OSPF
This chapter describes how to configure the FTD to route data, perform authentication, and redistribute routing information using the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) routing protocol.
About OSPF
OSPF is an interior gateway routing protocol that uses link states rather than distance vectors for path selection. OSPF propagates link-state advertisements rather than routing table updates. Because only LSAs are exchanged instead of the entire routing tables, OSPF networks converge more quickly than RIP networks.
OSPF uses a link-state algorithm to build and calculate the shortest path to all known destinations. Each router in an OSPF area contains an identical link-state database, which is a list of each of the router usable interfaces and reachable neighbors.
The advantages of OSPF over RIP include the following:
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OSPF link-state database updates are sent less frequently than RIP updates, and the link-state database is updated instantly, rather than gradually, as stale information is timed out.
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Routing decisions are based on cost, which is an indication of the overhead required to send packets across a certain interface. The FTD device calculates the cost of an interface based on link bandwidth rather than the number of hops to the destination. The cost can be configured to specify preferred paths.
The disadvantage of shortest path first algorithms is that they require a lot of CPU cycles and memory.
The FTD device can run two processes of OSPF protocol simultaneously on different sets of interfaces. You might want to run two processes if you have interfaces that use the same IP addresses (NAT allows these interfaces to coexist, but OSPF does not allow overlapping addresses). Or you might want to run one process on the inside and another on the outside, and redistribute a subset of routes between the two processes. Similarly, you might need to segregate private addresses from public addresses.
You can redistribute routes into an OSPF routing process from another OSPF routing process, a RIP routing process, or from static and connected routes configured on OSPF-enabled interfaces.
The FTD device supports the following OSPF features:
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Intra-area, inter-area, and external (Type I and Type II) routes.
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Virtual links.
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LSA flooding.
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Authentication to OSPF packets (both password and MD5 authentication).
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Configuring the FTD device as a designated router or a designated backup router. The FTD device also can be set up as an ABR.
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Stub areas and not-so-stubby areas.
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Area boundary router Type 3 LSA filtering.
OSPF supports MD5 and clear text neighbor authentication. Authentication should be used with all routing protocols when possible because route redistribution between OSPF and other protocols (such as RIP) can potentially be used by attackers to subvert routing information.
If NAT is used, if OSPF is operating on public and private areas, and if address filtering is required, then you need to run two OSPF processes—one process for the public areas and one for the private areas.
A router that has interfaces in multiple areas is called an Area Border Router (ABR). A router that acts as a gateway to redistribute traffic between routers using OSPF and routers using other routing protocols is called an Autonomous System Boundary Router (ASBR).
An ABR uses LSAs to send information about available routes to other OSPF routers. Using ABR Type 3 LSA filtering, you can have separate private and public areas with the ASA acting as an ABR. Type 3 LSAs (inter-area routes) can be filtered from one area to other, which allows you to use NAT and OSPF together without advertising private networks.
![]() Note |
Only Type 3 LSAs can be filtered. If you configure the FTD device as an ASBR in a private network, it will send Type 5 LSAs describing private networks, which will get flooded to the entire AS, including public areas. |
If NAT is employed but OSPF is only running in public areas, then routes to public networks can be redistributed inside the private network, either as default or Type 5 AS external LSAs. However, you need to configure static routes for the private networks protected by the FTD device. Also, you should not mix public and private networks on the same FTD device interface.
You can have two OSPF routing processes, one RIP routing process, and one EIGRP routing process running on the FTD device at the same time.
OSPF Support for Fast Hello Packets
The OSPF Support for Fast Hello Packets feature provides a way to configure the sending of hello packets in intervals less than one second. Such a configuration would result in faster convergence in an Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) network.
Prerequisites for OSPF Support for Fast Hello Packets
OSPF must be configured in the network already or configured at the same time as the OSPF Support for Fast Hello Packets feature.
OSPF Hello Interval and Dead Interval
OSPF hello packets are packets that an OSPF process sends to its OSPF neighbors to maintain connectivity with those neighbors. The hello packets are sent at a configurable interval (in seconds). The defaults are 10 seconds for an Ethernet link and 30 seconds for a non broadcast link. Hello packets include a list of all neighbors for which a hello packet has been received within the dead interval. The dead interval is also a configurable interval (in seconds), and defaults to four times the value of the hello interval. The value of all hello intervals must be the same within a network. Likewise, the value of all dead intervals must be the same within a network.
These two intervals work together to maintain connectivity by indicating that the link is operational. If a router does not receive a hello packet from a neighbor within the dead interval, it will declare that neighbor to be down.
OSPF Fast Hello Packets
OSPF fast hello packets refer to hello packets being sent at intervals of less than 1 second. To understand fast hello packets, you should already understand the relationship between OSPF hello packets and the dead interval. See OSPF Hello Interval and Dead Interval.
OSPF fast hello packets are achieved by using the ospf dead-interval command. The dead interval is set to 1 second, and the hello-multiplier value is set to the number of hello packets you want sent during that 1 second, thus providing subsecond or "fast" hello packets.
When fast hello packets are configured on the interface, the hello interval advertised in the hello packets that are sent out this interface is set to 0. The hello interval in the hello packets received over this interface is ignored.
The dead interval must be consistent on a segment, whether it is set to 1 second (for fast hello packets) or set to any other value. The hello multiplier need not be the same for the entire segment as long as at least one hello packet is sent within the dead interval.
Benefits of OSPF Fast Hello Packets
The benefit of the OSPF Fast Hello Packets feature is that your OSPF network will experience faster convergence time than it would without fast hello packets. This feature allows you to detect lost neighbors within 1 second. It is especially useful in LAN segments, where neighbor loss might not be detected by the Open System Interconnection (OSI) physical layer and data-link layer.
Implementation Differences Between OSPFv2 and OSPFv3
OSPFv3 is not backward compatible with OSPFv2. To use OSPF to route both IPv4 and IPv6 traffic, you must run both OSPFv2 and OSPFv3 at the same time. They coexist with each other, but do not interact with each other.
The additional features that OSPFv3 provides include the following:
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Protocol processing per link.
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Removal of addressing semantics.
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Addition of flooding scope.
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Support for multiple instances per link.
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Use of the IPv6 link-local address for neighbor discovery and other features.
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LSAs expressed as prefix and prefix length.
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Addition of two LSA types.
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Handling of unknown LSA types.
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Authentication support using the IPsec ESP standard for OSPFv3 routing protocol traffic, as specified by RFC-4552.