The Routing module implements the Network Routing layer described by the Digital Network Architecture. It routes messages in the network and manages the message packet flow. The Routing module components provide the following functions: o Routing-determines packet paths. A path is the sequence of connected nodes and links between a source node and a destination node. The combined knowledge of all the network Routing layer modules of all the nodes in a network is used to determine the existence of a path, and route the packet to its destination. The routing component at a routing node has the following specific functions: - Extracts and interprets the route header in a packet. - Performs packet forwarding based on the destination address. - Performs packet fragmentation where necessary. - Manages the characteristics of the path and if a node or link fails on a path, finds an alternate route. - Interfaces with the Network Routing Subnetwork Dependent sublayer to receive reports concerning a circuit or node that has failed or the subsequent recovery of a circuit or node. - Performs packet reassembly at the destination. - Returns error reports to the source where necessary, for instance when the destination is unreachable or when the packet would have needed to be fragmented but segmentation permitted was not set in the packet. Segmentation permitted is always set in data packets generated by DNA nodes. However, non-DNA nodes may do otherwise. o Congestion control-manages the resources used at each packet switching node (each node that permits route-through). o Packet lifetime control-bounds the amount of time a packet can exist in the network. o Initialization-identifies the adjacent node and the adjacent node's network routing layer. It also performs node verification, if required. o Dynamic circuit management-determines when to dial calls, when to hang up calls, and (on dynamically assigned circuits) which DTE address to dial. It exists only on dynamically established data links.
1 – Subentities
The entity hierarchy for the Routing module is: _Destination_Area | _Adjacency | |_IP_Address_Translation |_Circuit_______________|_IP_Adjacency | |_IP_Reachable_Address | |_Reachable_Address Node___Routing___| |_EGP_Group_______________EGP_Neighbor |_Destination_Node |_IP_Destination_Address |_Port |_Permitted_Neighbor The ROUTING entity is the top-level entity in the Routing module hierarchy of entities. The Routing module controls the operation of network routing within a node. A ROUTING DESTINATION AREA entity contains information about a destination area or reachable address prefix. These entities are created and deleted dynamically by the Routing module. Destination areas exist only on nodes that are level 2 routers. The address-prefix is the destination area managed by this command. A ROUTING CIRCUIT entity represents a data link to another node. The circuit-name refers the circuit managed by this command. A ROUTING CIRCUIT ADJACENCY entity describes an adjacency, which is a neighboring node that is accessible via a particular circuit. The circuit-name refers to the circuit associated with the specified adjacency. The adjacency-name refers to the adjacency managed by this command. The create and delete commands are allowed only if circuit is csma-cd and type is L1router or L2router. In addition, the delete command is allowed on end systems only for x25 da circuit adjacencies. A ROUTING CIRCUIT IP ADDRESS TRANSLATION entity describes the mapping between the IP address of an IP adjacency on a broadcast circuit and its LAN address. This entity is supported only on systems that support dual routing. ip address translation entities are created automatically, but can be deleted manually. A ROUTING CIRCUIT IP REACHABLE ADDRESS entity describes a manually entered subnet address that is accessible by way of a specified circuit. An IP reachable address allows a level 2 router at the boundary of a routing domain to include information about the address and reachability of subnetworks outside the domain. IP reachable addresses exist only on level 2 routers that support dual routing. A ROUTING CIRCUIT REACHABLE ADDRESS entity describes information about a manually entered address prefix accessible over that circuit. It exists only on L2 routers and end nodes. On L2 routers the type may be outbound or inbound. A reachable address of type outbound (default) describes address prefixes in an external domain that are reachable by outbound traffic over this circuit. For end systems, the circuit can be either an X.25 DA circuit or a broadcast circuit on L2 routers. The routing information contained in the reachable address is entered directly into the L2 decision process. When ManualL2Algorithm has the value routing vector, only reachable addresses with address prefixes corresponding to Phase IV areas are fed into the decision process. On an L2 router, an inbound reachable address describes address prefixes corresponding to Phase IV areas which are reachable through the local node by inbound traffic over this circuit. The routing information contained in the reachable address (area and cost) is entered into a Phase IV routing vector message, which is transmitted periodically over this circuit. On an end system the type may be outbound or (for a broadcast circuit only) filter. A reachable address of type outbound behaves in a similar way to that on an L2 router except that the routing information is used to control the operation of the ES cache. A reachable address of type filter (for a broadcast circuit only) specifies the permitted LAN addresses of routers on the LAN that will be used by the cache algorithm. For either outbound or filter type, the mapping attribute should be set to manual because the default is X.121. A ROUTING DESTINATION NODE entity contains information about a particular destination node within the same area as this node. These entities are created and deleted automatically by the Routing module. Destination nodes exist only on nodes that are level 1 or level 2 routers. A ROUTING EGP GROUP entity defines a set of systems in the same autonomous system with which this system may exchange EGP messages. This entity is supported only on level 2 routers that support dual routing (and, in particular, the EGP routing protocol). A ROUTING EGP GROUP EGP NEIGHBOR entity defines one of the systems in the autonomous group defined by the owning egp group entity. This entity is supported only on level 2 routers that support dual routing (and, in particular, the EGP routing protocol). A ROUTING IP DESTINATION ADDRESS entity describes IP routing information in the shortest paths database. This entity is supported only on routers that support dual routing. A ROUTING PERMITTED NEIGHBOR entity represents a neighboring node on a nonbroadcast circuit that is permitted to connect to this node. The neighbor-name is the name of the permitted neighbor managed by this command. A ROUTING PORT entity represents a client of the Routing module, and presents information associated with that client. The port- name refers to the port managed by this command.