Simulation of Best Path Selection by Routing

Protocols
A

PROJECT

Submitted for the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of Certificate of

INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

IN

CISCO CERTIFIED NETWORK ASSOCIATE

Submitted by: Guided By:

1. Ravi Sharma Mr. Gopalji Singh

2. Shashank Keshore (CCNA, HCL CDC, BHOPAL)
3. Umesh Motwani
 HCL
CAREER DEVELOPMENT CENTRE, BHOPAL

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Ravi Sharma, Shashank Keshore, and Umesh

Motwani of B.E fourth year, Computer science & Engineering have
completed their project “Simulation of Best Path Selection by Routing
Protocols” during the Industrial Training period (July-August, 2010)
under my guidance and supervision.

I approve the project for the submission for the partial fulfillment of the
requirement for the award of certificate in Cisco Certified Network
Associate.

Mr. Gopalji Singh

(Trainer)
 DECLARATION BY CANDIDATE

We hereby declare that the work which is being presented in the Major
project “Simulation of Best Path Selection by Routing Protocols”
submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of Certificate of
Cisco Certified Network Associate. The work which has been carried out at HCL
Career Development Centre, Bittan Market, Bhopal is an authentic record of our
work carried under the guidance of Mr. Gopalji Singh, HCL Career Development
Centre, Bittan Market, Bhopal.

The matter written in this project has not been submitted by us for the award
of any other Degree or Certificate.

Ravi Sharma
Shashank Keshore
Umesh Motwani
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We take the opportunity to express our cordial gratitude and deep sense of
indebtedness to our guides Mr. Gopalji Singh for the valuable guidance and
inspiration throughout the project duration. We feel thankful to him for his
innovative ideas, which led to successful completion of this project work. We feel
proud and fortune to work under such outstanding mentors in the field of
Simulation of Best Path Selection by Routing Protocols. He has always
welcomed our problem and helped us to clear our doubt. We will always be
grateful to him for providing us moral support and sufficient time.

At the same time, we would like to thank The Centre Director and all other
faculty members and all non-teaching staff in HCL Career Development Centre for
their valuable co-operation.

Ravi Sharma
Shashank Keshore
Umesh Motwani
 Table of Contents

1. Computer Networks
2. Networking Devices
3. Routing
4. Routing Protocols
5. Synopsis of Project
• Packet Tracer
• Scenario Description
• Implementation of RIP over scenario
• Working at Initial Stage
• Final Working after Bandwidth Modification
• Conclusion
6. References
1. Computer Networks

A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a group of computers and devices
interconnected by communications channels that facilitate communications among users and
allows users to share resources. Networks may be classified according to a wide variety of
characteristics.

1.1 Purpose

Computer networks can be used for several purposes:

• Facilitating communications. Using a network, people can communicate efficiently and

easily via email, instant messaging, chat rooms, telephone, video telephone calls, and
video conferencing.
• Sharing hardware. In a networked environment, each computer on a network may access
and use hardware resources on the network, such as printing a document on a shared
network printer.
• Sharing files, data, and information. In a network environment, authorized user may
access data and information stored on other computers on the network. The capability of
providing access to data and information on shared storage devices is an important
feature of many networks.
• Sharing software. Users connected to a network may run application programs on remote
computers.

1.2 Network Classification

On the basis of connection networks can be classified as Wired or Wireless.

Wired technologies

• Twisted pair wire is the most widely used medium for telecommunication. Twisted-pair
wires are ordinary telephone wires which consist of two insulated copper wires twisted
into pairs and are used for both voice and data transmission. The use of two wires twisted
together helps to reduce crosstalk and electromagnetic induction. The transmission speed
ranges from 2 million bits per second to 100 million bits per second.
 • Coaxial cable is widely used for cable television systems, office buildings, and other
worksites for local area networks. The cables consist of copper or aluminum wire
wrapped with insulating layer typically of a flexible material with a high dielectric
constant, all of which are surrounded by a conductive layer. The layers of insulation help
minimize interference and distortion. Transmission speed range from 200 million to more
than 500 million bits per second.

• Optical fiber cable consists of one or more filaments of glass fiber wrapped in protective
layers. It transmits light which can travel over extended distances. Fiber-optic cables are
not affected by electromagnetic radiation. Transmission speed may reach trillions of bits
per second. The transmission speed of fiber optics is hundreds of times faster than for
coaxial cables and thousands of times faster than a twisted-pair wire.

Wireless technologies

• Terrestrial Microwave – Terrestrial microwaves use Earth-based transmitter and receiver.

The equipment look similar to satellite dishes. Terrestrial microwaves use low-gigahertz
range, which limits all communications to line-of-sight. Path between relay stations
spaced approx. 30 miles apart. Microwave antennas are usually placed on top of
buildings, towers, hills, and mountain peaks.

• Communications Satellites – The satellites use microwave radio as their

telecommunications medium which are not deflected by the Earth's atmosphere. The
satellites are stationed in space, typically 22,000 miles (for geosynchronous satellites)
above the equator. These Earth-orbiting systems are capable of receiving and relaying
voice, data, and TV signals.

• Cellular and PCS Systems – Use several radio communications technologies. The
systems are divided to different geographic areas. Each area has a low-power transmitter
or radio relay antenna device to relay calls from one area to the next area.

• Wireless LANs – Wireless local area network use a high-frequency radio technology
similar to digital cellular and a low-frequency radio technology. Wireless LANs use
spread spectrum technology to enable communication between multiple devices in a
limited area. An example of open-standards wireless radio-wave technology is IEEE

• Infrared communication , which can transmit signals between devices within small
distances not more than 10 meters peer to peer or ( face to face ) without any body in the
line of transmitting.
2. Networking Devices

Computer networking devices are units that mediate data in a computer network. Computer
networking devices are also called network equipment, Intermediate Systems (IS) or
InterWorking Unit (IWU). Units which are the last receiver or generate data are called hosts or
data terminal equipment.

2.1 Hubs
Hub is a central device installed in a network. If it stops working the network will stop running.
The working of networking hub is very simple. It has many points. The data is sent to every
point and it is forwarded to the point where the hub finds the address of the destined computer.
The switch is an advanced and more redefined form of networking Hubs.

2.2 Switch
The working of a networking Hub is not much different from a Switch. The advancement in
Switches is that they have switching table in them which makes a network more secure and
faster. The difference is between the technology and technique through which data is sent. A
Switch has the ability to store the MAC address of computers so the data will only be sent to the
required point instead of sending it to every point. Talking about network devices Router is one
of the very basic networking components. A router has software called routing table and the
source and destination addresses are stored in the routing table.

2.3 Router
A Router is responsible for connecting two physical and logically different networks. Routers are
connected in a series in a WAN or a LAN and they are called Hop in the series. The working of
Router is very simple a Router in a LAN or a WAN finds the IP address of the next hop (next
router) and the data is sent toward and so on. D-Link, TP-Link, Link-Sys, Cisco and Aztech are
some well known Router manufacturing companies. Routers are of two Basic types DSL routers
and Wi-Fi routers. Nearly every ISP, banks, organizations, universities, End-users use Routers to
connect to internet or interconnect in to their virtual private networks over the internet.
2.4 Gateway
A gateway is a device or software in the network. A Gateway is responsible for connecting
physically two different networks. A gateway can connect a Local Area Network to a Wide Area
Network or a Virtual Private Network over the internet or it can be also used to connect to the
internet itself. As described earlier that a Gateway is all the times directly connected to the
internet well then it is directly exposed to the security threats which comes from the internet so a
Gateway should be properly configured and secured and the in and out traffic should be
monitored. If you are using a DSL connection that you will need a DSL modem which comes
with the built-in function. The telephone line is connected with the DSL modem and UTP/STP
cable attaches your computer with the DSL modem. Modems are the devices that are used to
modulate and demodulate the data. They convert analogue signals to digital and digital signals to
analogue so that signals can travel on the telephone lines.

2.5 Modems
A modem is a communication device that is used to provide the connectivity with the internet.
Modem works in two ways i.e. modulation and demodulation. It coverts the digital data into the
analog and analog to digital.

2.6 LAN Cards

LAN cards or network adapters are the building blocks of a computer network. No computer can
communicate without a properly installed and configured LAN card. Every LAN card is
provided with a unique IP address, subnet mask, gateway and DNS (if applicable). An UTP/STP
cable connects a computer with the hub or switch. Both ends of the cable have the RJ-45
connectors one is inserted into the LAN card and one in the hub/switch. LAN cards are inserted
into the expansion slots inside the computer. Different LAN cards support different speed from
10/100 to 10/1000.
2.7 Repeater
A repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it at a higher level and/or
higher power, or onto the other side of an obstruction, so that the signal can cover longer
distances.

2.8 Bridge

A network bridge connects multiple network segments at the data link layer (Layer 2) of the OSI
model. In Ethernet networks, the term bridge formally means a device that behaves according to
the IEEE 802.1D standard. A bridge and switch are very much alike; a switch being a bridge
with numerous ports. Switch or Layer 2 switch is often used interchangeably with bridge.

Bridges are similar to repeaters or network hubs, devices that connect network segments at the
physical layer (Layer 1) of the OSI model; however, with bridging, traffic from one network is
managed rather than simply rebroadcast to adjacent network segments. Bridges are more
complex than hubs or repeaters. Bridges can analyze incoming data packets to determine if the
bridge is able to send the given packet to another segment of the network.

2.9 Firewall

A firewall is a part of a computer system or network that is designed to block unauthorized

access while permitting authorized communications. It is a device or set of devices that is
configured to permit or deny computer applications based upon a set of rules and other criteria.

Firewalls can be implemented in either hardware or software, or a combination of both. Firewalls

are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks
connected to the Internet, especially intranets. All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass
through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the
specified security criteria.
3. Routing
Routing (or routeing) is the process of selecting paths in a network along which to send network
traffic. Routing is performed for many kinds of networks, including the telephone network
(Circuit switching) , electronic data networks (such as the Internet), and transportation networks.
This article is concerned primarily with routing in electronic data networks using packet
switching technology.

Routing schemes differ in their delivery semantics:

• unicast delivers a message to a single specified node;

• broadcast delivers a message to all nodes in the network;
• multicast delivers a message to a group of nodes that have expressed interest in receiving
the message;
• anycast delivers a message to any one out of a group of nodes, typically the one nearest to
the source.

There are two basic types of Routing Algorithms.

3.1 Distance Vector Algorithms

Distance vector algorithms use the Bellman-Ford algorithm. This approach assigns a number, the
cost, to each of the links between each node in the network. Nodes will send information from
point A to point B via the path that results in the lowest total cost (i.e. the sum of the costs of the
links between the nodes used).The algorithm operates in a very simple manner. When a node
first starts, it only knows of its immediate neighbours, and the direct cost involved in reaching
them. (This information, the list of destinations, the total cost to each, and the next hop to send
data to get there, makes up the routing table, or distance table.) Each node, on a regular basis,
sends to each neighbour its own current idea of the total cost to get to all the destinations it
knows of. The neighbouring node(s) examine this information, and compare it to what they
already 'know'; anything which represents an improvement on what they already have, they
insert in their own routing table(s). Over time, all the nodes in the network will discover the best
next hop for all destinations, and the best total cost.

3.2 Link State Algorithms

When applying link-state algorithms, each node uses as its fundamental data a map of the
network in the form of a graph. To produce this, each node floods the entire network with
information about what other nodes it can connect to, and each node then independently
assembles this information into a map. Using this map, each router then independently
determines the least-cost path from itself to every other node using a standard shortest paths
algorithm such as Dijkstra's algorithm. The result is a tree rooted at the current node such that the
path through the tree from the root to any other node is the least-cost path to that node. This tree
then serves to construct the routing table, which specifies the best next hop to get from the
current node to any other node.
4. Routing Protocols

4.1 Routing Information Protocol (RIP)

RIP is a distance-vector routing protocol, which employs the hop count as a routing metric. The
hold down time is 180 seconds. RIP prevents routing loops by implementing a limit on the
number of hops allowed in a path from the source to a destination. The maximum number of
hops allowed for RIP is 15. This hop limit, however, also limits the size of networks that RIP can
support. A hop count of 16 is considered an infinite distance and used to deprecate inaccessible,
inoperable, or otherwise undesirable routes in the selection process.

RIP implements the split horizon, route poisoning and holddown mechanisms to prevent
incorrect routing information from being propagated. These are some of the stability features of
RIP. It is also possible to use the so called RIP-MTI (Minimal Topology Information) algorithm
to cope with the count to infinity problem. With its help, it is possible to detect every possible
loop with a very small computation effort.

4.2 Interior Gateway Routing Protocol

Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP) is a distance vector interior routing protocol (IGP)
invented by Cisco. It is used by routers to exchange routing data within an autonomous system.

IGRP is a proprietary protocol. IGRP was created in part to overcome the limitations of RIP
(maximum hop count of only 15, and a single routing metric) when used within large networks.
IGRP supports multiple metrics for each route, including bandwidth, delay, load, MTU, and
reliability; to compare two routes these metrics are combined together into a single metric, using
a formula which can be adjusted through the use of pre-set constants. The maximum hop count
of IGRP-routed packets is 255 (default 100), and routing updates are broadcast every 90 seconds
(by default).[1]

IGRP is considered a classful routing protocol. Because the protocol has no field for a subnet
mask, the router assumes that all interface addresses within the same Class A, Class B, or Class
C network have the same subnet mask as the subnet mask configured for the interfaces in
question. This contrasts with classless routing protocols that can use variable length subnet
masks. Classful protocols have become less popular as they are wasteful of IP address space.

4.3 Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol

Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol - (EIGRP) is a Cisco proprietary routing protocol
loosely based on their original IGRP. EIGRP is an advanced distance-vector routing protocol,
with optimizations to minimize both the routing instability incurred after topology changes, as
well as the use of bandwidth and processing power in the router. Routers that support EIGRP
will automatically redistribute route information to IGRP neighbors by converting the 32 bit
EIGRP metric to the 24 bit IGRP metric. Most of the routing optimizations are based on the
Diffusing Update Algorithm (DUAL) work from SRI, which guarantees loop-free operation and
provides a mechanism for fast convergence.

The data EIGRP collects is stored in three tables:

• Neighbor Table: Stores data about the neighboring routers, i.e. those directly accessible
through directly connected interfaces.

• Topology Table: Confusingly named, this table does not store an overview of the
complete network topology; rather, it effectively contains only the aggregation of the
routing tables gathered from all directly connected neighbors. This table contains a list of
destination networks in the EIGRP-routed network together with their respective metrics.
Also for every destination, a successor and a feasible successor are identified and stored
in the table if they exist. Every destination in the topology table can be marked either as
"Passive", which is the state when the routing has stabilized and the router knows the
route to the destination, or "Active" when the topology has changed and the router is in
the process of (actively) updating its route to that destination.

• Routing table: Stores the actual routes to all destinations; the routing table is populated
from the topology table with every destination network that has its successor and
optionally feasible successor identified (if unequal-cost load-balancing is enabled using
the variance command). The successors and feasible successors serve as the next hop
routers for these destinations.

4.4 Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)

OSPF is an interior gateway protocol that routes Internet Protocol (IP) packets solely within a
single routing domain (autonomous system). It gathers link state information from available
routers and constructs a topology map of the network. The topology determines the routing table
presented to the Internet Layer which makes routing decisions based solely on the destination IP
address found in IP packets. OSPF was designed to support variable-length subnet masking
(VLSM) or Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) addressing models.

OSPF detects changes in the topology, such as link failures, very quickly and converges on a
new loop-free routing structure within seconds. It computes the shortest path tree for each route
using a method based on Dijkstra's algorithm, a shortest path first algorithm.

The OSPF routing policies to construct a route table are governed by link cost factors (external
metrics) associated with each routing interface. Cost factors may be the distance of a router
(round-trip time), network throughput of a link, or link availability and reliability, expressed as
simple unitless numbers. This provides a dynamic process of traffic load balancing between
routes of equal cost.
5. Synopsis

5.1 Packet Tracer

Packet Tracer is a Cisco router emulator that can be utilized in training and education, but also in
research for simple computer network simulations. The tool is created by Cisco Systems and
provided for free distribution to faculty, students, and alumni who are or have participated in the
Cisco Academy program. The purpose of Packet Tracer is to offer students and teachers a tool to
learn the principles of networking as well as develop Cisco Technology specific skills.
Features :
The current version of Packet Tracer supports an array of simulated Application layer protocols,
as well as basic routing with RIP, OSPF, and EIGRP, to the extent required by the current CCNA
curriculum. While Packet Tracer aims to provide a realistic simulation of functional networks,
the application itself utilizes only a small number of features found within the actual hardware
running a current Cisco IOS. Thus, Packet Tracer is unsuitable for modeling production
networks. With the introduction of version 5.3, several new features were added, including BGP.
BGP is not part of the CCNA curriculum. It is part of the CCNP curriculum.

5.2 Scenario Description

The scenario used for the project depicts the feasibility of the project. In the scenario, we will try
to implement the protocol such that the best path is chosen for the data transfer. The protocol
used is Routing Information Protocol (RIP).
No. of Routers used: 6
No. of Hubs used: 2
No. of Terminals used: 4
Cables Used: Copper Straight-Through and Serial DCE
5.3 Implementation of RIP over Scenario
• To assign IP Address to a Router
Router>enable
Router#configure terminal
Router(config)#interface fastethernet */*
Router(config-if)# ip address <ip add> <subnet mask>
Router(config-if)#no shutdown
Router(config-if)#exit
Router(config)#interface serial */*/*
Router(config-if)# ip address <ip add> <subnet mask>
Router(config-if)#no shutdown
Router(config-if)#exit
 Similarly assign IP Addresses to other Ports.

• To Run RIP over Router(s)

Router>enable
Router#configure terminal
Router(config)#router rip
Router(config-router)#network *NID*
Router(config-router)#exit
5.4 Working at initial Stage

When no bandwidth is assigned to the link between Router 0 and Router 1 , also Router 0
and Router 2, then the path taken by RIP for the Data transfer is chosen arbitrarily at
runtime because both the paths are similar.

To depict the hypothesis in the scenario, we are sending the data packet from PC0 (IP :
192.168.10.10) to PC3(IP: 192.168.60.11)
5.5 Final Working after Bandwidth Modification
Now we change the bandwidth of the links.
• To assign bandwidth for the Serial Link for Router 0 to Router 1
Router(config)#interface serial 0/0/0
Router(config-if)#bandwidth 102400
Router(config-if)#exit

• To assign bandwidth for the Serial Link for Router 0 to Router 2

Router(config)#interface serial 0/1/0
Router(config-if)#bandwidth 10
Router(config-if)#exit

After bandwidth modification

It is seen that the link with higher bandwidth (Router 0 to Router 1) is chosen for the data
transfer rather than the one having lesser bandwidth ( Router 0 to Router 2).
5.6 Conclusion

After having done implementation in packet tracer, we arrive to a conclusion that that Routing
Protocol RIP which we have used, determines the best path for the Data Packet being transferred
from one terminal to the other. The protocol chose the best path considering the bandwidth of the
available links for the data transfer. We have seen that the packets were forwarded from the path
were bandwidth was greater, this is done so as to eradicate any discrepancy caused due to
bandwidth limitation which could otherwise be a good possibility while transmitting packets
through the link having limited or less bandwidth. Hence we can say that the path taken during
routing is taken considering other aspects like bandwidth, traffic etc.
6. References

1. Routing protocol and Concepts by Rick Graziani and Allan Johnson.

2. Network Fundamentals by Mark A. dye, Rick McDonald and Antoon W. Rufi.

3. www.wikipedia.org.

4. www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/internetworking/technology/handbook/Routing-Basics.html.