Understanding Stubbiness in OSPF


Understanding Stubbiness in OSPF

 

Configuration of ABR router and other routers which are the part of OSPF process.

 

Scenario1: General ospf configuration in ABR and area 1 router

1.      ABR configuration:

T1 is the bankbone area router which is ABR also.

Configuration

root@T1# run show configuration protocols ospf

area 0.0.0.0 { ================è Backbone Area configuration

    interface ge-0/0/0.0 {

        priority 255;

    }

    interface lo0.0 {

        passive;

    }

}

area 0.0.0.1 {    ====================è Connected area 1

    interface ge-0/0/1.0 {

        interface-type p2p;

    }

}

T3 is area 1 router which has p2p connectvity with ABR

Configuration

area 0.0.0.1 {

    interface ge-0/0/0.0 {

        interface-type p2p;

    }

    interface lo0.0 {

        passive;

    }

}

Results from ABR after OSPF Configuration:

OSPF database, Area 0.0.0.0

 Type       ID               Adv Rtr           Seq      Age  Opt  Cksum  Len

Router  *10.1.1.1         10.1.1.1         0x8000000a    76  0x22 0x20fa  48 – Type 1 LSA

Router   10.1.1.2         10.1.1.2         0x80000007    89  0x22 0x3adf  48

Network *192.168.1.1      10.1.1.1         0x80000003   323  0x22 0x584f  32 – Type 2 LSA

Summary *10.1.1.3         10.1.1.1         0x80000001   606  0x22 0x6cb3  28--- Type 3 LSA

Summary  10.1.1.4         10.1.1.2         0x80000003   907  0x22 0x58c3  28

Summary *192.168.2.0      10.1.1.1         0x80000007   678  0x22 0x506d  28

Summary  192.168.3.0      10.1.1.2         0x80000004  1452  0x22 0x4579  28

Summary  192.168.16.0     10.1.1.2         0x80000003   634  0x22 0xc1ef  28

ASBRSum  10.1.1.4         10.1.1.2         0x80000003   362  0x22 0x4ad0  28 - - Type 4 LSA

 

    OSPF database, Area 0.0.0.1

 Type       ID               Adv Rtr           Seq      Age  Opt  Cksum  Len

Router  *10.1.1.1         10.1.1.1         0x80000002   606  0x22 0xcb54  48 – Type1

Router   10.1.1.3         10.1.1.3         0x80000003   607  0x22 0x13ea  60

Summary *10.1.1.1         10.1.1.1         0x80000001   678  0x22 0x76ac  28—Type 3

Summary *10.1.1.2         10.1.1.1         0x80000001   678  0x22 0x76aa  28

Summary *10.1.1.4         10.1.1.1         0x80000001   678  0x22 0x6cb1  28

Summary *192.168.1.0      10.1.1.1         0x80000001   678  0x22 0x5572  28

Summary *192.168.3.0      10.1.1.1         0x80000001   678  0x22 0x5b66  28

Summary *192.168.16.0     10.1.1.1         0x80000001   678  0x22 0xd5dd  28

ASBRSum *10.1.1.4         10.1.1.1         0x80000001   678  0x22 0x5ebe  28—Type 4

    OSPF AS SCOPE link state database

 Type       ID               Adv Rtr           Seq      Age  Opt  Cksum  Len

Extern   192.168.29.0     10.1.1.4         0x80000003   969  0x22 0x8990  36--- Type 5

Extern   192.168.30.0     10.1.1.4         0x80000002  2929  0x22 0x8099  36 --- Type 5

Ospf Database from Area 1 router:

root@T3> show ospf database

 

    OSPF database, Area 0.0.0.1

 Type       ID               Adv Rtr           Seq      Age  Opt  Cksum  Len

Router   10.1.1.1         10.1.1.1         0x80000002   829  0x22 0xcb54  48 – Type 1

Router  *10.1.1.3         10.1.1.3         0x80000003   828  0x22 0x13ea  60

Summary  10.1.1.1         10.1.1.1         0x80000001   901  0x22 0x76ac  28--- Type 3

Summary  10.1.1.2         10.1.1.1         0x80000002    52  0x22 0x74ab  28

Summary  10.1.1.4         10.1.1.1         0x80000001   901  0x22 0x6cb1  28

Summary  192.168.1.0      10.1.1.1         0x80000001   901  0x22 0x5572  28

Summary  192.168.3.0      10.1.1.1         0x80000001   901  0x22 0x5b66  28

Summary  192.168.16.0     10.1.1.1         0x80000001   901  0x22 0xd5dd  28

ASBRSum  10.1.1.4         10.1.1.1         0x80000001   901  0x22 0x5ebe  28 ---Type 4

    OSPF AS SCOPE link state database

 Type       ID               Adv Rtr           Seq      Age  Opt  Cksum  Len

Extern   192.168.29.0     10.1.1.4         0x80000003  1192  0x22 0x8990  36 –Type 5

Extern   192.168.30.0     10.1.1.4         0x80000003   213  0x22 0x7e9a  36

 

Conclusion: It states that when you defined basics ospf with connected area0 , area1, area2 and so on we have database synchronization on all the routers and Type1, Type2, Type 3, Type 4 & Type 5 database populates over all the routers.

So when an organization is big like we take an example of AON Hewitt which has almost 165 countries in and if we need to populate the routes from all 165 countries to every router it is not at all feasible and very costly. So a Network Engineer Need to optimize the routing tables so that database can be maintained. First progress to optimize the OSPF routing tables is creating STUB areas.


STUB Areas:

Stub areas are areas through which or into which OSPF does not flood AS external link-state advertisements (Type 5 LSAs). You might create stub areas when much of the topology database consists of AS external advertisements and you want to minimize the size of the topology databases on the internal routers in the stub area.

The following restrictions apply to stub areas:

•You cannot create a virtual link through a stub area.

•A stub area cannot contain an AS boundary router.

•You cannot configure the backbone as a stub area.

•You cannot configure an area as both a stub area and an not-so-stubby area (NSSA).

 





So, Type 5 routes have been removed from the opsf topology when we define area 1 as stub. Which certainly reduces the size of database so all the smaller branches which are connected to main branch through ospf domain and were considered in external routes were all are now traversed through default route? So we have reach ability to branches but the database is all populated via default route which reduces the size of database and is easy to manage for Network Engineer.



Totally Stubby Areas: In Totally Stub areas routes, all Type-3 LSA are also further removed from Ospf Database and only default route populated. All Type-3 routes are also learned from default routes.

On ABR, we need to change the configuration of routes and only “no-summaries” field is added to stub area.




 


 

 

 

 

 

Not- So- Stubby Area:

The most common deployment for a not-so-stubby area occurs when a newly acquired or merged company needs connectivity into an existing network. Connecting it directly to the core of the OSPF network is not commonplace, so using an outlying router to connect this new network to the existing network is the best practice.

So, When a NSSA area is introduced in the network area 0 did not populates the external routes to the NSSA but External router beyond NSSA area are learned in NSSA.

When NSSA area is used, ABR become the NSSA ASBR which populates the Type 5 converted routes from Type 7 into the ABR. This is really same as when during the merger of small companies with AON, All new companies router are kept in NSSA area and external routes are populated to AON Data Centre Core and routing table have the desired routes. NSSA Routes from AREA 0:


NSSA AREA routes in ABR router.

NSSA Summary routes are also converted to default router when we use no summary command in OSPF NSSA configuration. NSSA area is now become Totally Stubby Area NSSA

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