Your software release may not support all the features documented in this module. For the latest caveats and feature information, see Bug Search Tool and the release notes for your platform and software release. To find information about the features documented in this module, and to see a list of the releases in which each feature is supported, see the feature information table.

Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and Cisco software image support. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to www.cisco.com/go/cfn. An account on Cisco.com is not required.

Note	In the following content, the term Route Processor (RP) is used to describe the route processing engine on all networking devices, regardless of the platform designation, unless otherwise noted.

NSF works with the SSO feature in Cisco software to minimize the amount of time a network is unavailable to its users following a switchover. The main objective of NSF is to continue forwarding IP packets following an RP switchover.

Usually, when a networking device restarts, all routing peers of that device detect that the device went down and then came back up. This transition results in what is called a routing flap, which could spread across multiple routing domains. Routing flaps caused by routing restarts create routing instabilities, which are detrimental to the overall network performance. NSF helps to suppress routing flaps in SSO-enabled devices, thus reducing network instability.

NSF allows for the forwarding of data packets to continue along known routes while the routing protocol information is being restored following a switchover. With NSF, peer networking devices do not experience routing flaps. Data traffic is forwarded through intelligent line cards or dual forwarding processors (FPs) while the standby RP assumes control from the failed active RP during a switchover. The ability of line cards and FPs to remain up through a switchover and to be kept current with the Forwarding Information Base (FIB) on the active RP is key to NSF operation.

The NSF feature provides the following benefits:

• Improved network availability—NSF continues forwarding network traffic and application state information so that user session information is maintained after a switchover.

• Overall network stability—Network stability may be improved with the reduction in the number of route flaps that had been created when devices in the network failed and lost their routing tables.

• Neighboring devices do not detect link flapping—Because the interfaces remain up across a switchover, neighboring devices do not detect a link flap (that is, the link does not go down and come back up).

• Prevention of routing flaps—Because SSO continues forwarding network traffic in the event of a switchover, routing flaps are avoided.

• No loss of user sessions—User sessions established prior to the switchover are maintained.

NSF always runs together with SSO. SSO supported protocols and applications must be high-availability (HA)-aware. A feature or protocol is HA-aware if it maintains, either partially or completely, undisturbed operation during an RP switchover. For some HA-aware protocols and applications, state information is synchronized from the active to the standby processor.

Cisco NSF is supported by the EIGRP protocol for routing and by CEF for forwarding. EIGRP depends on CEF to continue forwarding packets during switchover while the routing protocols rebuild the Routing Information Base (RIB) tables. Once the routing protocols have converged, CEF updates the FIB table and removes stale route entries. CEF, in turn, updates the line cards with the new FIB information.

EIGRP nonstop forwarding (NSF) capabilities are exchanged by EIGRP peers in hello packets. The NSF-capable device notifies its neighbors that an NSF restart operation has started by setting the restart (RS) bit in a hello packet. When an NSF-aware device receives notification from an NSF-capable neighbor that an NSF-restart operation is in progress, the NSF-capable and NSF-aware devices immediately exchange their topology tables. The NSF-aware device sends an end-of-table (EOT) update packet when the transmission of its topology table is complete. The NSF-aware device then performs the following actions to assist the NSF-capable device:

• The EIGRP hello hold timer is expired to reduce the time interval set for hello packet generation and transmission. This allows the NSF-aware device to reply to the NSF-capable device more quickly reducing the amount of time required for the NSF-capable device to rediscover neighbors and rebuild the topology table.

• The route-hold timer is started. This timer is used to set the period of time that the NSF-aware device will hold known routes for the NSF-capable neighbor.

• The NSF-aware device notes in the peer list that the NSF-capable neighbor is restarting, maintains adjacency, and holds known routes for the NSF-capable neighbor until the neighbor signals that it is ready for the NSF-aware device to send its topology table or the route-hold timer expires. If the route-hold timer expires on the NSF-aware device, the NSF-aware device will discard held routes and treat the NSF-capable device as a new device joining the network and reestablishing adjacency accordingly.

• The NSF-aware device will continue to send queries to the NSF-capable device that is still converging after switchover, effectively extending the time before a stuck-in-active (SIA) condition can occur.

When the switchover operation is complete, the NSF-capable device notifies its neighbors that it has reconverged and has received all of their topology tables by sending an EOT update packet to the assisting devices. The NSF-capable device then returns to normal operation. The NSF-aware device will look for alternate paths (go active) for any routes that are not refreshed by the NSF-capable (restarting device). The NSF-aware device will then return to normal operation. If all paths are refreshed by the NSF-capable device, the NSF-aware device will immediately return to normal operation.

NSF-aware devices are completely compatible with non-NSF-aware or non-NSF-capable neighbors in an EIGRP network. A non-NSF-aware neighbor will ignore NSF capabilities and reset adjacencies and otherwise maintain the peering sessions normally.