OSPF Metric Convergence and Variation Analysis During Redistribution with Routing Information Protocol

Abstract

Open Shortest Path First networking protocol falls under the category of Interior gateway routing protocols and is multi-vendor supported. The task of OSPF like any other routing protocol is to calculate the best path between source IP address and destination IP address within the organisation computer network. There are various other routing protocols like Routing Information Protocol, Border Gateway Protocol, Intermediate System - Intermediate System (IS-IS), Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol, etc. which are used in computer network. Routing protocols have different algorithms through which they compute the best path selection criteria. OSPF because of its flexible design is often used with other routing protocol over the large network. This research focuses on the working of OSPF metric value variation and convergence for best path selection using network simulation tool like Cisco Packet Tracer tool for getting similar outcome just like a real networking device like router working in a real production environment. This research would use multiple combinations of OSPF metric calculation for routes learned from other routing protocols like Routing Information Protocol (RIP). Being able to correctly identify metric values obtain by testing with OSPF and other routing protocols and analysis them for best path selection.