CPE310/Computer Networks and Security

▪ B. The frame’s destination data-link address

VIII. IP Routing is the router’s address
• IP routing delivers IP packets from the sending host o 2. If choosing to process the frame at Step 1,
to the destination host. de-encapsulate the packet
• relies on network layer logic for the following: o 3. compare the packet’s destination IP address
o create an IP packet to the routing table, find the route that and the
o forwarding the IP packet to the host’s default outgoing interface
gateway o 4. Encapsulate the packet into a data-link frame
o routers comparing the destination address in appropriate for the outgoing interface, use ARP
the packet to their routing tables to find the next device’s MAC address
o 5. Transmit the frame out the outgoing
• IP routing relies on:
interface
o serial WAN link
o Ethernet WAN links
o Ethernet LANs
o wireless LANs
o and many other data-link and physical layer
standards
• lower-layer devices and protocols move the IP
packets by encapsulating and transmitting the
packets inside frames.

A. IPv4 Routing Process Reference

• a LAN-based host acts as follows: • figure shows a packet arriving from the left,
o Step 1. If the destination is local, send directly: entering a router Ethernet interface, with an IP
▪ Find the destination host’s MAC address destination of host C
using ARP • packet arriving, encapsulated inside an Ethernet
▪ Encapsulate the IP packet in a data-link frame (both header and trailer)
frame • Router R1 processes the frame and packet as shown
o Step 2. If the destination is not local, send to the with the numbers in the figure
default gateway: • Matching the same five-step process described just
▪ Find the default gateway’s MAC address before the figure, as follows:
using ARP o 1. Router R1 received Ethernet frame passes the
▪ Encapsulate the IP packet in a data-link FCS check and the destination Ethernet MAC
frame address is R1’s MAC address, R1 processes the
frame
o 2. R1 de-encapsulates the packet
o 3. R1 compares the IP packet’s destination IP
address to R1’s IP routing table
o 4. R1 encapsulates the IP inside a High-Level
Data Link Control (HDLC) header and trailer.
o 5. R1 transmits the IP packet out the serial link
on the right.

B. An Example of IP Routing
• host A sends a local packet directly to host D
• example uses a case in which host A ([Link])
• for packets to host B, on the other side of a router
sends a packet to host B ([Link])
host A sends the packet to its default router (R1)
• less clutter. For example, host A uses IP address
• host logic began with an IP packet sitting in
memory, a router has some work to do before
getting to that point
• The steps are as follows:
o 1. For each received data-link frame, choose
whether to process the frame. Process it if:
▪ A. The frame has no errors (per the data-
link trailer Frame Check Sequence [FCS]
field).

VIII. IP ROUTING 1
CPE310/Computer Networks and Security
1. Host Forwards the IP Packet to the Default leaving packet
Router (Gateway)
• host A uses some application that sends data to
host B ([Link])
• host A’s logic reduces to the following:
o My IP address/mask is [Link]/24, so my
local subnet contains numbers [Link]–
[Link] 4. Routing Step 3: Choosing Where to Forward
o The destination address is [Link], which is the Packet
clearly not in my subnet. • the router needs to make a choice about where to
o Send the packet to my default gateway, which is forward the packet
set to [Link]. • uses the router’s IP routing table, to compare the
o To send the packet, encapsulate it in an packet’s destination address with the table
Ethernet frame • an IP routing table lists multiple routes, containing
o the destination MAC address be R1’s G0/0 MAC several facts which can be
address (host A’s default gateway) • part of each route is used to match the destination
address, while the rest lists where to send the
packet next

2. Routing Step 1: Decide Whether to Process

the Incoming Frame
• first step in the routing process begins with a
decision of whether a router should process the
frame or silently discard (ignore) the frame
• the router ignores all frames that had bit errors • Figure 16-3 showed R1 has a route for each of the
during transmission by using the data-link FCS field five subnets
• if errors occurred in transmission, router discards • to fully define each subnet, each route lists both the
the frame subnet ID and the subnet mask
• router checks the destination MAC to decide • when matching the destination with the routing
whether the frame is intended for the router table, the router looks at the destination IP address
• a router can receive a frame sent to other unicast ([Link]) and looks at the subnet and mask
MAC address, they should ignore these frames information
• unknown unicast frames, LAN switch floods those • the router can figure out in which of these subnets
frames [Link] resides (the route for subnet
• routers sometimes receive frames with some other [Link]/24).
device’s MAC address listed, it should be ignored • the router uses the forwarding information in the
route to tell where to send the packet next

5. Routing Step 4: Encapsulating the Packet in

a New Frame
• routers cannot forward a packet without first
wrapping a data-link header and trailer around it
(encapsulation).
• host A sends a frame destined for R1’s MAC address
• Point-to-point serial WAN links use either HDLC (the
• after R1 confirms that no errors occurred, R1
default) or PPP as the data-link protocol
confirms that the frame is for R1’s MAC address
• we can ignore any data-link addressing, because
• if all checks have been passed, R1 will process the
serial links have only two devices on the link
frame
• R1 forwards the packet out S0/0/0, after
3. Routing Step 2: De-encapsulation of the IP encapsulating the packet inside an HDLC frame
Packet
• the router no longer needs the data-link header and
trailer, so the router removes and discards them,

VIII. IP ROUTING 2
CPE310/Computer Networks and Security

• sometimes a router forwards packets out an

Ethernet interface
• the router would need to build an Ethernet header
• Ethernet header’s destination MAC address would
need to list the correct value

• example, consider a packet sent by that same PC A

([Link]) but with a destination of PC C
([Link])
• R1 matches a route that tells R1 to forward the
packet out R1’s G0/1/0 Ethernet interface to
[Link] (R3) next
• R1 needs to put R3’s MAC address in the header,
and to do that, R1 uses its IP ARP table information
• if R1 did not have an ARP table entry for [Link],
R1 would use ARP to learn the MAC address

6. Routing Step 5: Transmitting the Frame

• router simply needs to transmit the frame
• router might have to wait, if other frames are
already waiting their turn to exit the interface

VIII. IP ROUTING 3