Routers and Router Markets Mika Hatanp 1998

1
Routers and Router MarketsMika Hatanpää1998

• Overview of routing and routers
• Router classification
• Router vendors
• Router markets
• Router products
• Some parts of this material is are for Nokia
  internal use only!!!

2
Levels of analysis in this presentation

• Products
• Some examples and test results

• Markets
• Vendors and market situation

• Specifications, RFCs, draft specs
• Routers according to RFC's

Protocols
Principles, Requirements
3
Layers of the TCP/IP stack- Hosts and routers -
The coloured areas of the router box are the
most interesting ones in this presentation
4
Routing and routers (1/5)

• Routing is a process that routes traffic from
  source to destination according to addresses,
  quality requirements, and constraints set by the
  network
• Routers are devices that perform the network
  layer (layer 3) forwarding function of the
  Internet protocol suite.
• The Internet community usually refers to such
  devices as IP routers or simply routers.
• An IP router can be distinguished from other
  sorts of packet switching devices in that a
  router examines the IP protocol header as part of
  the switching process.
• It generally removes the Link Layer header a
  message was received with, modifies the IP
  header, and replaces the Link Layer header for
  retransmission.
• There exists also devices that do packet
  switching on the link layer (layer 2) but these
  devices are usually called bridges or switches.
• However, the differences between routers and
  switches are becoming more and more fuzzy

5
Routing and routers (2/5)

• Historically, routers have been realized with
  packet-switching software executing on a
  general-purpose CPU.
• As custom hardware development becomes cheaper
  (ASICs) and as higher throughput is required,
  special purpose hardware is becoming increasingly
  common!
• A router connects to two or more logical
  interfaces, represented by IP subnets or
  unnumbered point to point lines.
• it has at least one physical interface (usually
  at least 2)
• Forwarding requires the router to choose the
  address and relevant interface of the next-hop
  router or (for the final hop) the destination
  host.
• Forwarding depends upon a route database (routing
  table) within the router.
• The routing database should be maintained
  dynamically to reflect the current topology of
  the Internet system
• A router accomplishes this by participating in
  distributed routing and reachability algorithms
  with other routers (routing protocols)
• Routers provide datagram transport only, and they
  seek to minimize the state information necessary
  in the interest of routing flexibility and
  robustness.

6
Routing and routers (3/5)

• A characteristic router performs the following
  functions
• 1. Conforms to specific Internet protocols
  including the Internet Protocol (IP), Internet
  Control Message Protocol (ICMP), and others as
  necessary (routing protocols)
• 2. Interfaces to two or more packet networks. For
  each connected network the router must implement
  the functions required by that network. These
  functions typically include
• encapsulating and decapsulating the IP datagrams
  with the connected network framing (e.g., an
  Ethernet header and checksum)
• sending and receiving IP datagrams up to the
  maximum size supported by that network, this size
  is the network's Maximum Transmission Unit or MTU
• translating the IP destination address into an
  appropriate network-level address for the
  connected network (e.g., an Ethernet hardware
  address), if needed
• responding to network flow control and error
  indications, if any.

7
Routing and routers (4/5)

• 3. Receives and forwards Internet datagrams.
  Important issues in this process are buffer
  management, congestion control, and fairness
• Recognizes error conditions and generates ICMP
  error and information messages as required.
• Drops datagrams whose time-to-live fields have
  reached zero.
• Fragments datagrams when necessary to fit into
  the MTU of the next network.
• 4. Chooses a next-hop destination for each IP
  datagram, based on the information in it's
  routing database.
• 5. Supports an interior gateway protocol (IGP) to
  carry out distributed routing and reachability
  algorithms with the other routers in the same
  autonomous system.
• In addition, some routers will need to support an
  exterior gateway protocol (EGP) to exchange
  topological information with other autonomous
  systems.
• 6. Provides network management and system support
  facilities, including loading, debugging, status
  reporting, exception reporting and control.

8
Routing and routers (5/5)

• General requirements for routers
• Advanced Routing and Forwarding Algorithms
• highly dynamic, minimal overhead,
• High Availability
• always working, instant recovery, robusticity,
• Advanced OM Features
• normal operation should not require OM, remote
  operation
• monitoring, diagnostics, statistics,
• High Performance
• the lines are currently full...

9
Router requirements (1/10) - Link layer
requirements -

• Routers have essentially the same Link Layer
  protocol requirements asother sorts of Internet
  systems
• The information that must pass from the Link
  Layer to the Internetwork Layer for each received
  packet is
• The IP packet
• The length of the data portion (i.e., not
  including the Link-Layer framing) of the Link
  Layer frame
• The identity of the physical interface from which
  the IP packet was received
• The classification of the packet's destination
  physical address as a Link Layer unicast,
  broadcast, or multicast
• Also the source physical address should be
  provided

10
Router requirements (2/10)- Link layer
requirements -

• The information that must pass from the
  Internetwork Layer to the Link Layer for each
  transmitted packet is
• The IP packet
• The length of the IP packet
• The destination physical interface
• The next hop IP address
• Also the Link Layer priority value should be
  provided
• The Link Layer must notify the Internetwork Layer
  if the packet to be transmitted causes a Link
  Layer precedence-related error
• Routers that have point to point general purpose
  serial interfaces must implement PPP

11
Router requirements (3/10)- Internet layer
protocols -

• Routers must implement IP and ICMP protocols
• There are many optional features however
• IGMP should be implemented as well
• A router must support fragmentation and
  reassembly
• A router must implement mandatory IP extensions
• subnets
• IP broadcast
• Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR)

12
Router requirements (4/10)- Forwarding algorithm
-

• 1. The router receives the IP packet from the
  Link Layer.
• 2. The router validates the IP header.
• Note that IP reassembly is not done, except on IP
  fragments to be queued for local delivery in step
  (4)
• 3. The router performs most of the processing of
  any IP options.
• some IP options require additional processing
  after the routing decision has been made.
• 4. The router examines the destination IP address
  to determine how it should continue to process
  the IP datagram. There are three possibilities
• The IP datagram is destined for the router, and
  should be queued for local delivery, doing
  reassembly if needed
• The IP datagram is not destined for the router,
  and should be queued for forwarding
• The IP datagram should be queued for forwarding,
  but (a copy) must also be queued for local
  delivery
• The next steps are diferent for unicast and
  multicast!

13
Router requirements (5/10)- Forwarding algorithm
for unicast -

• 5. The forwarder determines the next hop IP
  address for the packet, usually by looking up the
  packet's destination in the router's routing
  table.
• This procedure also decides which network
  interface should be used to send the packet.
• 6. The forwarder verifies that forwarding the
  packet is permitted.
• The source and destination addresses should be
  valid
• If the router supports administrative constraints
  (like firewalls) on forwarding, those constraints
  must be satisfied.
• 7. The forwarder decrements (by at least one) and
  checks the packet's TTL
• 8. The forwarder performs any IP option
  processing that could not be completed in step 3.
• 9. The forwarder performs any necessary IP
  fragmentation
• Since this step occurs after outbound interface
  selection (step 5), all fragments of the same
  datagram will be transmitted out the same
  interface.

14
Router requirements (6/10)- Forwarding algorithm
for unicast -

• 10. The forwarder determines the Link Layer
  address of the packet's next hop.
• The mechanisms for doing this are Link
  Layer-dependent
• 11. The forwarder encapsulates the IP datagram
  for the link layer
• an appropriate Link Layer frame is used
• The link layer frames are queued for output on
  the interface selected in step 5.
• 12. The forwarder sends an ICMP redirect if
  necessary
• The ICMp redirect tells a local host to use
  different next hop router
• The forwarding algorithm is slightly different
  for multicast and there exists an extensive
  amount of other rules for the forwarding
  process...

15
Router requirements (7/10)- Transport layer -

• A router is not required to implement the
  transport layer protocols
• But the application protocols (like routing
  protocols) usually require both TCP and UDP to be
  present

16
Router requirements (8/10)- Application layer,
Routing protocols -

• The most important application layer protocols
  are the routing protocols for Interior and
  Exterior routing
• Requirements for interior routing protocols (IGP)
  are
• Respond quickly to changes in the internal
  topology of an AS
• Provide a mechanism such that circuit flapping
  does not cause continuous routing updates
• Provide quick convergence to loop-free routing
• Utilize minimal bandwidth
• Provide equal cost routes to enable
  load-splitting
• Provide a means for authentication of routing
  updates
• A router that implements any routing protocol
  other than static routing must implement OSPF
  !!!
• A router that implements any exterior routing
  protocol must implement BGP !!!

17
Router requirements (9/10)- Application layer,
Management protocols -

• Routers must be manageable by SNMP
• Standard MIBs for routing protocols must be used
• Vendor specific MIBs can be used
• No other MUST requirements
• BOOTP could be used for bootloading and
  configuting...

18
Router requirements (10/10)- OM -

• Router OM includes the following kinds of
  activities
• Diagnosing hardware problems in the router's
  processor, in its network interfaces, or in its
  connected networks, modems, or communication
  lines.
• Installing new hardware
• Installing new software
• Restarting or rebooting the router after a crash
• Configuring or reconfiguring the router (a router
  must provide out-of-band access in addition to
  the in-band access)
• Detecting and diagnosing Internet problems such
  as congestion, routing loops, bad IP addresses,
  black holes, packet avalanches, and misbehaved
  hosts.
• Changing network topology, either temporarily
  (e.g., to bypass a communication line problem) or
  permanently.
• Monitoring the status and performance of the
  routers and the connected networks.
• Collecting traffic statistics for use in
  (Inter-)network planning.
• Coordinating the above activities with
  appropriate vendors and telecommunications
  specialists.

19
Router classification (1/2)

• Personal routers (PR)
• routers targeted for individual users or very
  small offices
• typically from 1 to 10 IP addresses
• WAN interfaces asynchronous, serial, and
  integrated services digital network (ISDN)
• list prices are from U.S.500 to U.S.1,500
• Branch office routers (BOR)
• routers used to link remote LANs to a corporate
  network (not access servers)
• serial, leased-line interfaces or frame relay
  interfaces and may have dial backup
• they are multiprotocol
• Midrange routers (MRR)
• routers typically configured with up to 24 LAN
  and 24 WAN ports
• incorporate multiple media, such as Ethernet and
  token ring, Fast Ethernet, FDDI, and ATM.
• Examples Cisco Systems Inc.'s 4000 series, 3Com
  Corporation's NETBuilder II, and Bay Networks
  Inc.'s LN family.

20
Router classification (2/2)

• High-end routers (HER)
• routers typically configured with a minimum of 24
  LAN and 24 WAN ports
• incorporate multiple media, such as Ethernet,
  Fast Ethernet, token ring, FDDI, and ATM
• fault tolerance suported dual power supplies,
  hot swappable cards, redundant buses,
• Examples Cisco's 7500 and Bay's BN family
• Multigigabit routers (MGBR)
• routers capable of providing multigigabit
  bandwidth in support of high-speed WAN
  interfaces.
• typically designed for the Internet Core and
  support only the IP protocol suite
• media types include ATM (OC-3, OC,-12, and
  OC-48), IP over SONET, high-speed serial
  interface (HSSI), and in the future wave-division
  multiplexing (WDM)
• fault tolerance supported dual power supplies,
  hot swappable cards, and redundant buses.
• Examples Cisco's 12000 (GSR) and Ascend's GRF
  family

21
Typical IP network architecture
PSTN/ISDN, (PR)
ADSL
GSM
ACCESS ROUTER
(BOR,MRR)
ACCESS SERVER
EDGE ROUTER
Internet (HER, MGBR)
(MRR, HER, MGBR)
22
Router vendors - Cisco (1/2)

• Cisco Systems is the worldwide leader in
  networking for the Internet
• Cisco has three lines of business
• Enterprises - Large organization with complex
  networking needs. Enterprise customers include
  corporations, government agencies, utilities and
  educational institutions.
• Service Providers (ISPs) - Companies that provide
  information services, including telecommunication
  carriers, Internet Service Providers, cable
  companies, and wireless communication providers.
• Small/Medium Business Companies with a need for
  data networks of their own, as well as connection
  to the Internet and/or to business partners.
• Cisco sells its products in approximately 115
  countries
• Cisco has grown very fast by doing acquisitions
• Cisco has formed alliances with Telcos
• Cisco sells
• Routers (like 7000 and 12000 series)
• LAN Switches (Catalyst products)
• ATM Switches, WAN Switches, Firewalls,

23
Router vendors - Cisco (2/2)

• Financial facts

• Cisco employs approximately 15,600 worldwide
• about 8,000 in the San Francisco Bay Area
• Cisco's market shares in some key areas (1Q98)
• Routers 63
• LAN Switches 45
• ATM WAN Switches 31
• ATM LAN Switches 21
• Remote access 26

24
Router vendors - Bay Networks

• Bay Networks is one of the big datacom companies
• Bay Networks has more than 7,000 employees
  operating in 90 countries
• Key figures

• Bay networks is currently a Nortel Networks
  Business!
• Like Cisco Bay has also done many strategic
  acquisitions
• Bay networks sells
• Remote access concentrators and servers
• Backbone routers (Accelar gigabit router)
• Cable modems, Access Nodes (BayStack)
• ATM Switches (Centillion)
• LAN Switches, HUBs
• Bay has about lt 20 market share in LAN Switches
  and ATM LAN Switches
• New products like cable modems and Accelar
  Switches seem quite promising...

25
Router Vendors - Ascend

• Ascend has grown very fast by making strategic
  acquisitions
• Financial facts

• Ascend Communications, Inc. was founded in 1989
• Ascend products are
• Edge layer products like xDSL modems
• Access layer products like access concentrators
  (Ascend has quite big market share here)
• Core layer products like the new GRF gigabit
  router and ATM WAN Switches
• Ascend has not got LAN products
• Ascend has about 1700 employees

26
Router vendors - 3Com

• 3Com is one of the biggest datacom companies but
  routers do not play a key role in it's product
  portfolio
• Financial facts

• 3Com's product mix includes for example
• Network interface cards
• High-speed modems (analog, ISDN, cable and DSL)
• Hubs, Switches
• Routers
• Internet access devices, Remote access equipment
• 3Com has approximately 13,000 employees worldwide
• 3Com acquired US Robotics last year

27
Router vendors - Nokia

• Nokia is not a big router vendor
• The only true Nokia Routers are the ones
  developed by IPRG
• IP400 Series
• Nokia's financial figures for comparision (1 USD
  5 FIM in calculations)

28
Router markets (1/4)
For internal use only !
The contents of this slide are for Nokia
employees only. If you are such a person ask for
another copy of this slide set from
mika.hatanpaa_at_ntc.nokia.com
29
Router markets (2/4)
For internal use only !
The contents of this slide are for Nokia
employees only. If you are such a person ask for
another copy of this slide set from
mika.hatanpaa_at_ntc.nokia.com
30
Router markets (3/4)
For internal use only !
The contents of this slide are for Nokia
employees only. If you are such a person ask for
another copy of this slide set from
mika.hatanpaa_at_ntc.nokia.com
31
Router markets (4/4)
For internal use only !
The contents of this slide are for Nokia
employees only. If you are such a person ask for
another copy of this slide set from
mika.hatanpaa_at_ntc.nokia.com
32
Router products - Cisco 7513 (1/3)

• Supported network interfaces
• Ethernet 10BaseT, AUI1, and 10BaseFL
• Fast Ethernet (100BaseT and MII)
• Token Ring
• FDDI (half and full duplex)
• HSSI
• Synchronous serial
• ATM
• Multichannel on T1 or E1 lines, ISDN PRI
• Channelized T3
• Packet OC-3
• IBM channel
• Power supplies 2
• Interface processor slots 11

33
Router products - Cisco 7513 (2/3)

• Route Switch Processor module (2 slots)
• Processor type MIPS RISC 100-200 MHz
• 32-MB DRAM default, upgradeable to 128 MB
• 16-MB Flash memory via PCMCIA Flash memory cards,
  upgradeable to 40 MB
• Battery backup
• Real-time calendar clock
• Dimensions (H x W x D) 85.73 x 44.45 x 55.88 cm
• Weight Chassis with blower module, 2 power
  supplies and all slots filled 72.58 kg
• Software options
• IP Routing Protocols RIP, OSPF, BGP-4, IGRP, .
• IP Multicast Protocols DVMRP, IGMP, ...
• IP Router Functionality IP, UDP, TCP, ICMP, ARP,
  CIDR, BOOTP, DHCP, TFTP, PPP, SLIP, Telnet,
  Finger, RARP, TACACS, SNMP,
• Link layer support for all possible interface
  types

34
Router products - Cisco 7513 (2/3)

• Capacity is highly dependent of the media type
  used and the configuration of the router
• Cisco 7513 equiped with 200MHz MIPS RISC CPU, VIP
  Distributed Optimum Switching modules, and Full
  Duplex Fast Ethernet Cards routes over 1M packets
  per second when using 64 byte IP packets.

35
Router products - Nokia IP400 (1/4)

• Nokia Software Specifications of IP400
• IP Routing Protocols RIP, OSPF, IGRP, BGP-4,
  Route redistribution,
• IP Multicast Protocols DVMRP, IGMP
• IP Router Functionality IP, ICMP, ARP, Router
  discovery, CIDR, BOOTP, DHCP, Relay agent, ...
• Redundancy Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol
• Checkpoint Firewall
• Interfaces supported by SW
• Ethernet/Fast Ethernet
• Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)
• Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
• Frame Relay (available early 1998)
• Point-to-Point Protocol
• Cisco HDLC

36
Router products - Nokia IP400 (2/4)

• Network Management
• Command line via Telnet
• Software and Configuration via File Transfer
  Protocol (FTP)
• Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), basic
  MIBs
• Voyager Web tool via HyperText Transfer Protocol
  (HTTP)
• Nokia Hardware Specifications IP440
• PentiumPro processor
• Interfaces
• ATM
• 155 Mbps SONET/SDH STS3c/STM1 RJ45 Connector
• Unshielded Twisted Pair
• 155 Mbps SONET/SDH STS3c/STM1 SC Connector
• Multimode Fiber
• Ethernet/Fast Ethernet
• IEEE 802.3 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX RJ45 Connector
• Unshielded Twisted Pair
• Half- or Full-Duplex

37
Router products - Nokia IP400 (3/4)

• Interfaces
• FDDI
• ISO9314/ANSI X3T9.5 SC Connectors
• Multimode Fiber
• Dual Attachment Station
• Synchronous Serial
• T1/E1 synchronous serial ITU-T V.35, X.21
• Clocking to 2.048 Mbps
• Physical size
• 19-inch Rack Mountable
• Dimensions HxDxW 18 x 46 x 43 cm
• Weight 42 lbs (19 kg)
• without interfaces

38
Ipsilon routing kernel SW architecture (4/4)-
Outdated information -
For internal use only !
The contents of this slide are for Nokia
employees only. If you are such a person ask for
another copy of this slide set from
mika.hatanpaa_at_ntc.nokia.com
39
Routing protocols etc. (1/2)

• Routing Information Protocol (RIP, RFC 1058)
• The simplest IP routing protocol, RIP is ideal
  for straightforward network topologies.
  Workstations also use RIP to send their traffic
  along an optimal, reliable path.
• Open Shortest Path First (OSPF, RFC 1247)
• A more advanced IP routing protocol, OSPF uses a
  link-state algorithm for faster convergence
  around failures. Support for variable-length
  subnet masks (CIDR) makes it particularly useful
  in networks where IP addresses must be conserved.
• Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP)
• Not an IETF standard, but commonly used with
  equipment from Cisco Systems, IGRP's fine-grained
  metrics make it particularly useful in networks
  with mixed-speed links, such as those supporting
  both FDDI and Ethernet in parallel.
• Border Gateway Protocol (BGP, RFC 1654)
• BGP is a highly sophisticated IP routing protocol
  mostly used by ISPs. Support for detailed policy
  controls make it particularly useful between
  administrative domains.
• Static Routing
• Support for static routes allows the network
  designer to use manual intervention to override
  routing protocols.

40
Routing protocols etc. (2/2)

• Redistributed Routing
• Support for redistributed routes allows the
  network designer to propagate routes learned from
  one protocol into other protocols. For example,
  backbone routes learned via OSPF can be
  redistributed to workstations via RIP. As another
  example, routes learned from Cisco equipment via
  IGRP can be redistributed to standards-based
  equipment via OSPF. Filters allow network
  designers to propagate route information
  selectively, enhancing network security.
• Scalable IP Multicast
• The purpose of IP multicast protocols is to
  deliver a stream of IP packets to multiple
  destinations quickly and efficiently.
• Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol
  (DVMRP, RFC 1075)
• This specialized IP routing protocol complements
  the unicast protocols described above to create a
  logical tree along the most efficient path
  between the source and all destinations. DVMRP is
  widely used in the MBONE, a large-scale multicast
  overlay across the Internet.
• Internet Group Membership Protocol (IGMP, RFC
  1112)
• Used with DVMRP, this protocol allows
  applications and hosts to indicate which IP
  multicast packets they wish to receive.

41
The relative advantages of bridging and routing

• Advantages of Bridging
• Provides simpler installation and configuration
• Automatically locates users via 'self-learning'
  capabilities
• Handles all protocols
• Provides more flexibility
• Protects investment as needs change
• Does not require software upgrades for new
  releases of each protocol
• Uses automatic path optimisation
• IEEE 802.1 standard spanning Tree Protocol
• One path control algorithm for all protocols
• Provides automatic re-routing
• Results in lower cost of ownership
• Fewer staff needed
• Fewer software upgrades required

• Advantages of Routing
• Provides simpler administration of network
  security
• Helps comply with TCP/IP address restrictions if
  using the Internet Network
• Uses WAN links more efficiently because they do
  not carry LAN framing overhead
• Isolates broadcast traffic to individual LANs
• May reduce total overhead
• Useful for lower-speed WAN links
• Complements bridging in large networks
• http//www.ktgroup.co.uk/techinfo/abtbridges.html