[Cu-wireless] Re: Cu-wireless digest, Vol 1 #134 - 3 msgs

David Young dyoung at ojctech.com
Sun May 26 13:11:32 CDT 2002


Hi Mark,

Must an NBMA network have a D.R.? If we set every router's priority for
election as D.R. to 0, do we get broken routing or working routing w/o
any D.R.'s ?

Suppose we enumerate the hosts on a pod (there are at most 16 or 32),
and we make each a point-to-point link. Will that work?

Suppose, too, we enumerate the hosts on an uplink network and make each
a point-to-point link?

It is more clear all the time that OSPF is not the routing protocol we
want to use. I think that the protocol we do want to use, we will have
to program ourselves to operate in Zebra. It is probably DSDV, AODV,
or one of the other new-fangled routing protocols for ad hoc networks.

Dave

On Sun, May 26, 2002 at 12:25:58PM -0500, The Morenz Family wrote:
> Hi All:
> 
> I finally had time to read and digest the most recent digests 
> (including the much-anticipated goals, etc. post) and it sounds good 
> (as in "so far,..."). Some feedback:
> 
> To the extent that pods won't be full-mesh (at least we've never said 
> they had to be), you must run in PMP mode. NMBA is not really an 
> option. You don't want "designated router" elections to occur (which 
> router would be the backup D.R., for example?)
> 
> The way I see it the two big drawbacks to PMP are: that routing 
> overhead for such a system is usually beyond what low-end routers 
> (which I believe our boxes would qualify as) are geared up for 
> (especially if link integrity is a problem and the spf algorithm is 
> constantly cycling...which sounds like wireless to me).
> 
> Two, you generally need to manually configure each router in this 
> type of network. Despite what RFC 2328 says, inverse arp doesn't 
> auto-detect for OSPF. The two don't automatically work together. OSPF 
> only uses Hellos to detect neighbors. Therefore OSPF needs to know 
> how to broadcast over a non-broadcast medium. Cisco built on what the 
> RFC recognized and engineered this into their products (and I believe 
> it does have an 'inverse arp' functionality). I leave it up to others 
> to decide if they want to do the same.
> 
> There are other technical issues as well, of course. Duplicate LSAIDs 
> can be a problem if you lose your discipline and give anything but 
> host routes out. And, once again, if you decide to try to scale by 
> using virtual links, you are introducing routing loop scenarios into 
> what should be a loop-proof protocol.
> 
> Also, here's something I'm not clear on...can multiple 
> networks/subnets run over the same channel? If not, then it would 
> seem that a pod could not be a collection of OSPF routers running in 
> PMP mode advertising themselves as host routes. But my ignorance of 
> all things wireless is showing, so I'll stop there.
> 
> Take Care!
> 
> :-{)]
> 
> 
> 
> >
> >
> >Message: 3
> >Date: Fri, 17 May 2002 16:24:01 -0500
> >From: David Young <dyoung at ojctech.com>
> >To: cu-wireless at ucimc.org
> >Reply-To: dyoung at pobox.com
> >Subject: [Cu-wireless] OSPF and non-broadcast networks
> >
> >
> >Below, I have snipped some text from RFC 2328, which defines OSPFv2.
> >Zebra implements OSPFv2. It seems to me that in pods, we should run OSPF
> >in a point-to-multipoint mode. Does anyone else have a different reading?
> >
> >Zebra appears to support point-to-multipoint mode through its command
> >"ip ospf network point-to-multipoint".
> >
> >Dave
> >
> >*** snip snip ***
> >
> >  Non-broadcast networks
> >             Networks supporting many (more than two) routers, but having
> >             no broadcast capability.  Neighboring routers are maintained
> >             on these nets using OSPF's Hello Protocol.  However, due to
> >             the lack of broadcast capability, some configuration
> >             information may be necessary to aid in the discovery of
> >             neighbors.  On non-broadcast networks, OSPF protocol packets
> >             that are normally multicast need to be sent to each
> >             neighboring router, in turn. An X.25 Public Data Network
> >             (PDN) is an example of a non-broadcast network.
> >
> >             OSPF runs in one of two modes over non-broadcast networks.
> >             The first mode, called non-broadcast multi-access or NBMA,
> >             simulates the operation of OSPF on a broadcast network. The
> >             second mode, called Point-to-MultiPoint, treats the non-
> >             broadcast network as a collection of point-to-point links.
> >             Non-broadcast networks are referred to as NBMA networks or
> >             Point-to-MultiPoint networks, depending on OSPF's mode of
> >             operation over the network.
> >
> >*** snip snip ***
> >
> >  Designated Router
> >             Each broadcast and NBMA network that has at least two
> >             attached routers has a Designated Router.  The Designated
> >             Router generates an LSA for the network and has other
> >             special responsibilities in the running of the protocol.
> >             The Designated Router is elected by the Hello Protocol.
> >
> >             The Designated Router concept enables a reduction in the
> >             number of adjacencies required on a broadcast or NBMA
> >             network.  This in turn reduces the amount of routing
> >             protocol traffic and the size of the link-state database.
> >
> >*** snip snip ***
> >
> >  2.1.1.  Representation of non-broadcast networks
> >
> >             As mentioned previously, OSPF can run over non-broadcast
> >             networks in one of two modes: NBMA or Point-to-MultiPoint.
> >             The choice of mode determines the way that the Hello
> >
> >
> >
> >Moy                         Standards Track                    [Page 15]
> >
> >RFC 2328                     OSPF Version 2                   April 1998
> >
> >
> >             protocol and flooding work over the non-broadcast network,
> >             and the way that the network is represented in the link-
> >             state database.
> >
> >             In NBMA mode, OSPF emulates operation over a broadcast
> >             network: a Designated Router is elected for the NBMA
> >             network, and the Designated Router originates an LSA for the
> >             network. The graph representation for broadcast networks and
> >             NBMA networks is identical. This representation is pictured
> >             in the middle of Figure 1a.
> >
> >             NBMA mode is the most efficient way to run OSPF over non-
> >             broadcast networks, both in terms of link-state database
> >             size and in terms of the amount of routing protocol traffic.
> >             However, it has one significant restriction: it requires all
> >             routers attached to the NBMA network to be able to
> >             communicate directly. This restriction may be met on some
> >             non-broadcast networks, such as an ATM subnet utilizing
> >             SVCs. But it is often not met on other non-broadcast
> >             networks, such as PVC-only Frame Relay networks. On non-
> >             broadcast networks where not all routers can communicate
> >             directly you can break the non-broadcast network into
> >             logical subnets, with the routers on each subnet being able
> >             to communicate directly, and then run each separate subnet
> >             as an NBMA network (see [Ref15]). This however requires
> >             quite a bit of administrative overhead, and is prone to
> >             misconfiguration. It is probably better to run such a non-
> >             broadcast network in Point-to-Multipoint mode.
> >
> >             In Point-to-MultiPoint mode, OSPF treats all router-to-
> >             router connections over the non-broadcast network as if they
> >             were point-to-point links. No Designated Router is elected
> >             for the network, nor is there an LSA generated for the
> >             network. In fact, a vertex for the Point-to-MultiPoint
> >             network does not appear in the graph of the link-state
> >             database.
> >
> >             Figure 1b illustrates the link-state database representation
> >             of a Point-to-MultiPoint network. On the left side of the
> >             figure, a Point-to-MultiPoint network is pictured. It is
> >             assumed that all routers can communicate directly, except
> >             for routers RT4 and RT5. I3 though I6 indicate the routers'
> >
> >
> >
> >Moy                         Standards Track                    [Page 16]
> >
> >RFC 2328                     OSPF Version 2                   April 1998
> >
> >
> >             IP interface addresses on the Point-to-MultiPoint network.
> >             In the graphical representation of the link-state database,
> >             routers that can communicate directly over the Point-to-
> >             MultiPoint network are joined by bidirectional edges, and
> >             each router also has a stub connection to its own IP
> >             interface address (which is in contrast to the
> >             representation of real point-to-point links; see Figure 1a).
> >
> >             On some non-broadcast networks, use of Point-to-MultiPoint
> >             mode and data-link protocols such as Inverse ARP (see
> >             [Ref14]) will allow autodiscovery of OSPF neighbors even
> >             though broadcast support is not available.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >                                                   **FROM**
> >                 +---+      +---+
> >                 |RT3|      |RT4|              |RT3|RT4|RT5|RT6|
> >                 +---+      +---+        *  --------------------
> >                 I3|    N2    |I4        *  RT3|   | X | X | X |
> >             +----------------------+    T  RT4| X |   |   | X |
> >                 I5|          |I6        O  RT5| X |   |   | X |
> >                 +---+      +---+        *  RT6| X | X | X |   |
> >                 |RT5|      |RT6|        *   I3| X |   |   |   |
> >                 +---+      +---+            I4|   | X |   |   |
> >                                             I5|   |   | X |   |
> >                                             I6|   |   |   | X |
> >
> >
> >
> >                     Figure 1b: Network map components
> >                        Point-to-MultiPoint networks
> >
> >              All routers can communicate directly over N2, except
> >                 routers RT4 and RT5. I3 through I6 indicate IP
> >                            interface addresses
> >
> >
> >--
> >David Young             OJC Technologies
> >dyoung at onthejob.net     Engineering from the Right Brain
> >                         Urbana, IL * (217) 278-3933
> >
> >
> >
> >--__--__--
> >
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> >
> >
> >End of Cu-wireless Digest
> 
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-- 
David Young             OJC Technologies
dyoung at onthejob.net     Engineering from the Right Brain
                        Urbana, IL * (217) 278-3933




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