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With the received `record route`, `B` can send a `data packet` to `A`. For this, it simply reverses the chosen `record route`. However, we still need to communicate the chosen path to `A`. This can be done by putting the `record route` inside a control packet which is sent back to `A` over the reverse path. An alternative is to simply send a `data packet` back to `A`. This packet will travel back to `A`. To allow `A` to inspect the entire path followed by the `data packet`, its `source route` must contain all intermediate routers when it is received by `A`. This can be achieved by encoding the `source route` using a data structure that contains an index and the ordered list of node addresses. The index always points to the next address in the `source route`. It is initialized at `0` when a packet is created and incremented by each intermediate node.
With the datagram organization, routers use `hop-by-hop forwarding`. This means that when a router receives a packet that is not destined to itself, it looks up the destination address of the packet in its `forwarding table`. A `forwarding table` is a data structure that maps each destination address (or set of destination addresses) to the outgoing interface over which a packet destined to this address must be forwarded to reach its final destination. The router consults its forwarding table to forward each packet that it handles.
Which is the most recent LSP ?
When a router notices that a route towards a destination has expired, it must first associate an :math:`\infty` cost to this route and send its distance vector to its neighbors to inform them. The route can then be removed from the routing table after some time (e.g. :math:`3 \times N` seconds), to ensure that the neighboring routers have received the bad news, even if some distance vectors do not reach them due to transmission errors.
When a router has failed, its LSP must be removed from the LSDB of all routers [#foverload]_. This can be done by using the `age` field that is included in each LSP. The `age` field is used to bound the maximum lifetime of a link state packet in the network. When a router generates a LSP, it sets its lifetime (usually measured in seconds) in the `age` field. All routers regularly decrement the `age` of the LSPs in their LSDB and a LSP is discarded once its `age` reaches `0`. Thanks to the `age` field, the LSP from a failed router does not remain in the LSDBs forever.
When a router boots, it does not know any destination in the network and its routing table only contains its local address(es). It thus sends to all its neighbors a distance vector that contains only its address at a distance of `0`. When a router receives a distance vector on link `l`, it processes it as follows.
When a link-state router boots, it first needs to discover to which routers it is directly connected. For this, each router sends a HELLO message every `N` seconds on all its interfaces. This message contains the router's address. Each router has a unique address. As its neighboring routers also send HELLO messages, the router automatically discovers to which neighbors it is connected. These HELLO messages are only sent to neighbors that are directly connected to a router, and a router never forwards the HELLO messages that it receives. HELLO messages are also used to detect link and router failures. A link is considered to have failed if no HELLO message has been received from a neighboring router for a period of :math:`k \times N` seconds.
When a link fails, the two routers attached to the link detect the failure by the absence of HELLO messages received during the last :math:`k \times N` seconds. Once a router has detected the failure of one of its local links, it generates and floods a new LSP that no longer contains the failed link. This new LSP replaces the previous LSP in the network. In practice, the two routers attached to a link do not detect this failure exactly at the same time. During this period, some links may be announced in only one direction. This is illustrated in the figure below. Router `E` has detected the failure of link `E-B` and flooded a new LSP, but router `B` has not yet detected this failure.
We will see later a more detailed description of Multiprotocol Label Switching, a networking technology that is capable of using one or more labels.
We will discuss these functions in more details when we will describe the protocols that are used in the network layer of the TCP/IP protocol suite.
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weight proportional to the propagation delay on the link. If all link weights are configured this way, shortest path routing uses the paths with the smallest propagation delay.
`virtual circuits`
Virtual circuit organization
verifying that packets can reach a given destination
Usually, the same weight is associated to the two directed edges that correspond to a physical link (i.e. :math:`R1 \rightarrow R2` and :math:`R2 \rightarrow R1`). However, nothing in the link state protocols requires this. For example, if the weight is set in function of the link bandwidth, then an asymmetric ADSL link could have a different weight for the upstream and downstream directions. Other variants are possible. Some networks use optimization algorithms to find the best set of weights to minimize congestion inside the network for a given traffic demand [FRT2002]_.
unit weight. If all links have a unit weight, shortest path routing prefers the paths with the least number of intermediate routers.
Unfortunately, if the distance vector sent to `A` is lost or if `A` sends its own distance vector ( :math:`[A=0,D=1,B=3,C=3,E=2]` ) at the same time as `D` sends its distance vector, `D` updates its routing table to use the shorter routes advertised by `A` towards `B`, `C` and `E`. After some time `D` sends a new distance vector : :math:`[D=0,A=1,E=3,C=4,B=4]`. `A` updates its routing table and after some time sends its own distance vector :math:`[A=0,D=1,B=5,C=5,E=4]`, etc. This problem is known as the `count to infinity problem` in the networking literature.
Two virtual circuits pass through `R3`. They both need to be forwarded to `R4`, but `R4` expects `label=1` for packets belonging to the virtual circuit originated by `R2` and `label=0` for packets belonging to the other virtual circuit. `R3` could choose to leave the labels unchanged.
To understand the operation of a distance vector protocol, let us consider the network of five routers shown below.