Chapter 4

Distributed Bellman-Ford Routing

Professor Rick Han
University of Colorado at Boulder
rhan@cs.colorado.edu
Prof. Rick Han, University of
Colorado at Boulder
Announcements
Reminder: Programming assignment #1 is due
Feb. 19
Homework #2 available on Web site, due
Feb. 26
Hand back HW #1 next week
OH cancelled yesterday, send me email to
meet
Next, more on IP routing,
Prof. Rick Han, University of
Colorado at Boulder
Recap of Previous Lecture
ARP
IP Forwarding Tables
Destination and Output Port
IP Routing
Distributed algorithm to create Forwarding Tables
Calculate shortest path to each node
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Distance Vector (RIP)
Presentation should
have been better by
me, textbook, etc.

Prof. Rick Han, University of
Colorado at Boulder
Bellman-Ford Equation
Distance vector & RIP based on distributed
implementation of Bellman-Ford algorithm
Bellman-Ford equation:
Label routers i=A, B, C,
Let D(i,j) = distance for best route from i to remote j
Let d(i,j) = distance from router i to neighbor j
Set to infinity if i=j or i and j not immediate
neighbors
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Prof. Rick Han, University of
Colorado at Boulder
Bellman-Ford Equation (2)
Bellman-Ford equation:
D(i,j) = min {d(i,k) + D(k,j)} for all i<>j
k
neighbors
Ex. D(B,F) = min {d(B,k) + D(k,F)}
k=A,C,E
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Prof. Rick Han, University of
Colorado at Boulder
Bellman-Ford Algorithm
Bellman-Ford equation:
D(i,j) = min {d(i,k) + D(k,j)} for all i<>j
k neighbors
Bellman-Ford Algorithm solves B-F Equation:
To calculate D(i,j), node i only needs d(i,k)s and
D(k,j)s from neighbors
Problem: dont know D(k,j)s
Solution:
For each node i, first find shortest distance path from i
to j using one link, D(i,j)[1]
Shortest distance path using two or fewer links,
D(i,j)[2], must depend on the shortest distance path
using one link, namely D(i,j)[2] = min {d(i,j) + D(i,j)[1]}
Prof. Rick Han, University of
Colorado at Boulder
Bellman-Ford Algorithm (2)
Key observation:
By induction, the best (h+1 or fewer)-hop path
between nodes i and j must be arise from an i-to-
neighbor link connected with a (h or fewer)-hop path
from neighbor to j :
D(i,j)[h+1] = min {d(i,k) + D(k,j)[h]}
Bellman-Ford Algorithm:
D(i,j)[h+1] = min {d(i,k) + D(k,j)[h]} for all i<>j, h=0,1,
k neighbors
Iterate h=0,1,2, until reach diameter DM of graph
D(i,j)[DM] is the originally desired B-F solution D(i,j) !
At each h, calculate D(i,j)[h+1] for all i<>j
At h=0, D(i,j)[0] = {0 for i=j, infinity otherwise}
D(i,i)[h] = link cost on which dist. vector is sent - 1
Prof. Rick Han, University of
Colorado at Boulder
Bellman-Ford Algorithm Example
Suppose C wants to find shortest path to
each destination
First, calculate shortest one-link paths
from each node: easy, D(i,j)[1]=d(i,j)
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D(C,B)[1], D(C,D)[1], and
D(B,A)[1], D(B,E)[1],
D(B,C)[1], and
D(D,E)[1], D(D,C)[1], and
D(A,B)[1], D(A,E)[1],
D(A,F)[1], and
D(E,A)[1], D(E,B)[1],
D(E,D)[1], D(E,F)[1], and
D(F,A)[1], D(F,E)[1]
Prof. Rick Han, University of
Colorado at Boulder
Bellman-Ford Algorithm Example (2)
Second, calculate shortest 2-or-fewer hop
paths from each node:
Example: for node C to F
D(C,F)[2] = min (d(C,k) + D(k,F)[1]) for all j
k neighbors
= min {d(C,B) + D(B,F)[1], d(C,D) + D(D,F)[1]}
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No one-link path from B
to F, so D(B,F)[1] is
infinity, same for
D(D,F)[1]
Calculate D(i,j)[2] for
all other combinations
of i<>j
Prof. Rick Han, University of
Colorado at Boulder
Bellman-Ford Algorithm Example (3)
Third, calculate shortest 3-or-fewer hop paths
from each node:
Example: for node C to F
D(C,F)[3] = min {d(C,B) + D(B,F)[2], d(C,D) + D(D,F)[2]}
No more unknowns:
D(B,F)[2] is known by now and was calculated in the last
iteration, = min{d(B,k) + D(k,F)[1]}
D(D,F)[2] is also known
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Since diameter = 3,
were done and have
found all shortest
distance paths D(i,j)
Prof. Rick Han, University of
Colorado at Boulder
Distributed Bellman-Ford
Algorithm
Bellman-Ford Algorithm:
D(i,j)[h+1] = min {d(i,k) + D(k,j)[h]} for all i<>j, h=0,1,
k neighbors
One way to implement in a real network:
Flood d(i,j) first to every router in the network
Calculate B-F Algorithm in each router
Drawbacks:
Generates lots of overhead
Requires much computation on each router
Duplication of many of calculations on each router
Consider an alternative to distribute
calculations
Prof. Rick Han, University of
Colorado at Boulder
Distributed Bellman-Ford
Algorithm (2)
Bellman-Ford Algorithm:
D(i,j)[h+1] = min {d(i,k) + D(k,j)[h]} for all i<>j, h=0,1,
k neighbors
Key observations:
1. We had to calculate D(i,j)[h] for each node i in the
graph, at each step h in the iteration
2. At every iteration h, we only needed information
about the h-1 or fewer hop paths to calculate
D(i,j)[h]
Prof. Rick Han, University of
Colorado at Boulder
Distributed Bellman-Ford
Algorithm (3)
Therefore, in a real network,
Physically distribute the calculation of D(i,j)[h] to
router i only, and
No duplication
Less calculation
Exchange the results of your D(i,j)[h] with
neighboring routers at each iteration h
Less overhead
Satisfies condition that D(i,j)[h] only needs info
on h-1 or less hop paths.
At iteration h, d(i,j) within radius h-1 will be
propagated to all routers within radius h-1
Prof. Rick Han, University of
Colorado at Boulder
Distributed Bellman-Ford
Algorithm (4)
In practice, convergence will eventually occur
even if different routers are slow to propagate
or calculate their D(i,j)[h] and/or d(i,j)
Bertsekas and Gallagher proved this, in the absence
of topology changes
Distributed routing algorithm where each router
only performs a small but sufficient part of the
overall B-F algorithm
Node i calculates and sends D(i,j)[h] to its
neighbors this is a distance vector
Distributed Bellman-Ford Algorithm = Distance
Vector Algorithm

Prof. Rick Han, University of
Colorado at Boulder
Distance Table
Bellman-Ford Algorithm:
D(i,j)[h+1] = min {d(i,k) + D(k,j)[h]} for all i<>j, h=0,1,
k neighbors
Each router i must maintain a distance table:
Must store d(i,k), D(k,j)[h] for each neighbor k and
destination j

Costs D(k,j)[h] Neighbors k
Destinations j k1 k2 k3
j1 D(k1,j1)[h]
j2
Prof. Rick Han, University of
Colorado at Boulder
Distance Table (2)
In reality, each cell in distance table stores
d(i,k) + D(k,j)[h], not just D(k,j)[h]
Must store d(i,k) or receive it within a neighbors
distance vector advertisement
If d(i,k) is a hop, then d(i,j)=1 always, so no need to
store

Costs D(k,j)[h] Neighbors k
Destinations j k1 k2 k3
j1 d(i,k1) + D(k1,j1)[h]
j2
Prof. Rick Han, University of
Colorado at Boulder
Routing Table
Easy to derive a Routing Table from a distance
table: choose the minimum distance in the row

Costs D(k,j)[h] Neighbors k
Destinations j k1 k2 k3
j1 d(i,k1) + D(k1,j1)[h]
j2
Destinations j Outgoing link/port Cost
j1 k2
j2 k3
Routing Table At Router i
Prof. Rick Han, University of
Colorado at Boulder
Routing Information Protocol (RIP)
RIP is a specific realization of the distance
vector or distributed Bellman-Ford routing
algorithm
Distance vectors are carried over UDP over IP
RIP uses hop count as its shortest path metric,
so d(i,j)=1
Distance vectors are sent every 30 seconds
When a routing table changes, a router can send
triggered updates to neighbors before 30 sec
Can lead to network storms, so limit rate: wait 5
seconds between sending new routing update and the
update that caused routing table to change
Prof. Rick Han, University of
Colorado at Boulder
Alternative Shortest Path Calc.
Compute a shortest path tree
Observation:
shortest path to nodes further from the root must
go through a branch of the shortest path tree closer
to the root
Strategy: expand outwards, calculating the
shortest path tree from the root
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