Basic Of Routing Algorithm Used In Network Layer - By: pankaj11

The main function of the network layer is routing packets from the source machine to the destination machine. In most subnets, packets will require multiple hops to make the journey. The only notable exception is for broadcast networks, but even here routing is an issue if the source and destination are not on the same network. The algorithms that choose the routes and the data structures that they use are a major area of network layer design.

The routing algorithm is that part of the network layer software responsible for deciding which output line an incoming packet should be transmitted on. If the subnet uses datagrams internally, this decision must be made anew for every arriving data packet since the best route may have changed since last time. If the subnet uses virtual circuits internally, routing decisions are made only when a new virtual circuit is being set up. Thereafter, data packets just follow the previously-established route. The latter case is sometimes called session routing because a route remains in force for an entire user session (e.g., a login session at a terminal or a file transfer).

It is sometimes useful to make a distinction between routing, which is making the decision which routes to use, and forwarding, which is what happens when a packet arrives. One can think of a router as having two processes inside it. One of them handles each packet as it arrives, looking up the outgoing line to use for it in the routing tables. This process is forwarding. The other process is responsible for filling in and updating the routing tables. That is where the routing algorithm comes into play.

Regardless of whether routes are chosen independently for each packet or only when new connections are established, certain properties are desirable in a routing algorithm: correctness, simplicity, robustness, stability, fairness, and optimality. Correctness and simplicity hardly require comment, but the need for robustness may be less obvious at first. Once a major network comes on the air, it may be expected to run continuously for years without systemwide failures. During that period there will be hardware and software failures of all kinds. Hosts, routers, and lines will fail repeatedly, and the topology will change many times. The routing algorithm should be able to cope with changes in the topology and traffic without requiring all jobs in all hosts to be aborted and the network to be rebooted every time some router crashes.

Routing algorithms can be grouped into two major classes:

1).Nonadaptive .
2).Adaptive.

Nonadaptive algorithms, do not base their routing decisions on measurements or estimates of the current traffic and topology. Instead, the choice of the route to use to get from I to J (for all I and J) is computed in advance, off-line, and downloaded to the routers when the network is booted. This procedure is sometimes called static routing.

Adaptive algorithms, in contrast, change their routing decisions to reflect changes in the topology, and usually the traffic as well. Adaptive algorithms differ in where they get their information (e.g., locally, from adjacent routers, or from all routers), when they change the routes (e.g., every T sec, when the load changes or when the topology changes), and what metric is used for optimization (e.g., distance, number of hops, or estimated transit time). In the following sections we will discuss a variety of routing algorithms, both static and dynamic.

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