IS-IS

Intermediate System – Intermediate System

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 IS-IS Characteristics
• Not an IP protocol
Network layer protocol: CLNP (Connectionless
Network Protocol) used for CLNS (Connectionless
Network Service)
• Open Standard
• Hierarchical addressing scheme
• Fast convergence
• Low network overhead
• Know as Integrates IS-IS when used to support IP
• Classless
• Link state routing protocol
• Use Dijkstra SPF algorithm

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 ISO IS-IS routing protocol

Level 0: End systems to intermediate systems (ES-IS)

Level 1: Routing inside an area (IS-IS). Intra Area
Level 2: Routing inside backbone area and between areas
(IS-IS). Only one Level 2 router process. Inter-Area
Level 3: Between autonomous systems.

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 Packet Types

• Hellos
• LSPs (Link State PDUs)
• SNP (Sequence Number PDUs)

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 Hellos Packets

• ESH (End System Hellos); Used by End Systems to attach with

Intermediate System (Routers)

• ISH (Intermediate systems hellos): Used by Intermediate

systems to attach with End Systems.

• IIH (Intermediate-to-Intermediate Hellos): Used by router to

router communication
Level 1 hellos
Level 2 hellos

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 LSPs Packets

• Contains a list of all adjacencies

Level 1 router: To all routers in the area
Level 2 router: To all level 2 routers

• Builds topologies database

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 ISO addressing

• Two types of network layer addressing:

NSAP (Network Service Access Point)
NET (Network Entity Tittle): A NSAP with SEL = 00

• Format
Varies from 8 to 20 octets (IP uses 4 bytes)
An ISO address have
Area: Describes a location
ID: Describe a host, must be unique
SEL: Identifies a process

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 Addressing example

49.0012.0000.0000.0001.00
Area System ID NSEL

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 Addressing example

49.0012.MAC.00
Area System ID NSEL

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 ISO Addressing

• Assigned to the system, not the interfaces

• Limit of 3 NETs per systems per area
• If multiple NETs on the same router, they must have the same
system ID
• Area address must be the same for all routers in that area
• Level 2 routers must have a unique systems ID in the level 2
domain
• Level 1 routers must have a unique systems ID in the level 1 area
• Systems ID must be the same length for all IS and ES in a routing
domain (Cisco only support 6 bytes)

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 IS-IS Design

• Backbone made of
L2 Routers
L1/L2 Routers
Virtual Links defined, but not supported by Cisco
Implementation

• Areas
L1 Routers
L1/L2 Routers
L2 Routers

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 IS-IS Design

• Level 1
Intra area adjacency only
Like a Not So Totally Stubby Area in OSPF
Intra Area routers
Default route
Redistribution is allowed

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 IS-IS Design

• Level 2
Inter or Intra area adjacency
Like area 0 in OSPF
Must be contigous, Virtual links not support by Cisco

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 IS-IS Design

• Level1/Level2
Inter or intra area adjacency
Like ABRs in OSPF when interconnecting areas
Injects default route into Level 1

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 IS-IS Network Types

• Point to Point
Default in Point to Point interfaces (HDLC, PPP)

• Broadcast
Default on multipoint interfaces
Use a Designates Intermediates Systems (DIS), like DR and
BDR in OSPF
No Backup DIS
Election is dynamics, preemption can occur
Highest Priority
Highest System-ID

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 IS-IS Adjacency

• MTU
• Level of routing. L1 with L1 or L1/L2. L2 with L2 or L1/L2
• To connect to another area, at least one must be L1/L2
• System ID must be unique
• Hello and hosd timers
• Authentication
• Establish over OSI CLNS, no IP
IP address can be in different subnets

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 Decision process

• If there is more than one path with the same cost, it load
balance
• Internal paths are better than external
• Level 1 routers are better than Level 2 router
• In level 1 routing, default route to L2 or L1/L2

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 Metric

• Default: All interfaces a cost of 10

• Delay: Not supported in Cisco implementation
• Expense: Not supported in Cisco implementation
• Error: Not supported in Cisco implementation

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