Cisco IOS XE IP Routing Protocols Configuration Guide, Release 2
OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

Table Of Contents

OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

Finding Feature Information

Contents

Prerequisites for OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

Information About OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

Benefits of Using OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

How OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection Works

How to Configure OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

Limiting the Number of Self-Generating LSAs for an OSPF Process

Example

Configuration Examples for OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

Setting a Limit for LSA Generation: Example

Additional References

Related Documents

Standards

MIBs

RFCs

Technical Assistance

Feature Information for OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection


OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection


Last Updated: May 4, 2009

The OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection feature allows you to limit the number of nonself-generated link-state advertisements (LSAs) for a given Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) process. Excessive LSAs generated by other routers in the OSPF domain can substantially drain the CPU and memory resources of the router.

Finding Feature Information

For the latest feature information and caveats, see the release notes for your platform and software release. To find information about the features documented in this module, and to see a list of the releases in which each feature is supported, see the "Feature Information for OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection" section.

Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and Cisco IOS XE software image support. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to http://www.cisco.com/go/cfn. An account on Cisco.com is not required.

Contents

Prerequisites for OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

Information About OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

How to Configure OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

Configuration Examples for OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

Additional References

Feature Information for OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

Prerequisites for OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

It is presumed that you have OSPF running on your network.

Information About OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

Before you configure the OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection feature, you should understand the concepts described in the following sections:

Benefits of Using OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

How OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection Works

Benefits of Using OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

The OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection feature provides a mechanism at the OSPF level to limit the number of nonself-generated LSAs for a given OSPF process. When other routers in the network have been misconfigured, they may generate a high volume of LSAs, for instance, to redistribute large numbers of prefixes. This protection mechanism prevents routers from receiving a large number of LSAs and therefore experiencing CPU and memory shortages.

How OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection Works

When the OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection feature is enabled, the router keeps a count of the number of received (nonself-generated) LSAs that it has received. When the configured threshold number of LSAs is reached, an error message is logged. When the configured maximum number of LSAs is exceeded, the router will send a notification. If the count of received LSAs is still higher than the configured maximum after one minute, the OSPF process takes down all adjacencies and clears the OSPF database. In this ignore state, all OSPF packets received on any interface that belongs to this OSPF process are ignored and no OSPF packets are generated on any of these interfaces. The OSPF process remains in the ignore state for the time configured by the ignore-time keyword of the max-lsa command. Each time the OSPF process gets into an ignore state a counter is incremented. If this counter exceeds the number of minutes configured by the ignore-count keyword, the OSPF process stays permanently in the same ignore state and manual intervention is required to get the OSPF process out of the ignore state. The ignore state counter is reset to 0 when the OSPF process remains in the normal state of operation for the amount of time that was specified by the reset-time keyword.

If the warning-only keyword of the max-lsa command has been configured, the OSPF process will send only a warning that the LSA maximum has been exceeded.

How to Configure OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

This section contains the following procedure:

Limiting the Number of Self-Generating LSAs for an OSPF Process (required)

Limiting the Number of Self-Generating LSAs for an OSPF Process

This task describes how to configure and verify a limit on the number of nonself-generating LSAs for an OSPF process.

SUMMARY STEPS

1. enable

2. configure terminal

3. router ospf process-id

4. router-id ip-address

5. log-adjacency-changes [detail]

6. max-lsa maximum-number [threshold-percentage] [warning-only] [ignore-time minutes] [ignore-count count-number] [reset-time minutes]

7. network ip-address wildcard-mask area area-id

8. end

9. show ip ospf [process-id area-id] database [database-summary]

DETAILED STEPS

 
Command or Action
Purpose

Step 1 

enable

Example:

Router> enable

Enables privileged EXEC mode.

Enter your password if prompted.

Step 2 

configure terminal

Example:

Router# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 3 

router ospf process-id

Example:

Router(config)# router ospf 1

Enables OSPF routing.

The process-id argument identifies the OSPF process.

Step 4 

router-id ip-address

Example:

Router(config-router)# router-id 10.0.0.1

Specifies a fixed router ID for an OSPF process.

Step 5 

log-adjacency-changes [detail]

Example:

Router(config-router)# log-adjacency-changes

Configures the router to send a syslog message when an OSPF neighbor goes up or down.

Step 6 

max-lsa maximum-number [threshold-percentage] [warning-only] [ignore-time minutes] [ignore-count count-number] [reset-time minutes]

Example:

Router(config-router)# max-lsa 12000

Limits the number of nonself-generated LSAs that an OSPF routing process can keep in the OSPF link-state database (LSDB).

Step 7 

network ip-address wildcard-mask area area-id

Example:

Router(config-router)# network 209.165.201.1 255.255.255.255 area 0

Defines the interfaces on which OSPF runs and defines the area ID for those interfaces.

Step 8 

end

Example:

Router(config-router)# end

Ends the current configuration mode and returns to Privileged EXEC mode.

Step 9 

show ip ospf [process-id area-id] database [database-summary]

Example:

Router# show ip ospf 2000 database database-summary

Displays lists of information related to the OSPF database for a specific router.

Use this command to verify the number of nonself-generated LSAs on a router.

Example

The show ip ospf command is entered with the database-summary keyword to verify the actual number of nonself-generated LSAs on a router. This command can be used at any time to display lists of information related to the OSPF database for a specific router.

Router# show ip ospf 2000 database database-summary 

             OSPF Router with ID (192.168.1.3) (Process ID 2000)

Area 0 database summary
  LSA Type      Count    Delete   Maxage
  Router        5        0        0       
  Network       2        0        0       
  Summary Net   8        2        2       
  Summary ASBR  0        0        0       
  Type-7 Ext    0        0        0       
    Prefixes redistributed in Type-7  0
  Opaque Link   0        0        0       
  Opaque Area   0        0        0       
  Subtotal      15       2        2       

Process 2000 database summary
  LSA Type      Count    Delete   Maxage
  Router        5        0        0       
  Network       2        0        0       
  Summary Net   8        2        2       
  Summary ASBR  0        0        0       
  Type-7 Ext    0        0        0       
  Opaque Link   0        0        0       
  Opaque Area   0        0        0       
  Type-5 Ext    4        0        0       
    Prefixes redistributed in Type-5  0
  Opaque AS     0        0        0       
  Non-self      16      
  Total         19       2        2 

Configuration Examples for OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

This section contains the following example:

Setting a Limit for LSA Generation: Example

Setting a Limit for LSA Generation: Example

In the following example, the router is configured to not accept any more nonself-generated LSAs once a maximum of 14,000 has been exceeded:

Router(config)# router ospf 1
Router(config-router)# router-id 192.168.0.1
Router(config-router)# log-adjacency-changes
Router(config-router)# max-lsa 14000
Router(config-router)# area 33 nssa
Router(config-router)# network 192.168.0.1 0.0.0.0 area 1
Router(config-router)# network 192.168.5.1 0.0.0.0 area 1
Router(config-router)# network 192.168.2.1 0.0.0.0 area 0

In the following example, the show ip ospf command has been entered to confirm the configuration:

Router# show ip ospf 1

Routing Process "ospf 1" with ID 192.168.0.1
Supports only single TOS(TOS0) routes
Supports opaque LSA
Supports Link-local Signaling (LLS)
Supports area transit capability
Maximum number of non self-generated LSA allowed 14000
   Threshold for warning message 75%
   Ignore-time 5 minutes, reset-time 10 minutes
   Ignore-count allowed 5, current ignore-count 0
It is an area border and autonomous system boundary router

In the following example, the following output appears when the show ip ospf command has been entered during the time when the router is in the ignore state:

Router# show ip ospf 1

Routing Process "ospf 1" with ID 192.168.0.1
Supports only single TOS(TOS0) routes
Supports opaque LSA
Supports Link-local Signaling (LLS)
Supports area transit capability
Maximum number of non self-generated LSA allowed 14000
   Threshold for warning message 75%
   Ignore-time 5 minutes, reset-time 10 minutes
   Ignore-count allowed 5, current ignore-count 1
   Ignoring all neighbors due to max-lsa limit, time remaining: 00:04:52
It is an area border and autonomous system boundary router

The following output appears when the show ip ospf command has been entered after the router left the ignore state:

Router# show ip ospf 1

Routing Process "ospf 1" with ID 192.168.0.1
Supports only single TOS(TOS0) routes
Supports opaque LSA
Supports Link-local Signaling (LLS)
Supports area transit capability
Maximum number of non self-generated LSA allowed 14000
   Threshold for warning message 75%
   Ignore-time 5 minutes, reset-time 10 minutes
   Ignore-count allowed 5, current ignore-count 1 - time remaining: 00:09:51
It is an area border and autonomous system boundary router

The following output appears when the show ip ospf command has been entered for a router that is permanently in the ignore state:

Router# show ip ospf 1

Routing Process "ospf 1" with ID 192.168.0.1
Supports only single TOS(TOS0) routes
Supports opaque LSA
Supports Link-local Signaling (LLS)
Supports area transit capability
Maximum number of non self-generated LSA allowed 14000
   Threshold for warning message 75%
   Ignore-time 5 minutes, reset-time 10 minutes
   Ignore-count allowed 5, current ignore-count 6
   Permanently ignoring all neighbors due to max-lsa limit
It is an area border and autonomous system boundary router

Additional References

The following sections provide references related to the OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection feature.

Related Documents

Related Topic
Document Title

Configuring OSPF

"Configuring OSPF" chapter in the Cisco IOS XE IP Routing Protocols Configuration Guide, Release 2

OSPF commands

Cisco IOS IP Routing Protocols Command Reference

Cisco IOS master command list, all releases

Cisco IOS Master Command List, All Releases


Standards

Standard
Title

None


MIBs

MIB
MIBs Link

No new or modified MIBs are supported by this feature, and support for existing MIBs has not been modified by this feature.

To locate and download MIBs for selected platforms, Cisco IOS XE releases, and feature sets, use Cisco MIB Locator found at the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/go/mibs


RFCs

RFC
Title

None


Technical Assistance

Description
Link

The Cisco Support website provides extensive online resources, including documentation and tools for troubleshooting and resolving technical issues with Cisco products and technologies.

To receive security and technical information about your products, you can subscribe to various services, such as the Product Alert Tool (accessed from Field Notices), the Cisco Technical Services Newsletter, and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) Feeds.

Access to most tools on the Cisco Support website requires a Cisco.com user ID and password.

http://www.cisco.com/techsupport


Feature Information for OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

Table 1 lists the release history for this feature.

Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and software image support. Cisco Feature Navigator enables you to determine which Cisco IOS XE software images support a specific software release, feature set, or platform. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to http://www.cisco.com/go/cfn. An account on Cisco.com is not required.


Note Table 1 lists only the Cisco IOS XE software release that introduced support for a given feature in a given Cisco IOS XE software release train. Unless noted otherwise, subsequent releases of that Cisco IOS XE software release train also support that feature.


Table 1 Feature Information for OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

Feature Name
Releases
Feature Information

OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection

Cisco IOS XE
Release 2.1

The OSPF Link-State Database Overload Protection feature allows you to limit the number of nonself-generated link-state advertisements (LSAs) for a given OSPF process. Excessive LSAs generated by other routers in the OSPF domain can substantially drain the CPU and memory resources of the router.

The following commands are introduced or modified in the feature documented in this module:

max-lsa