OSPF

This page allows you to manage OSPF routes. You can also add, update, or delete the areas/networks/interface-specific configuration from this page.

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is an interior gateway protocol that multicasts the routing information to all the hosts within a single network. It sends routing information to all the routers in the network by calculating the shortest path to each router on the basis of the structure built up by each router.

OSPF allows sets of networks to be grouped together into what is known as areas. Area is a logical division of a network. Each area maintains a separate database whose information may be summarized by the connecting router. Hence, the topology of an area is not known to the outside world. There are three types of areas:

Backbone Area

Backbone area also known as area 0, distributes information between non-backbone areas. All other areas in the network are connected to it and the routing between areas takes place using routers which are connected to the backbone area as well as to their respective areas.

Stub Area

A stub area is an area that do not receive route advertisements external to the autonomous system (AS), which is a collection of networks under a common network operator that share same routing policy.

NSSA

A not-so-stubby-area (NSSA) is a type of stub area that can import AS external routes in a limited amount.

Area Border Router

An Area Border Router (ABR) is a router that connects areas to the backbone network and maintains separate routing information for each area that it is connected to. It has interfaces in more than one area with at least one interface in the backbone area.

Global configuration

Router ID
Specify a unique router ID.
Example: 12.34.5.66.
Advanced settings
Default metric
Specify the default metric value to be used for redistributed routes.
Metric is a property that contains a value used by a routing protocol to decide whether a particular route should be taken or not.
Default: 1
Acceptable range: 1 to 16777214
ABR type
Select the type of Area Border Router (ABR).
Available options:
  • Standard
  • CISCO
  • IBM
  • Shortcut
Auto cost reference bandwidth (Mbits/s)
Specify the cost reference to calculate the OSPF interface cost based on bandwidth.
Default: 100 Mbits/s
Acceptable range: 1 to 4294967
Default information originate
Select an option to control the distribution of the default route.
Available options:
  • Never
  • Regular – On selecting Regular provide the metric and select the metric type.
  • Always – On selecting Always provide the metric and select the metric type.
The default setting is Never.
Redistribute connected
Click to enable the redistribution of connected routes into the OSPF routing table.
Specify the metric and the metric type for redistributing connected routes.
Acceptable range: 0 to 16777214
Metric type: External type 1 or External type 2.
Redistribute static
Click to enable the redistribution of static routes into the OSPF routing table.
Specify the metric and the metric type for redistributing static routes.
Acceptable range: 0 to 16777214
Metric type: External type 1 or External type 2.
Redistribute RIP
Click to enable the redistribution of OSPF routes into OSPF routing table.
Specify the metric and the metric type for redistributing RIP routes.
Acceptable range: 0 to 16777214
Metric type: External type 1 or External type 2.
Redistribute BGP
Click to enable the redistribution of BGP routes into the OSPF routing table.
Specify the metric and the metric type for redistributing BGP routes.
Acceptable range: 0 to 16777214
Metric type: External type 1 or External type 2.

Click Apply.

Networks and areas
Networks

This section lists all available OSPF networks together with the corresponding netmasks and the area they belong to.

Areas

This section lists all available OSPF areas, specifies their types and authentication type, the area cost and, if available, virtual links.

Override interface configuration

You can manage the interface configuration from this section.