communication. Another advantage is the
ability to connect the GNS environment with the physical
network interface and thus integrate it with a real-world
network.
IV. TESTING CONVERGENCE TIME OF DYNAMIC
ROUTING PROTOCOLS
During the test it will be used a topology that consist of
two end devices (PC_1, PC_2), two devices working on
the third layer (GW_1, GW_2) and three routers (R_1,
R_2, R_3). All networking devices were manufactured by
the company Cisco. The interconnection of individual
devices is accomplished by ethernet technology. Straight-
through CAT5e cables were used as the transmission
medium. In Fig.3 is shown created topology.
Figure 3. Topology used for testing purpose
 ICETA 2018 • 16th IEEE International Conference on Emerging eLearning Technologies and Applications • November 15-16, 2018, Starý Smokovec, The High Tatras, Slovakia

In the topology above there are three possible paths
between end devices PC_1 and PC_2. From the
perspective of dynamic routing protocols, each path is
configured with different metric. Path through router R_1
is the best and path through R_3 is the worst.
The Tab.1 contains configuration details of interfaces
that influence metric of each path.
TABLE 1. INTERFACES PARAMETERS
OSPF (cost)
Link
10,000 messages generated. The communication will be
between the end devices PC_1 and PC_2.
The same logical topology will be implemented in real
environment, simulator OPNET and also emulator GNS3.
Settings of hPing3 and used devices will vary because of
restriction in used software.
A. Topology in OPNET
In order to implement topology into simulator OPNET
we have to use objects that are presented in the Tab. 3.
EIGRP (delay)
TABLE 3. OBJECT IN OPNET

GW_1 - R_1 1 100 000 ms Description

R_1 - GW_2 1 100 000 ms Object
GW_1 - R_2 10 1000 000 ms
R_2 - GW_2 10 1000 000 ms ethernet_wkstn End device with ethernet
GW_1 - R_3 20 10 000 000 ms network card
R_3 - GW_2 20 10 000 000 ms ethernet4_slip8_gtwy Router with 4 ethernet interfaces
100BaseT Ethernet connection provided
Parameters was changed on both side of the link. Thanks speed of 100Mbps
to this change there is no load balancing in the topology. ip_ping_traffic Echo request data traffic
During testing it will be disconnected the network link Ip Attribute Config Set IP parameters in the network
and then we observe the routing protocol convergence Failure Recovery Configure a failure
process. The line failure occurs while the Internet Control
Message Protocol (ICMP) messages are transmited Before simulation started it is needed to implement
between source and destination device. 1000 echo dynamic routing protocol and set all options based on
requests messages per second will be sent. Based on the information in Tab. 1.
time of the last successful received response before the
line failure occurs and the first successful response after
computing the backup path, we determine the duration of
the convergence of the used routing protocol. The Linux
hPing3 tool will be used to generate echo request
messages. A Wireshark network analyzer will be used to
analyze the sent and received echo messages.
In hPing3 was set five parameters which meaning is
described in Tab.2.

TABLE 2 HPING3 PARAMETERS Figure 4. Topology created in simulator OPNET

Description In Fig. 4 is shown the topology created in simulator

Parameter OPNET. DES simulation was used to generate data that
are relevant to protocols OSPF and EIGRP.
-1 –icmp Set type of generated traffic to ICMP B. Topology in GNS3
-i interval The time between sending consecutive
packets. Parameter u specify the time in Testing has shown that it is not possible to use the
microseconds devices shown in Fig. 3. The problem was caused by the
-c count Number of generated packets use of third layer switches. As the L3 switches have most
of the routing functions integrated in hardware that we do
-G –rroute Recording the path through the computer
not have at our GNS emulator, it is impossible to transmit
network (optional)
a large number of messages. Therefore, in GNS3
w.x.y.z Destination IPv4 address
emulator were used routers instead of switches. Fig. 5
shows topology implemented in emulator.
For testing purposes the hPing tool was run with the
following parameters:

sudo hping3 -1 –icmp –c 10000 -i u1000 172.16.10.2

This setting will cause an ICMP echo request messages to

be generated at a rate of 1000 messages per second, with

427

Authorized licensed use limited to: ULB Darmstadt. Downloaded on December 19,2022 at 21:32:52 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 ICETA 2018 • 16th IEEE International Conference on Emerging eLearning Technologies and Applications • November 15-16, 2018, Starý Smokovec, The High Tatras, Slovakia

a path does not exist, there will be a slight increase in the

amount of generated data.

TABLE 4. TIME OF CONVERGENCE IN OPNET

Protocol Time of convergence [sec]

EIGRP 0,000485
Figure 5. Topology created in emulator GNS3 EIGRP without FS 0,000835
OSPF 10
Object PC_1 is cloud that is used to connect topology and
devices in GNS3 with network card. This object was used The Tab. 4 contains the results obtained during
because in emulator there is not any device that can simulation of the convergence of dynamic routing
generate the amount of data that was designed for testing. protocols in the OPNET simulator.
For this purpose was used external device which have
installed hPing3 tool. B. Emulation in GNS3
V. EVALUATION In Fig. 7 are shown the data obtained by network analyzer
Wireshark during testing the protocol OSPF.
Testing the speed of convergence of dynamic routing
protocols has demonstrated the different behavior of the
protocols on different platforms but in every situation the
protocol EIGRP converges faster. The following sections
contain test results obtained on individual platforms.
A. Simulation in OPNET
Simulator OPNET provide the opportunity to have
complete control on topology during simulation.
Simulator does not provide only information about
convergence time but also about amount of traffic
generated by dynamic routing protocols which is depicted
in Fig. 6.

Figure 7. Testing of the protocol OSPF in GNS

In Fig. 8 and Fig. 9 are shown the data obtained by

network analyzer Wireshark during testing the protocol
EIGRP.

Figure 6. Traffic generated by routing protocols

From Fig. 3 we can see that the OSPF generate less

data than the protocol EIGRP. It can be also seen from
the graph that the intensity of the data sent was higher
when started the process in protocol OSPF. This is related
to the choice of designated and backup designated router.
The rest of the graph clearly indicates that after initial
initialization and the choice DR and BDR OSPF less
utilize the network resources in terms of bandwidth. It is
also possible to see that in the protocol EIGRP the
existence of backup path that meet feasibility condition
influences the amount of data generated during Figure 8. Testing of the protocol EIGRP in GNS
convergence. It can be seen that in a situation where such

428

Authorized licensed use limited to: ULB Darmstadt. Downloaded on December 19,2022 at 21:32:52 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 ICETA 2018 • 16th IEEE International Conference on Emerging eLearning Technologies and Applications • November 15-16, 2018, Starý Smokovec, The High Tatras, Slovakia

Figure 11. Figure 10. Testing of the protocol EIGRP in real

environment
Figure 9. Testing of the protocol EIGRP without FS in GNS

TABLE 6. TIME OF CONVERGENCE IN REAL ENVIRONMENT

TABLE 5. TIME OF CONVERGENCE IN GNS
Protocol Time of convergence [sec]
Protocol Time of convergence [sec]
EIGRP 1,051
EIGRP 8,535 EIGRP without FS 1,272
EIGRP without FS 11,184 OSPF 5,542
OSPF 5,648
The Tab. 6 contains the results of testing the convergence
The Tab. 5 contains the results from testing the of dynamic routing protocols in the real environment.
convergence of routing protocols in the GNS3 emulator.

C. Testing in real environment VI. INTEGRATION INTO EDUCATIONAL PROCESS

In Fig. 10 are shown the data obtained by network
analyzer Wireshark during testing the protocol OSPF.
Figure 10. Testing of the protocol OSPF in real environment
In Fig. 11 are shown the data obtained by network
analyzer Wireshark during testing the protocol EIGRP.
Utilization of GNS and OPNET has several
advantages in educational process. GNS allows emulation
of the real networking devices, configuration of routers
without the need of real device. Use of GNS along with
Wireshark tool allows students to observe structure of
packets that are send in the computer network.
On the other hand OPNET provides many statistical
information about network. It also provides option to
create networks of different size, implement there several
application and simulate long time interval in few
minutes.
These two networking tools improve the educational
process, e.g. it is possible to create similar topology in
GNS and OPNET. Based on received information we can
do complex analyses of network technology and
protocols.
VII. CONCLUSION
Based on collected data, it can be claimed that the
protocol EIGRP is converging more quickly than protocol
OSPF. Therefore, the assumptions obtained by analyzing
the routing protocols have been confirmed. It has also
been confirmed that EIGRP uses more available network
resources than the OSPF protocol that does not fit with
the analysis. This conclusion is only derived from the
OPNET simulation. For the most accurate measurement
method can be uniquely selected testing using real

429

Authorized licensed use limited to: ULB Darmstadt. Downloaded on December 19,2022 at 21:32:52 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 ICETA 2018 • 16th IEEE International Conference on Emerging eLearning Technologies and Applications • November 15-16, 2018, Starý Smokovec, The High Tatras, Slovakia

laboratory devices. Using the OPNET simulator and the [2] O. Bonaventure and P. Francois, Avoiding transient loops during
convergence of link-state routing protocols, ACM Transaction
GNS3 emulator showed significant flaws. Networking. IEEE, 2007, pp.1280–1292.
The GNS emulator provided more accurate results than [3] P. Palúch and N. Kocharians. CCIE Routing and switching. Cisco
the OPNET but a few shortcomings have been also Press, 2015. ISBN 978-1-58714-396-0.
identified. Based on the difference results of the tests [4] G. K. Dey, M. M. Ahmed, K. T. Ahmmed. Performance analysis
obtained in emulations and on real devices, it can be said and redistribution among RIPv2, EIGRP and OSPF routing
that the EIGRP protocol is more dependent on hardware protocol. 1st International Conference on Computer Information
Engineering. IEEE, 2015, pp.21-24, ISBN 978-1-4673-8342-4.
than the OSPF protocol. [5] T. Moy. OSPF: Anatomy of an Internet Routing Protocol.
Addison-Wesley Professional, 1998. ISBN 0-201-63472-4.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
[6] A. S. Sethi, V. Y. Hnatysh. The Practical OPNET User Guide for
This paper is supported by grant project 011STU-4/2017, Computer Network Simulation. CRC Pre ss, 2012. ISBN
granted by the Cultural and Education Grant Agency of 978-1-4398-1206-8.
[7] H. Y. Z. Lu. Unlocking the Power if Opnet Modeler. Cambridge
the Slovak Ministry of Education. University Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0521198745.
REFERENCES [8] J.C. Neuman. The Book of GNS3: Build Virtual Network Labs
Using Cisco, Juniper, and More. No Starch Press, 2015. ISBN
[1] J. Carroll and J. Doyle. 2005. CCIE Professional Development 978-1593275549.
Routing TCP/IP. Cisco Press, 2005. ISBN 1-58705-202-4.

430

Authorized licensed use limited to: ULB Darmstadt. Downloaded on December 19,2022 at 21:32:52 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.