About IS-IS
IS-IS is an Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) based on Standardization (ISO)/International Engineering Consortium (IEC) 10589. Cisco NX-OS supports Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and IPv6. IS-IS is a dynamic link-state routing protocol that can detect changes in the network topology and calculate loop-free routes to other nodes in the network. Each router maintains a link-state database that describes the state of the network and sends packets on every configured link to discover neighbors. IS-IS floods the link-state information across the network to each neighbor. The router also sends advertisements and updates on the link-state database through all the existing neighbors.
IS-IS Overview
IS-IS sends a hello packet out every configured interface to discover IS-IS neighbor routers. The hello packet contains information, such as the authentication, area, and supported protocols, which the receiving interface uses to determine compatibility with the originating interface. The hello packets are also padded to ensure that IS-IS establishes adjacencies only with interfaces that have matching maximum transmission unit (MTU) settings. Compatible interfaces form adjacencies, which update routing information in the link-state database through link-state update messages (LSPs). By default, the router sends a periodic LSP refresh every 10 minutes and the LSPs remain in the link-state database for 20 minutes (the LSP lifetime). If the router does not receive an LSP refresh before the end of the LSP lifetime, the router deletes the LSP from the database.
The LSP interval must be less than the LSP lifetime or the LSPs time out before they are refreshed.
IS-IS sends periodic hello packets to adjacent routers. If you configure transient mode for hello packets, these hello packets do not include the excess padding used before IS-IS establishes adjacencies. If the MTU value on adjacent routers changes, IS-IS can detect this change and send padded hello packets for a period of time. IS-IS uses this feature to detect mismatched MTU values on adjacent routers. For more information, see the Configuring the Transient Mode for Hello Padding section.
IS-IS Areas
You can design IS-IS networks as a single area that includes all routers in the network or as multiple areas that connect into a backbone or Level 2 area. Routers in a nonbackbone area are Level 1 routers that establish adjacencies within a local area (intra-area routing). Level 2 area routers establish adjacencies to other Level 2 routers and perform routing between Level 1 areas (inter-area routing). A router can have both Level 1 and Level 2 areas configured. These Level 1/Level 2 routers act as area border routers that route information from the local area to the Level 2 backbone area (see Figure 7-1).
Within a Level 1 area, routers know how to reach all other routers in that area. The Level 2 routers know how to reach other area border routers and other Level 2 routers. Level 1/Level 2 routers straddle the boundary between two areas, routing traffic to and from the Level 2 backbone area. Level1/Level2 routers use the attached (ATT) bit signal Level 1 routers to set a default route to this Level1/Level2 router to connect to the Level 2 area.
In some instances, such as when you have two or more Level1/Level 2 routers in an area, you may want to control which Level1/Level2 router that the Level 1 routers use as the default route to the Level 2 area. You can configure which Level1/Level2 router sets the attached bit. For more information, see the Verifying the IS-IS Configuration section.
Each IS-IS instance in Cisco NX-OS supports either a single Level 1 or Level 2 area, or one of each. By default, all IS-IS instances automatically support Level 1 and Level 2 routing.
An autonomous system boundary router (ASBR) advertises external destinations throughout the IS-IS autonomous system. External routes are the routes redistributed into IS-IS from any other protocol.
NET and System ID
Each IS-IS instance has an associated network entity title (NET). The NET is comprised of the IS-IS system ID, which uniquely identifies this IS-IS instance in the area and the area ID. For example, if the NET is 47.0004.004d.0001.0001.0c11.1111.00, the system ID is 0001.0c11.1111.00 and the area is ID 47.0004.004d.0001.
Designated Intermediate System
IS-IS uses a designated intermediate system (DIS) in broadcast networks to prevent each router from forming unnecessary links with every other router on the broadcast network. IS-IS routers send LSPs to the DIS, which manages all the link-state information for the broadcast network. You can configure the IS-IS priority that IS-IS uses to select the DIS in an area.
Note |
No DIS is required on a point-to-point network. |
IS-IS Authentication
You can configure authentication to control adjacencies and the exchange of LSPs. Routers that want to become neighbors must exchange the same password for their configured level of authentication. IS-IS blocks a router that does not have the correct password. You can configure IS-IS authentication globally or for an individual interface for Level 1, Level 2, or both Level 1/Level 2 routing.
IS-IS supports the following authentication methods:
-
Clear text—All packets exchanged carry a cleartext 128-bit password.
-
MD5 digest—All packets exchanged carry a message digest that is based on a 128-bit key.
To provide protection against passive attacks, IS-IS never sends the MD5 secret key as cleartext through the network. In addition, IS-IS includes a sequence number in each packet to protect against replay attacks.
You can also use keychains for hello and LSP authentication. See the Cisco Nexus 3600 NX-OS Security Configuration Guide for information on keychain management.
Mesh Groups
A mesh group is a set of interfaces in which all routers reachable over the interfaces have at least one link to every other router. Many links can fail without isolating one or more routers from the network.
In normal flooding, an interface receives a new LSP and floods the LSP out over all other interfaces on the router. With mesh groups, when an interface that is part of a mesh group receives a new LSP, the interface does not flood the new LSP over the other interfaces that are part of that mesh group.
Note |
You may want to limit LSPs in certain mesh network topologies to improve network scalability. Limiting LSP floods might also reduce the reliability of the network (in case of failures). For this reason, we recommend that you use mesh groups only if specifically required, and then only after you make a careful network design. |
You can also configure mesh groups in block mode for parallel links between routers. In this mode, all LSPs are blocked on that interface in a mesh group after the routers initially exchange their link-state information.
Overload Bit
IS-IS uses the overload bit to tell other routers not to use the local router to forward traffic but to continue routing traffic destined for that local router.
You may want to use the overload bit in these situations:
-
The router is in a critical condition.
-
Graceful introduction and removal of the router to/from the network.
-
Other (administrative or traffic engineering) reasons such as waiting for BGP convergence.
Route Summarization
You can configure a summary aggregate address. Route summarization simplifies route tables by replacing a number of more-specific addresses with an address that represents all the specific addresses. For example, you can replace 10.1.1.0/24, 10.1.2.0/24, and 10.1.3.0/24 with one summary address, 10.1.0.0/16.
If more specific routes are in the routing table, IS-IS advertises the summary address with a metric equal to the minimum metric of the more specific routes.
Note |
Cisco NX-OS does not support automatic route summarization. |
Configuring Redistribution
You can configure IS-IS to accept routing information from another routing protocol and redistribute that information through the IS-IS network. You can optionally assign a default route for redistributed routes.
Before you begin
You must enable IS-IS (see the Enabling the IS-IS Feature section).
SUMMARY STEPS
- configure terminal
- router isis instance-tag
- address-family {ipv4 | ipv6} unicast
- redistribute { bgp as | direct |{ eigrp | isis | ospf | ospfv3 | rip } instance-tag | static } route-map map-name
- (Optional) default-information originate [ always ] [ route-map map-name ]
- (Optional) distribute { level-1 | level-2 } into { level-1 | level-2 } { route-map route-map | all }
- (Optional) show isis [ vrf vrf-name ] { ip | ipv6} route ip-prefix [ detail | longer-prefixes [ summary | detail ]]
- (Optional) copy running-config startup-config
DETAILED STEPS
Command or Action | Purpose | |
---|---|---|
Step 1 |
configure terminal Example:
|
Enters global configuration mode. |
Step 2 |
router isis instance-tag Example:
|
Creates a new IS-IS instance with the configured instance tag . |
Step 3 |
address-family {ipv4 | ipv6} unicast Example:
|
Enters address family configuration mode. |
Step 4 |
redistribute { bgp as | direct |{ eigrp | isis | ospf | ospfv3 | rip } instance-tag | static } route-map map-name Example:
|
Redistributes routes from other protocols into IS-IS. See the Configuring Route Maps section for more information about route maps. |
Step 5 |
(Optional) default-information originate [ always ] [ route-map map-name ] Example:
|
(Optional)
Generates a default route into IS-IS. |
Step 6 |
(Optional) distribute { level-1 | level-2 } into { level-1 | level-2 } { route-map route-map | all } Example:
|
(Optional)
Redistributes routes from one IS-IS level to the other IS-IS level. |
Step 7 |
(Optional) show isis [ vrf vrf-name ] { ip | ipv6} route ip-prefix [ detail | longer-prefixes [ summary | detail ]] Example:
|
(Optional)
Shows the IS-IS routes. |
Step 8 |
(Optional) copy running-config startup-config Example:
|
(Optional)
Saves this configuration change. |
Example
This example shows how to redistribute EIGRP into IS-IS:
switch# configure terminal
switch(config)# router isis Enterprise
switch(config-router)# address-family ipv4 unicast
switch(config-router-af)# redistribute eigrp 201 route-map ISISmap
switch(config-router-af)# copy running-config startup-config
Link Prefix Suppression
By default, IS-IS advertises the addresses of connected interfaces in the system LSP. By suppressing the advertisement of unwanted interface addresses, you can reduce the size of LSPs and reduce the number of routes that IS-IS maintains, improving convergence times.
Two prefix suppression methods are provided for reducing the number of routes in the LSP:
-
At the global level, you can choose to advertise only those prefixes that belong to passive interfaces, excluding other connected prefixes. See Advertising Only Passive Interface Prefixes.
-
At the interface level, you can disable the advertisement of connected prefixes. See Suppressing Prefixes on an Interface.
Load Balancing
You can use load balancing to allow a router to distribute traffic over all the router network ports that are the same distance from the destination address. Load balancing increases the utilization of network segments and increases the effective network bandwidth.
Cisco NX-OS supports the Equal Cost Multiple Paths (ECMP) feature with up to 64 equal-cost paths in the IS-IS route table and the unicast RIB. You can configure IS-IS to load balance traffic across some or all of those paths.
BFD
This feature supports bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD) for IPv4 and IPv6. BFD is a detection protocol designed to provide fast forwarding-path failure detection times. BFD provides subsecond failure detection between two adjacent devices and can be less CPU-intensive than protocol hello messages because some of the BFD load can be distributed onto the data plane on supported modules. See the Cisco Nexus 3600 NX-OS Interfaces Configuration Guide for more information.
Virtualization Support
Cisco NX-OS supports multiple process instances for IS-IS. Each IS-IS instance can support multiple virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) instances, up to the system limit. For the number of supported IS-IS instances, see the Cisco Nexus 3600 NX-OS Verified Scalability Guide.
High Availability and Graceful Restart
Cisco NX-OS provides a multilevel high-availability architecture. IS-IS supports stateful restart, which is also referred to as non-stop routing (NSR). If IS-IS experiences problems, it attempts to restart from its previous run-time state. The neighbors would not register any neighbor event in this case. If the first restart is not successful and another problem occurs, IS-IS attempts a graceful restart as per RFC 3847. A graceful restart, or non-stop forwarding (NSF), allows IS-IS to remain in the data forwarding path through a process restart. When the restarting IS-IS interface is operational again, it rediscovers its neighbors, establishes adjacency, and starts sending its updates again. At this point, the NSF helpers recognize that the graceful restart has finished.
A stateful restart is used in the following scenarios:
-
First recovery attempt after process experiences problems
-
User-initiated switchover using the system switchover command
A graceful restart is used in the following scenarios:
-
Second recovery attempt after the process experiences problems within a 4-minute interval
-
Manual restart of the process using the restart isis command
-
Active supervisor removal
-
Active supervisor reload using the reload module active-sup command
Note |
Graceful restart is on by default, and we strongly recommend that you do not disable it. |
Multiple IS-IS Instances
Cisco NX-OS supports multiple instances of the IS-IS protocol that run on the same node. You cannot configure multiple instances over the same interface. Every instance uses the same system router ID. For the number of supported IS-IS instances, see the Cisco Nexus 3600 NX-OS Verified Scalability Guide.