Network Routing Fundamentals

This is a 13 hours course which talks about all the routing fundamentals you need to learn dynamic routing protocols. At least this much you should know if you wish to have a solid base in routing. Following are covered in great details.

1. A brief history of routing and “Why” behind routing.

2. Let’s divide the routing problem in to sub-problems.

3. IP Addressing and Subnetting

4. Where routing fits in TCP/IP layering.

5. Why behind Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)

6. Concept of Next-Hop in Routing

7. What is Routing Table (RIP or Routing Information Base)

8. Control Plane vs Data Plane in Detail

9. Layer-2 Multicast (Why routing protocol use multicast addresses)

10. What and Why behind Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF’s)

11. Static routing with next hop and Static routing with exit interface.

12. Static routing with next hop and exit interface

13. Concept of Proxy ARP

14. Concept of Administrative Distance (AD)

15. Troubleshooting Static Routing

16. Longer Prefixes vs Administrative Distance

17. Load Balancing and concept of Floating Routes

18. Distance Vector Routing Vs Link State Routing

19. Why Split Horizon (Loop Avoidance using Split-Horizon)

20. Brief introduction about OSPF

21. Steps necessary for OSPF

As understanding of routing fundamentals is mandatory, let’s start it with the brief history and why it is required. The concept of routing has been around since the early days of computer networking. In the 1960s, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed the first computer networks, which were used to connect computers and share resources such as storage and processing power. As networks grew in size and complexity, the need for more efficient and reliable routing became apparent. In the 1970s, researchers at Xerox Corporation developed the Xerox Network System (XNS), which used a routing protocol called the Internet Protocol (IP) to route data packets between networks. In the 1980s, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) was formed to standardize internet protocols and technologies, including routing. The IETF developed the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), which is still used today to exchange routing information between networks on the internet. In the 1990s, the rise of the World Wide Web and the proliferation of personal computers and other devices connected to the internet led to a tremendous growth in internet traffic. This led to the development of new routing protocols and technologies to handle the increased demand. Today, routing is a critical part of modern computer networks and the internet, and it continues to evolve as new technologies and protocols are developed.