Network Layer Functions

Essential

• Routing: Mechanisms for determining the set of best paths

for routing packets requires the collaboration of network
elements
• Forwarding: transfer of packets from NE inputs to outputs
• Priority & Scheduling: determining order of packet
transmission in each NE

Optional: congestion control, segmentation & reassembly, security

Routing in Network Layer
• Determining the feasible path for packets to follow from each
source to destination.
• Best path.
• Minimize the number of hops.
• End to end delay.
• Greatest bandwidth.
• Goals
• Rapid and accurate delivery of packets.
• Adaptability to changes in Network Topology in failures
cases.
• Adaptability to varying load –heavy and light traffic periods.
• Ability route packets from temporarily congested links.
• Avoid routing loops.
Routing Metrics

Means for measuring desirability of a path

• Path Length = sum of costs or distances
• Possible metrics
• Hop count: rough measure of resources used
• Capacity: Send a packet through a path with highest capacity.
• Congestion: Traffic load
• Reliability: link availability; BER
• Delay: sum of delays along path; complex & dynamic
• Bandwidth: “available capacity” in a path
• Load: Link & router utilization along path
• Cost:
Packet-Switching Networks
Shortest Path Routing
Shortest Paths & Routing

• Many possible paths connect any given source and

to any given destination
• Routing involves the selection of the path to be
used to accomplish a given transfer
• Typically it is possible to attach a cost or distance to
a link connecting two nodes
• Routing can then be posed as a shortest path
problem
Routing
• Routing algorithm based on variants of shortest path.
• Set of nodes-each node represents packet switching
• Set of links- each link represents transmission line between two packet
switches.
• Shortest path between pair of nodes is the path with least
cost.
• Find the path from node 1 to 6 with least cost.
2 3
1 1
5 2

4
3 1 3 6

2
2 5
4
Shortest Path Approaches

Distance Vector Protocols(Bellman-Ford Alg.)

• Neighbors exchange list of distances to destinations
• Best next-hop determined for each destination
• Ford-Fulkerson (distributed) shortest path algorithm
• Process from destination to source node

Link State Protocols (Dijkstra)

• Link state information flooded to all routers
• Routers have complete topology information
• Shortest path (& hence next hop) calculated
• Dijkstra (centralized) shortest path algorithm
• Process from Source node to destination node
 Shortest Path to SJ
Focus on how nodes find their shortest
path to a given destination node, i.e. SJ San
Jose

Dj
Cij
j
i
Di If Di is the shortest distance to SJ from i
and if j is a neighbor on the shortest path,
then Di = Cij + Dj
 But we don’t know the shortest paths
i only has local info
from neighbors San
Dj' Jose
j'
Cij'
Dj
Cij j
i
Cij” Pick current
Di j"
Dj" shortest path
Bellman-Ford Algorithm-Minimum cost

• To find the minimum cost from each node to the destination node
(node 6 ).
• Each node ‘i’ maintains an entry (n,𝐷𝑖 ),
• where ‘n’ is the next node and
• Di is the current minimum cost from node ‘i’ to the
destination.
Steps involved

1. Initialization (destination node d is distance ‘0’ from itself)

• Di(d) =  for all i  d
• Dd = 0

2. Updating (find the minimum distance to destination

through neighbors ): For each i  d
Di = Minj { Cij + Dj } for all j  i

3. Repeat the steps until no more changes occur in the

iteration.
 Problem-Distance Vector –Bellman-Ford
algorithm
• Apply Bellman-Ford algorithm to find the minimum distance from each
node to destination (node 6) and the next node along the shortest path.

2 3
1 1
5 2

4
3 1 3 6

2
2 5
4
Iteration Node 1 Node 2 Node 3 Node 4 Node 5

Initial (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, )

1
2
3

Table entry Table entry

@ node 1 @ node 3
for dest SJ for dest SJ
2 3
1
5 2
1 San
4
Jose
3 1 3 6

2
2 5
4
Iteration Node 1 Node 2 Node 3 Node 4 Node 5

Initial (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, )

1 (-1, ) (-1, ) (6,1) (-1, ) (6,2)
2
3

D3=D6+1
n3=6
D6=0
2 3 1
1 1
5 2
0
4 San
3 6
1 3
Jose
2 5 2
4
2
D5=D6+2 D6=0
n5=6
Iteration Node 1 Node 2 Node 3 Node 4 Node 5

Initial (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, )

1 (-1, ) (-1, ) (6, 1) (-1, ) (6,2)
2 (3,3) (5,6) (6, 1) (3,3) (6,2)
3

3 1
2 3
1 1
5 2
3 0
4 San
3 6
1 3
Jose
2 2
5
4
6 2
Iteration Node 1 Node 2 Node 3 Node 4 Node 5

Initial (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, ) (-1, )

1 (-1, ) (-1, ) (6, 1) (-1, ) (6,2)
2 (3,3) (5,6) (6, 1) (3,3) (6,2)
3 (3,3) (4,4) (6, 1) (3,3) (6,2)

1
3 2 3
1 1
5 2
3 0
4 San
3 6
1 3
Jose
2
2 5
4
6 4 2
Shortest path tree to node 6

2 3
1 1
2

4
1 6

2
2 5