ospfv3 technology white paper

OSPFv3 Technology White Paper

Hangzhou H3C Technologies Co., Ltd. of 21


Keywords: OSPF, OSPFv3, IPv4, IPv6

Abstract: OSPFv3 is a link-state routing protocol developed from OSPFv2 and used for IPv6

networks. This document describes the OSPFv3 implementation, differences between

OSPFv3 and OSPFv2, and OSPFv3 configuration example.

Acronyms:

Acronym Full spelling

OSPF Open Shortest Path First

OSPFv3 Open Shortest Path First version 3

IGP Interior Gateway Protocol

AS Autonomous System

ABR Area Border Router

ASBR Autonomous System Border Router

LSA Link Statement Advertisement

LSDB Link State Data Base

DR Designated Router

BDR Backup Designated Router

DD Database Description

LSR Link State Request

LSU Link State Update

LSAck Link State Acknowledgment

NBMA Non-Broadcast Multi-Access

P2MP Point-to-MultiPoint

P2P Point-to-Point



Table of Contents

1 Overview......................................................................................................................................... 3

2 Implementation ............................................................................................................................... 3

2.1 Introduction to OSPFv2 ....................................................................................................... 3

2.1.1 OSPF Basic Concepts .............................................................................................. 3

2.1.2 OSPF Route Calculation ........................................................................................... 5

2.2 Common Aspects of OSPFv3 and OSPFv2 ........................................................................ 6

2.3 Differences between OSPFv3 and OSPFv2........................................................................ 6

2.3.1 Protocol Running Per-Link ........................................................................................ 7

2.3.2 Use of Link-Local Addresses .................................................................................... 7

2.3.3 Support for Multiple Instances Per Link .................................................................... 7

2.3.4 Identifying Neighbors by Router ID ........................................................................... 8

2.3.5 Authentication Changes ............................................................................................ 8

2.3.6 Stub Area Support..................................................................................................... 9

2.3.7 OSPFv3 Packet Formats .......................................................................................... 9

2.3.8 Options Field ............................................................................................................. 9

2.3.9 LSA Types............................................................................................................... 10

2.3.10 Expansion of LSA Flooding Scope........................................................................ 11

2.3.11 Handling Unknown LSA s ..................................................................................... 11

2.3.12 LSA Formats ......................................................................................................... 12

3 OSPFv3 Configuration Example .................................................................................................. 20

3.1 Network Diagram ............................................................................................................... 20

3.2 Network Requirements ...................................................................................................... 21

4 References ................................................................................................................................... 21



1 Overview OSPFv2 is a link state Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) developed by the IETF.

Featuring a wide application scope, fast convergence, loop-free capability, and

facilitating hierarchical network design, OSPFv2 is widely used in IPv4 networks.

To route IPv6 packets, the IETF developed OSPFv3 based on OSPFv2. OSPFv3 is

mainly used to provide routing functions on IPv6 networks and has become a main

routing protocol used for IPv6 networks.

2 Implementation OSPFv3 works basically the same way as OSPFv2 but has some differences from

OSPFv2 to support IPv6 address format. This following describes OSPFv2 briefly

before detailing how different OSPFv3 and OSPFv2 are.

2.1 Introduction to OSPFv2

2.1.1 OSPF Basic Concepts

1. DR and BDR

For broadcast and NBMA networks, DR and BDR are defined in OSPF. BDR is a

backup DR.

A DR and BDR form an adjacency and exchange routing information with all the

DROthers (routers other than DR or BDR) on the same network. DROthers do not

form any adjacencies with each other. This reduces the number of adjacencies in

broadcast and NBMA networks, thus reducing network traffic and saving bandwidth

resources.

2. Area

If a large number of routers in a network run OSPF, the following problems will arise:

Large numbers of LSAs generated by the routers will occupy much storage

space.

The calculation of the shortest path tree will take much longer, causing high

CPU utilization.



Network topological changes will be more frequent, causing large numbers of

OSPF packets to be transmitted in the network and wasting bandwidth

resources. Each topology change makes all the routers perform a route

recalculation.

To address these issues, OSPF divides an AS into multiple areas.

An area consists of a logical group of networks and routers and is assigned an area

ID.

The following describes two specific types of areas:

(1) (Totally) Stub area

The ABR in a stub area does not inject Type-5 LSAs into the area. This reduces the

link-state database size, and therefore the memory requirements for routers in the

stub area .

To further reduce the routing table size in a stub area, a stub area can be configured

as a totally stub area, which does not allow routes other than intra-area and the

default route to be propagated within the area.

Stub area configuration is optional, and not every area is qualified to be a stub area.

In general, a stub area resides on the border of the AS.

(2) NSSA area

A Not-So-Stubby Area (NSSA) retains the stub characteristics. Type-7 LSAs, rather

than Type-5 LSAs, can be injected into an NSSA area. Type-7 LSAs are generated

by an NSSA ASBR and propagated within the NSSA area. The NSSA ABR translates

the Type-7 LSAs into Type-5 LSAs, which get propagated into the OSPF domain.

3. OSPF Network Types

OSPF networks fall into four types by link layer protocol:

Broadcast: If Ethernet or FDDI is adopted, OSPF defaults the network type to

broadcast. In such a network, OSPF packets are multicast (using the IP

addresses 224.0.0.5 and 224.0.0.6) by default.

Non-Broadcast Multi-access (NBMA): If Frame Relay, ATM, or X.25 is adopted,

OSPF defaults the network type to NBMA. In an NBMA network, OSPF packets

are unicast.



Point-to-Multipoint (P2MP): OSPF does not default the network type for any link

layer protocol to P2MP. P2MP is always a change from another network type. A

common practice is to change an NBMA network into a P2MP network. In a

P2P network, OSPF packets are multicast (using the IP address 224.0.0.5) by

default. Unicasting OSPF packets can be configured when needed.

Point-to-point (P2P): If PPP or HDLC is adopted, OSPF defaults the network

type to P2P. In a P2P network, OSPF packets are multicast (by using the IP

address 224.0.0.5).

4. OSPF packets

OSPF uses five types of protocol packets:

Hello packets: Hello packets are periodically sent to establish and maintain

neighbor relationships. The Hello packet contains timer values, the router's

current choice for Designated Router (DR), Backup Designated Router (BDR),

and the list of all routers on the network from which Hello packets have been

seen recently.

DD packet (Database Description Packet): DD packets are exchanged after an

adjacency is initialized and describe the contents of the link-state database.

LSR packet: After exchanging DD packets with a neighboring router, a router

may find some LSAs are missing. To get these LSAs, it sends LSR packets that

carry the digest of those LSAs to the neighbor. <

LSU packet: Each Link State Update packet carries a collection of LSAs.

LSAck packet: LSAck packets are sent to acknowledge the received LSAs. An

LSAck contains the headers of the LSAs to be acknowledged (one LSAck

packet can acknowledge multiple LSAs).

2.1.2 OSPF Route Calculation

The route calculation process of the OSPF protocol is as follows:

Based on the network topology around itself, each OSPF router generates

LSAs and sends them to other routers in update packets.

Each OSPF router collects LSAs from other routers to compose an LSDB (Link

State Database). An LSA describes the network topology around a router, so

the LSDB describes the entire network topology of the AS.



Each router transforms the LSDB to a weighted directed graph, which actually

reflects the topology architecture of the entire network.

Each router uses the SPF algorithm to compute a Shortest Path Tree that

shows the routes to the nodes in the autonomous system. The router itself is

the root of the tree.

2.2 Common Aspects of OSPFv3 and OSPFv2

OSPFv3 and OSPFv2 have the following common aspects:

Packet types: Hello, DD, LSR, LSU, and LSAck

Area partition

LSA flooding and synchronization mechanisms: Reliable flooding and

synchronization to ensure correct LSDB contents.

Routing calculation method: SPF algorithm

Network types: broadcast, NBMA, P2MP, and P2P.

Neighbor discovery and adjacency establishment mechanisms: When a router

starts, it sends a hello packet via an OSPF interface, and the peer that receives

the hello packet checks parameters carried in the packet. If parameters of the

two routers match, they become neighbors. Not every pair of neighboring

routers become adjacent, which depends on network types. Only by

synchronizing the LSDB via exchanging DD packets and LSAs can two routers

become adjacent.

DR election: It is required to elect the DR and BDR on NBMA and broadcast

networks.

2.3 Differences between OSPFv3 and OSPFv2

Some necessary modifications are made to OSPFv2 so that OSPFv3 can support

IPv6. This allows OSPFv3 to run independent of network layer protocols and to adapt

to different protocols.

Differences between OSPFv3 and OSPFv2 are as follows:

Protocol running per-link, not per-subnet

Use of link-local addresses

Support for multiple instances per link



Identifying neighbors by Router ID

Authentication changes

Stub area support

OSPFv3 packet formats

The Options field

LSA types

2.3.1 Protocol Running Per-Link

OSPFv2 runs on a per-IP-subnet basis. With OSPFv2 enabled, two routers must be

attached to the same subnet to establish a neighbor relationship.

OSPFv3 runs on a per-link basis. Multiple IPv6 subnets (IPv6 prefixes) can be

assigned to a single link, and two nodes can talk directly over a single link, even if

they do not share a common IPv6 prefix.

2.3.2 Use of Link-Local Addresses

An OSPFv3 router sends packets using the interface's associated link-local unicast

address as source. A router learns the link-local addresses of all other routers

attached to its links, and uses these addresses as next hop information during packet

forwarding. On virtual links, global scope or site-local IP addresses must be used as

the source for OSPFv3 protocol packets.

Link-local addresses have only local significance and can be flooded on the local link

only. Therefore, link-local addresses can appear in Link-LSAs only.

2.3.3 Support for Multiple Instances Per Link

Multiple OSPFv3 instances can run on a single link, thus cutting costs, as shown in

Figure 1 .



Figure 1 Running of multiple instances on a link

Connected to the same broadcast network, Router A, Router B, Router C, and

Router D share the same link and can establish neighbor relationships with each

other. After instance 1 is configured on Eth1/0 of Router A, Eth1/1 of Router B, and

Eth1/3 of Router D and instance 2 on Eth1/0 of Router A, Eth1/1 of Router B, and

Eth1/2 of Router C, neighbor relationships of instance 1 are established between A,

Router B, and Router D, and neighbor relationships of instance 2 are established

between A, Router B, and Router C.

Support for multiple instances on a link is accomplished through an instance ID

contained in the OSPF packet header. If the instance ID configured on the interface

and that of a received OSPF packets do not match, the interface discards the packet

and no neighbor relationship can be established.

2.3.4 Identifying Neighbors by Router ID

In OSPFv2, neighbors on broadcast or NBMA links are identified by their interfaces’

IPv4 addresses, and neighbors on point-to-point networks or connected through

virtual links are identified by their Router IDs.

In OSPFv3, neighboring routers on a given link are always identified by their OSPF

Router ID.

2.3.5 Authentication Changes

In OSPFv3, authentication has been removed from the OSPF packet header.

OSPFv3 relies on the authentication mechanism of IPv6 to ensure integrity and

validity.



2.3.6 Stub Area Support

OSPFv3 supports the flooding of unknown LSAs. To prevent uncontrolled flooding of

unknown LSAs within a Stub area, the following rule regarding stub areas has been

established: an LSA whose LS type is unrecognized can be flooded throughout a stub

area only if both a) the LSA has area or link-local flooding scope and b) the LSA has

U-bit set to 0.

2.3.7 OSPFv3 Packet Formats

OSPFv3 packets are encapsulated in IPv6 headers. All OSPF packet types begin

with a standard 16-byte header.

Like OSPFv2, OSPFv3 also has five types of packets: hello, DD, LSR, LSU, and

LSAck, which share the same header format.

OSPFv3 has the same LSU and LSAck packet formats as OSPFv2 but different

packet headers, Hello, DD, and LSR packet formats:

Version: For OSPFv3, this field is 3.

Packet header: An OSPFv3 packet header is only 16 bytes long, with no

authentication field but an additional Instance ID field, which is used to support

multiple instances on a link. The Instance ID has local link significance only.

Received packets whose Instance ID is not equal to the receiving interface's

Instance ID are discarded. In that case, no neighbor relationship can be

established.

Hello packet: Compared with the OSPFv2 hello packet, the OSPFv3 hello

packet has no network mask field but has Interface ID field, which uniquely

identifies this interface among the collection of this router's interfaces.

2.3.8 Options Field

In OSPFv2, each Hello packet, DD packet, and LSA has the Options field.

In OSPFv3, the Options field is available in only Hello packets, DD packets, Router

LSAs, Network LSAs, Inter-Area-Router LSAs, and Link LSAs.

The following figure shows the OSPFv2 Options field format:



Figure 2 OSPFv2 Options field format

The following figure shows the OSPFv3 Options field format:

Figure 3 OSPFv3 Options field format

Compared with OSPFv2, OSPFv3 has the additional R and V bits in the Options field:

R bit: This bit indicates whether the originator is an active router. If the R bit is

clear, routes which transit the advertising node cannot be computed. Clearing

the R bit would be appropriate for a multi-homed host that wants to participate

in routing, but does not want to forward non-locally addressed packets.

V bit: If this bit is clear, the router/link should be excluded from IPv6 routing

calculation.

2.3.9 LSA Types

1. OSPFv3 LSA Types

OSPFv3 uses seven types of LSAs. The following table compares OSPFv3 and

OSPFv2 LSAs.

Table 1 Comparisons between OSPFv3 and OSPFv2 LSAs

OSPFv2 LSA OSPFv3 LSA Comparison

Router LSA Router LSA

Network LSA Network LSA

OSPFv3 Router LSAs and Network LSAs are used to describe the routing domain topology, rather than address information.

Network Summary LSA Inter Area Prefix LSA

ASBR Summary LSA Inter Area Router LSA They perform similar functions.

AS External LSA AS External LSA Exactly the same.



OSPFv2 LSA OSPFv3 LSA Comparison

Link LSA Available in OSPFv3 only N/A

Intra Area Prefix LSA Available in OSPFv3 only

2. Two New LSA Types

OSPFv3 has two new LSA types: Link LSA and Intra Area Prefix LSA

In OSPFv3, Router LSAs contain no address information. An OSPFv3 router

originates a separate Link-LSA for each link it is attached to. A Link-LSA

provides the router's link-local address and other addresses on this link to all

other routers attached to the link.

Router-LSAs and Network-LSAs do not carry route information, which is carried

by Intra-Area-Prefix-LSAs. An Intra-Area-Prefix-LSA can advertise one or more

IPv6 address prefixes.

2.3.10 Expansion of LSA Flooding Scope

The flooding scope of an LSA is defined in its LS Type field. There are three flooding

scopes:

Link-local scope: The LSA is flooded only on the local link. It is used for new

Link-LSAs.

Area scope: The LSA is flooded throughout the single OSPF area only. It is

used for Router-LSAs, Network-LSAs, Inter-Area-Prefix-LSAs, Inter-Area-

Router-LSAs, and Intra-Area-Prefix-LSAs.

AS scope. The LSA is flooded throughout the routing domain. It is used for AS-

external-LSAs.

2.3.11 Handling Unknown LSA s

An OSPFv2 interface directly discards any unknown LSAs received.

OSPFv3 uses the U bit in the LS Type field of LSAs to indicate the mode of

processing an unknown LSA:

If the U bit is set to 1, the unknown LSA will be flooded within the range

specified in its LS Type field.

If the U bit is set to 0, the unknown LSA will be flooded on the link.



2.3.12 LSA Formats

Each OSPFv3 LSA begins with an LSA header. The following discusses the LSA

header and content differences between OSPFv3 and OSPFv2.

1. LSA headers

Figure 4 OSPFv3 and OSPFv2 LSA header formats

As shown in the figure above, the Options field available in OSPFv2 is removed from

the OSPFv3 LSA header. In addition, the Link State ID field in OSPFv3 has a

random value and identifies an LSA together with the Advertising Router and LS

Sequence Number fields.

OSPFv2 has an 8-bit LS Type field, while OSPFv3 has a 16-bit LS Type field, as

shown in the following figure.

Figure 5 LS Type field format

U bit: The U bit indicates how the LSA should be handled by a receiving router

which does not recognize the LSA's function code. If the U-bit is set to 0, the

LSA has link-local scope. If the U-bit is set to 1, the LSA has the flooding scope

specified by the S2/S1 bits.

S2/S1 bits: The S1 and S2 bits jointly indicate the flooding scope of the LSA. A

value of 00 means the LSA will be flooded only on the local link. A value of 01

means the LSA will be flooded to all routers in the originating area. A value of

10 means the LSA will be flooded to all routers in the AS. A value of 11 is

reserved.



LSA Function Code: This field indicates the LS type. The following table lists the

possible code values and the corresponding LS types:

Table 2 LSA function codes and LS types

LSA function code LS type

1 Router LSA

2 Network LSA

3 Inter Area Prefix LSA

4 Inter Area Router LSA

5 AS External LSA

6 Group Membership LSA

8 Link LSA

9 Intra Area Prefix LSA

2. Router-LSA

The following figure shows the OSPFv2 Router-LSA format:

Figure 6 OSPFv2 Router-LSA format

The following figure shows the OSPFv3 Router-LSA format:



Figure 7 OSPFv3 Router-LSA format

See Figure 7 In the OSPFv3 Router LSA:

An Options field is added.

The #Links field, which indicates the number of connected routers, is no long

available.

Links are described in a way different from OSPFv2. The Interface ID,

Neighbor Interface ID, and Neighbor Router ID fields jointly describe the link.

Different fields in OSPFv3 Router-LSA are described as follows:

W: Wild card, used for MOSPF. Currently, this bit is not supported by H3C.

Interface ID: Local interface ID assigned to the interface being described.

Neighbor Interface ID: Interface ID of the neighbor router.

Neighbor Router: Router ID of the neighbor router.

3. Network-LSA

Figure 8 OSPFv2 and OSPFv3 Network-LSA formats

As shown in the figure above, the OSPFv3 Network-LSA has an additional Options

field but without the Network Mask field.

A Network-LSA is originated for a broadcast or NBMA link by the link's Designated



Router. The LSA describes all routers attached to the link, including the Designated

Router itself. Without the Network Mask field, an OSPFv3 Network-LSA describes

the topology, rather than routing information.

4. Inter-Area-Prefix-LSA

The LS type of Inter-Area-Prefix-LSAs is 3. They are the IPv6 equivalent of OSPFv2

summary-LSAs. Through PrefixLength, PrefixOption, and Address Prefix fields,

Inter-Area-Prefix-LSAs describe IPv6 prefixes that belong to other areas. An Inter-

Area-Prefix-LSA is originated for each IPv6 prefix.

For stub areas, Inter-Area-Prefix-LSAs can be used to describe a default route. When

describing a default route, the Inter-Area-Prefix-LSA's PrefixLength is set to 0.

The following figure shows the OSPFv2 Network Summary LSA format:

Figure 9 OSPFv2 Network Summary LSA format

The following figure shows the OSPFv3 Inter-Area-Prefix-LSA format:

Figure 10 OSPFv3 Inter-Area-Prefix-LSA format

Compared with OSPFv2 Network-Summary-LSA, OSPFv3 Inter-Area-Prefix-LSA has

the following different fields:

PrefixLength: IPv6 prefix length.

PrefixOption: IPv6 prefix options, describing that, for example, the prefix should

be ignored, or cannot be re-advertised.

Address Prefix: IPv6 address prefix.



The PrefixOptions field is one byte long, as shown in the following figure.

P MC LA NU

Figure 11 OSPFv3 PrefixOption

P: The "propagate" bit, which is set to 1 for an NSSA prefix, indicating that the

prefix should be re-advertised at the NSSA area border.

MC: The "multicast" capability bit. If set, the prefix should be included in IPv6

multicast routing calculation.

LA: The "local address" capability bit. If set, the prefix is actually the egress

interface’s IPv6 address of the advertising router.

NU: The "no unicast" capability bit. If set, the prefix should be excluded from

IPv6 unicast calculation.

5. Inter-Area-Router-LSA

The LS type of an Inter-Area-Router-LSA is set to 4. Inter-Area-Router-LSAs are

similar to ASBR Summary-LSAs in OSPFv2, which have the same format as the

OSPFv2 Network Summary LSA format, as shown in Figure 9 .

The following figure shows the OSPFv3 Inter-Area-Router-LSA format:

Figure 12 OSPFv3 Inter-Area-Router-LSA format

Significant fields are described as follows:

Metric: The cost of using this router interface, for outbound traffic.

Destination Router ID: Router ID of a destination router outside the area.

6. AS-External-LSA

The LS type of an AS-external-LSA is set to 5. The purposes of AS-External-LSAs

are the same as those of AS-External-LSAs in OSPFv2.

The following figure shows the OSPFv2 AS-External-LSA format:



Figure 13 OSPFv2 AS-External-LSA format

The following figure shows the OSPFv3 AS-External-LSA format:

Figure 14 OSPFv3 AS-External-LSA format

Compared with OSPFv2 AS-External-LSAs, OSPFv3 AS-External-LSAs have the

following different fields:

The Address Prefix, PrefixLength, and PrefixOptions fields jointly identify an

IPv6 address prefix outside the AS.

Referenced LS Type: If it set to a non-zero value, a referenced LSA with this LS

type is associated with the LSA.

Referenced Link State ID: Link state ID of the LSA referenced. Currently, H3C

does not support this field.

7. Link-LSA

The LS type of Link-LSAs is 8. A router originates a separate Link-LSA for each link it

is attached to.



Link-LSAs have three purposes:

They provide the router's link-local address to all other routers attached to the

link.

They inform other routers attached to the link of a list of IPv6 prefixes to

associate with the link.

They allow the router to assert a collection of Options bits to associate with the

Network-LSA that will be originated for the link.

The following figure shows the Link-LSA format:

Options

LS age

Linke state ID

Advertising Router

0

LS sequence number

LS checksum Length

0 7 15 31

0 0 8

Router Priority

PrefixLength PrefixOptions 0

Link Local Interface Address

Address Prefix...

...

#Prefixes

PrefixLength PrefixOptions 0

Address Prefix...

Figure 15 OSPFv3 Link-LSA format

Significant fields are described as follows:

Router Priority: Router Priority of the interface attached to the link.

Options: Optional capabilities supported by the router; the set of Options bits

that the router would like set in the Network-LSA that will be originated for the

link.



Link Local Interface Address: The originating router's link-local interface

address on the link.

# prefixes: Number of IPv6 address prefixes contained in the LSA.

8. Intra-Area-Prefix-LSA

The LS type of an Intra-Area-Prefix-LSA is 9. OSPFv3 is designed to separate

topology information from routing information. In OSPFv3, all addressing information

has been removed from router-LSAs and network-LSAs, and the Intra-Area-Prefix-

LSA was introduced to carry such addressing information.

A router uses Intra-Area-Prefix-LSAs to advertise one or more IPv6 address prefixes

that are associated with:

The router itself

An attached stub network segment

An attached transit network segment.

The following figure shows the OSPFv3 Intra-Area-Prefix-LSA format:

Figure 16 OSPFv3 Intra-Area-Prefix-LSA format

Intra-Area-Prefix-LSAs describe the routing information carried by the Router-LSAs



and Network-LSAs. Therefore, the Intra-Area-Prefix-LSA should indicate the

referenced Router-LSA or Network-LSA, which is jointly identified by the Referenced

LS Type, Referenced Link State ID, and Referenced Advertising Router fields.

The significant fields are described as follows:

# Prefixes: Number of IPv6 address prefixes contained in the LSA.

Referenced LS Type: If the Referenced LS type is 1, the prefixes are

associated with a router-LSA. If Referenced LS type is 2, the prefixes are

associated with a network-LSA.

Referenced Link State ID: If the prefixes are associated with a router-LSA, the

Referenced Link State ID should be 0. If the prefixes are associated with a

network-LSA, the Referenced Link State ID should be the Interface ID of the

link's Designated Router.

Referenced Advertising Router: If the prefixes are associated with a router-LSA,

the Referenced Advertising Router should be the originating router's Router ID.

If the prefixes are associated with a network-LSA, Referenced Advertising

Router should be the Designated Router's Router ID.

3 OSPFv3 Configuration Example

3.1 Network Diagram

Figure 17 Network diagram for OSPFv3 configuration



3.2 Network Requirements

All the routers in the network run OSPFv3. The AS is divided into three areas.

Router B works as the ABR between Area 0 and Area 1. Router C works as the

ABR between Area 0 and Area 2.

It is required to configure Area 2 as a stub area to reduce LSAs advertised into

the area without affecting route reachability.

4 References RFC2328: OSPF Version 2

RFC2740: OSPF for IPv6

Copyright © 2008 Hangzhou H3C Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written consent of H3C

Technologies Co., Ltd.

This document is subject to change without notice.

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