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All OSPF packets share a common OSPF Header of 24-bytes. This header allows the receiving router to validate and process the packets. The format of common OSPF header is-
Version- 2 (1-byte) Type- It specifies the type of OSPF packet. There are 5 different types of OSPF packets. (1-byte) 12345Hello packet Database Descriptor packet Link State Request packet Link State Update packet Link State Acknowledgment packet
Packet Length- Total length of the OSPF packet (2-bytes) Router ID- The Router ID of the advertising router Area ID- 32-bit Area ID assigned to the interface sending the OSPF packet (4-bytes) Checksum- Standard IP Checksum of OSPF packet excluding Authentication field (2-bytes) AuType- Authentication Type (2-bytes) 0- No Password 1- Plain-text password 2- MD5 authentication Authentication- Authentication data to verify the packet's integrity (8-bytes)
1. Hello Packet:
Hello packets are OSPF packet Type 1. These packets are multicast periodically to 224.0.0.5 multicast address on all interfaces (unicast on virtual-links) enabling dynamic discovery of neighbors and maintain neighbor relationships. On broadcast and NBMA networks, Hello packets are used to elect DR and BDR.
Network Mask- Subnet mask of the advertising OSPF interface. For unnumbered point-to-point interfaces and virtual-links, it is set to 0.0.0.0 (4-bytes) HelloInterval- Interval at which Hello packets are advertised. By default, 10 seconds for point-topoint link and 30 seconds for NBMA/Broadcast links (2-bytes) Options- The local router advertises its capabilities in this field. (1-byte) Rtr Pri- The Priority of the local router. It is used for DR/BDR election. If set to 0, the router is ineligible for the election. (1-byte) RouterDeadInterval- The Dead Interval as requested by the advertising router. By default, 40 seconds for point-to-point link and 120 seconds for NBMA/Broadcast links (4-bytes) Designated Router- The IP address of the current DR. Set to 0.0.0.0 if no DR is elected yet. (4bytes) Backup Designated Router- The IP address of the current BDR. Set to 0.0.0.0 if no BDR is elected yet. (4-bytes) Neighbor- The Router IDs of all OSPF routers from whom a valid Hello packet have been seen on the network. The following is a sample packet capture of an OSPF Hello packet.
The fields Area ID, HelloInterval, RouterDeadInterval and Authentication information (AuType & Authentication) should match on neighbors to form adjacency. For example, when the Hello interval is changed on a router, the receiving router does not accept the Hello packet due to mismatch of Hello timer. The following message is displayed.
00:18:02.491: OSPF: Mismatched hello parameters from 10.1.1.2 00:18:02.491: OSPF: Dead R 20 C 40, Hello R 5 C 10
Interface MTU- Contains the MTU value of the outgoing interface. For virtual-links, this field is set to 0x0000. (2-bytes) Options- Same as Options field in a Hello packet (1-byte) I- Initial Bit. Indicates this is the first in the series of DBD packets (1-bit) M- More bit. Indicates whether the DBD packet is the last in the series of packets. Last packet has a value of 0, while all previous packets have a value of 1. (1-bit) MS- Master/ Slave bit. Master=1, Slave=0 (1-bit) DD Sequence Number- Used to sequence the collection of DBD packets. The initial value should be unique. The sequence number then increments by 1 until the complete database description has been sent.(4-bytes) LSA Header- This field contains the LSA headers describing the local router's database. (variable length) During the DBD packet exchange, a Master/ Slave relationship is established between the neighbors. The router with the highest Router ID becomes the Master and initiates DBD packet exchange. The Interface MTU should match on neighbors otherwise FULL adjacency is not reached.
19:24:22.879: OSPF: Rcv DBD from 10.1.1.2 on Serial1/0 seq 0xA9A opt 0x52 flag 0x7 len 32 mtu 1400 state EXCHANGE 19:24:22.883: OSPF: Nbr 10.1.1.2 has smaller interface MTU 19:26:01.591: %OSPF-5-ADJCHG: Process 1, Nbr 10.1.1.2 on Serial1/0 from EXCHANGE to DOWN, Neighbor Down: Too many retransmissions 19:27:01.591: %OSPF-5-ADJCHG: Process 1, Nbr 10.1.1.2 on Serial1/0 from DOWN to DOWN, Neighbor Down: Ignore timer expired
The following packet capture shows a sample OSPF database. The DBD packets contain LSA header which contain the summary of this database i.e the Type of LSA, Link State ID, Advertising router, etc. The neighbors then request further information about these LSAs using Link State Request packets.
OSPF Database
R1# show ip ospf database OSPF Router with ID (10.1.1.2) (Process ID 1) Router Link States (Area 0) Link ID 10.1.1.1 10.1.1.2 ADV Router 10.1.1.1 10.1.1.2 Age 1706 755 Seq# Checksum Link count 0x8000002E 0x00C174 2 0x80000036 0x0031E5 3
LS Type- Type of LSA requested (4-bytes) Link State ID- Depends upon the type of LSA (4-bytes) Advertising Router- Router ID of the requesting router (4-bytes) The following packet capture shows the LSR sent for Router-LSA (Type-1) to an OSPF neighbor after DBD packet exchange process is over.
# LSAs- Number of LSAs within an LSU packet (4-bytes) LSAs- The complete LSA is encoded within this field. The LSU may contain single or multiple LSAs.
LSA Header- List of LSA Headers being acknowledged. The following packet capture shows an LSAck packet acknowledging the above LSU packet.
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