Penguin

OSPF vs IS-IS

OSPF and IS-IS are both link-state protocols and are based on the Dijkstra algorithm of the Shortest Path First (SPF). In addition, they both have a two-level hierarchy.

OSPF tends to be deployed mostly as an enterprise solution, whereas Integrated IS-IS is used for IP routing in some ISP networks.

|IS-IS Terminology|OSPF Terminology |Area|Stub area |Area ID|Area ID |Backbone Area|Backbone Area |DIS (Designated Intermediate System)|Designated Router |Domain|Network |ES (End System)|Host |ES-IS (The Address Resolution feature of ES-IS)|ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) |IS (Intermediate System)|Router |ISO Routing Domain|Autonomous System |Level 1|Internal Nonbackbone Stub Area |Level 1-2|Area Border Router |Level 2|Backbone Router |LSP (Link-state Packet)|LSA (Link-state Advertisement) |CSNP and PSNP (Complete and Partial sequence number PDUs)|Link-state acknowledgement packet |PDU (Protocol Data Unit)|Packet |NET (Network Entity Title)|IP destination address (subnet and host), user in a similar way to Router ID |NSAP (Network Service Access Point)|IP Destination Address + IP Protocol Number |Subnet = data link|Subnet = IP network |SNPA (Subnetwork point of attachment)|Layer 2 address; for example, the MAC address with ethernet or DLCI with Frame Relay |System ID|Address of the host within the network, sometimes used as the router ID determining priorities |Virtual link (defined but not supported|Virtual link

IS-IS

Routing technology = link state

  • Classless routing protocol
  • Address summarization between areas
  • Uses a link-state database
  • Acknowledges LSPs
  • Shortest path is computed using Dijkstra's SPF algorithm
  • Hellos create and maintain adjacencies
  • Hellos and holdtime may be configured

OSPF

Routing technology = link state

  • Classless routing protocol
  • Address summarization between areas
  • Uses a link-state database
  • Acknowledges LSAs
  • Shortest path is computed using Dijkstra's SPF algorithm
  • Hellos create and maintain adjacencies
  • Hellos and holdtime can be configured