cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
cancel
815
Views
0
Helpful
5
Replies

OSPF Loopback and RouterID

hclisschennai
Level 1
Level 1

Hi All,

I have a misconception in basic theory of OSPF Router ID.

I know that by configuring Loopback Interface, that will become the OSPF Router ID. It will always stay up particularly during Router boots up its interface comes up before ospf starts. That is the advantage.

How about configuring "router-id x.x.x.x" command in "router ospf 15" process.

Does it also behaves similarly or it differs?

Kindly help me

R.B.Kumar

2 Accepted Solutions

Accepted Solutions

Hello R.B. Kumar,

the OSPF router-id is used to indicate the advertising router in the LSAs.

Having a loopback address as router-id that is also advertised in OSPF allows to telnet to it after having seen the address in the sh ip ospf database on another node.

To be noted that using the ospf router-id assures consistency over time: a second loopback with an highest ip address can be defined after some time and without the ospf router-id the OSPF RID can change over time after a reload or after a clear ip ospf process.

So because Cisco routers allow to define multiple loopbacks there is no guarantee that the OSPF router-id will not change over time.

So my suggestion is to use both:

use ospf router-id to reference a loopback address that is advertised in OSPF.

Hope to help

Giuseppe

View solution in original post

Then what is the advantage of choosing router-id command in OSPF process.

As said by others, it provides consistency in the network in the event the router is rebooted and you have another loopback created in the interim.

The router-id value is used when building virtual-links. If the router-id information is changed between reboot w/o modifying the virtual-link, the virtual-link will never come up.

HTH,

__

Edison.

View solution in original post

5 Replies 5

R.B.Kumar,

A router-id command is to force the ospf process to use this ID for referencing. It takes higher precedence than a highest loopback ip address.

In case you add this command after using the loopback ip address as router-id. You need to restart the ospf process.

HTH,

Toshi

I also would like to add that the IP address configured on the "router-id" command doesn't necessarily need to exist on the router, although it does in most cases.

Regards

Harold Ritter
Sr Technical Leader
CCIE 4168 (R&S, SP)
harold@cisco.com
México móvil: +52 1 55 8312 4915
Cisco México
Paseo de la Reforma 222
Piso 19
Cuauhtémoc, Juárez
Ciudad de México, 06600
México

Hi,

Thanks for your comment.

In practical cases i have tested both Router-id command option and Loopback ip address option. Both requries the OSPF process to be restarted. Then what is the advantage of choosing router-id command in OSPF process.

Is there any advantage of one over the other.

Thanks in advance

R.B.Kumar

Hello R.B. Kumar,

the OSPF router-id is used to indicate the advertising router in the LSAs.

Having a loopback address as router-id that is also advertised in OSPF allows to telnet to it after having seen the address in the sh ip ospf database on another node.

To be noted that using the ospf router-id assures consistency over time: a second loopback with an highest ip address can be defined after some time and without the ospf router-id the OSPF RID can change over time after a reload or after a clear ip ospf process.

So because Cisco routers allow to define multiple loopbacks there is no guarantee that the OSPF router-id will not change over time.

So my suggestion is to use both:

use ospf router-id to reference a loopback address that is advertised in OSPF.

Hope to help

Giuseppe

Then what is the advantage of choosing router-id command in OSPF process.

As said by others, it provides consistency in the network in the event the router is rebooted and you have another loopback created in the interim.

The router-id value is used when building virtual-links. If the router-id information is changed between reboot w/o modifying the virtual-link, the virtual-link will never come up.

HTH,

__

Edison.

Getting Started

Find answers to your questions by entering keywords or phrases in the Search bar above. New here? Use these resources to familiarize yourself with the community:

Innovations in Cisco Full Stack Observability - A new webinar from Cisco