I guess this is a question of defining what "optimal" means. If optimal
means that packets should be forwarded along the VL, then clearly there
are cases where that may not happen, although as Acee pointed out, this
wont create (permanent0 routing loops since no matter what packets are
always forwarded in a manner that consistently decreases their cost to
the destination. However, note that the cost decrease rule is not
equivalent to always selecting the shortest path. In particular, there
are many cases where actual packet forwarding follows a different path
from that the initial router computed. In some cases those paths will be
shorter than the original one (the VL case under discussion is one such
example), but not always. This is because of the many situations where
different routers have access to different information, and the fact
that there are non-cost based precedence rules when selecting paths.

For example, an internal router R0 could pick an ABR, say ABR1, as its
exit point from its area for a remote prefix /p/ because the sum of its
cost to ABR1 and the cost of the T3 for /p/ advertised by ABR1 is the
smallest among all possible choices. However, if there is another ABR,
say ABR2, on the (shortest) path from R0 to ABR1, then ABR2 will hijack
all the packets to /p/ and will proceed to forward them onto its own
shortest path to /p/, even though this wont be the shortest path
originally selected by R0. And there are many other examples one can
construct, where actual packet forwarding is not along true end-to-end
shortest paths and where different routers have differing views on what
paths packets actually follow. None of these behaviors create the risk
of routing loops.

Roch
> Hi,
> I fail to see as to how a non-optimal path will be picked up, for all
> ABR's adjoining the transit area will do a transit area summary lsa
> checking and route table modification if required.
> Noting that the only difference prior to transit area summary lsa
> checking and
> after will be the nexthop modified by the ABR to reach the same
> destination, and
> as IP is hop by hop forwarding any border router adjoining the transit
> area will pick
> up the optimum path( be it thru the VL or not).
> Am I miss something?
> Regds,
> Sujay
>
>
> On 4/30/07, *Kui Zhang* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> wrote:
>
>     Hi Acee,
>
>     Yes, a simple way to prevent this from happening is to configure a
>     full mesh
>     of virtual links between all ABRs in the transit area.
>     And this makes IP FRR works well too.
>
>     Thanks,
>     Kui
>     -----Original Message-----
>     From: Acee Lindem [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>]
>     Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 8:28 PM
>     To: 章魁
>     Cc: 'Anton Smirnov'; 'OSPF List'; 'Jin Wang'
>     Subject: Re: [OSPF] Doubt for virtual link cost ?
>
>     Hi Kui,
>     Yes - there could be an ABR for the transit area that takes a
>     "shortcut" across the transit area for a non-virtual link path. Other
>     routers in the backbone will not know about this path and may take
>     other paths.However, this is not a problem since there is no
>     possibility of a routing loop. Additionally, the situation can easily
>     be remedied by configuring a virtual link between the transit area
>     routers across the "shortcut" path.
>
>     Thanks,
>     Acee
>
>     On Apr 30, 2007, at 2:48 AM, 章魁 wrote:
>
>     > Hi Acee,
>     > I guess Jin is asking that a non-optimal path might be chosen when
>     > other
>     > routers in backbone area can't check the transit area's summary
>     lsa to
>     > update the intra-area route. This should be a drawback of virtual
>     > link, I
>     > think.
>     >
>     > Kui
>     > -----Original Message-----
>     > From: Acee Lindem [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>     <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>]
>     > Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 4:11 AM
>     > To: Anton Smirnov
>     > Cc: OSPF List; Jin Wang
>     > Subject: Re: [OSPF] Doubt for virtual link cost ?
>     >
>     > Hi Anton, Jin,
>     > I guess I don't really understand the point of controversy here. I
>     > agree with Anton. Note that if there is not an active virtual link
>     > then the non-backbone area is not a transit area.
>     > Thanks,
>     > Acee
>     > On Apr 29, 2007, at 8:23 AM, Anton Smirnov wrote:
>     >
>     >>Jin,
>     >>right. In network design where such scenario is possible you
>     >> always
>     >> can create VL between this ABR and ABR providing best path via
>     >> transit
>     >> area. This will make the best path 'visible' to other routers in
>     >> backbone.
>     >>
>     >> Anton
>     >>
>     >>
>     >> Jin Wang wrote:
>     >>>
>     >>> Thanks for anton's response.
>     >>> But if so,only the traffic going through this ABR(determined
>     >>> before 16.3
>     >>> calculating result) is forwarded by the new optimal path.For those
>     >>> other
>     >>> traffic not forwarded via this ABR(determined by 16.1 & 16.2)
>     in the
>     >>> backbone will not consider the new path(via ABR) even path is
>     >>> shorter.right?
>     >>>
>     >>>
>     >>> Best regards,
>     >>>
>     >>> Wangjin
>     >>> Accton Technology China Company Ltd.
>     >>> Shanghai R&D Center
>     >>> TEL:+86-021-64859922*6227
>     >>> E-mail:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>     >>> Web Site: www.accton.com.cn <http://www.accton.com.cn>
>     >>>
>     >>
>     >>
>     >> _______________________________________________
>     >> OSPF mailing list
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>     >
>     >
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>     >
>     >
>
>
>
>
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title:Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunication Networks
tel;work:(215) 898-9351
tel;fax:(215) 573-2068
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