OSPF Neighbor Sim

Question
The topology below is running OSPF. You are required to troubleshoot and resolve the OSPF issues between the various routers. Use the appropriate show commands to troubleshoot the issues.


Instead of posting the output of “show run” commands we post here the commands entered on each router to reduce some useless lines. Also you can try solving questions by yourself before reading the answers.

R1 interface Loopback0  description ***Loopback***  ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.255  ip ospf 1 area 0 ! interface Ethernet0/0  description **Connected to R1-LAN**  ip address 10.10.110.1 255.255.255.0  ip ospf 1 area 0 ! interface Ethernet0/1  description **Connected to L2SW**  ip address 10.10.230.1 255.255.255.0  ip ospf hello-interval 25  ip ospf 1 area 0 ! router ospf 1  log-adjacency-changes	R2 ! interface Loopback0  description **Loopback**  ip address 192.168.2.2 255.255.255.255  ip ospf 2 area 0 ! interface Ethernet0/0  description **Connected to R2-LAN**  ip address 10.10.120.1 255.255.255.0  ip ospf 2 area 0 ! interface Ethernet0/1  description **Connected to L2SW**  ip address 10.10.230.2 255.255.255.0  ip ospf 2 area 0 ! router ospf 2  log-adjacency-changes	R3 username R6 password CISCO36 ! interface Loopback0  description **Loopback**  ip address 192.168.3.3 255.255.255.255  ip ospf 3 area 0 ! interface Ethernet0/0  description **Connected to L2SW**  ip address 10.10.230.3 255.255.255.0  ip ospf 3 area 0 ! interface Serial1/0  description **Connected to R4-Branch1 office**  ip address 10.10.240.1 255.255.255.252  encapsulation ppp  ip ospf 3 area 0 ! interface Serial1/1  description **Connected to R5-Branch2 office**  ip address 10.10.240.5 255.255.255.252  encapsulation ppp  ip ospf hello-interval 50  ip ospf 3 area 0 ! interface Serial1/2  description **Connected to R6-Branch3 office**  ip address 10.10.240.9 255.255.255.252  encapsulation ppp  ip ospf 3 area 0  ppp authentication chap ! router ospf 3  router-id 192.168.3.3 !
R4 ! interface Loopback0  description **Loopback**  ip address 192.168.4.4 255.255.255.255  ip ospf 4 area 2 ! interface Ethernet0/0  ip address 172.16.113.1 255.255.255.0  ip ospf 4 area 2 ! interface Serial1/0  description **Connected to R3-Main Branch office**  ip address 10.10.240.2 255.255.255.252  encapsulation ppp  ip ospf 4 area 2 ! router ospf 4  log-adjacency-changes	R5 ! interface Loopback0  description **Loopback**  ip address 192.168.5.5 255.255.255.255  ip ospf 5 area 0 ! interface Ethernet0/0  ip address 172.16.114.1 255.255.255.0  ip ospf 5 area 0 ! interface Serial1/0  description **Connected to R3-Main Branch office**  ip address 10.10.240.6 255.255.255.252  encapsulation ppp  ip ospf 5 area 0 ! router ospf 5  log-adjacency-changes	R6 username R3 password CISCO36 ! interface Loopback0  description **Loopback**  ip address 192.168.6.6 255.255.255.255  ip ospf 6 area 0 ! interface Ethernet0/0  ip address 172.16.115.1 255.255.255.0  ip ospf 6 area 0 ! interface Serial1/0  description **Connected to R3-Main Branch office**  ip address 10.10.240.10 255.255.255.252  encapsulation ppp  ip ospf 6 area 0  ppp authentication chap ! router ospf 6  router-id 192.168.3.3 !

Note: Packet Tracer does not support enabling OSPF under interface mode (ip ospf 3 area 0). We don’t know why such a popular command is not supported so we can’t make a pkt file for this lab.
Question 1
Explanation
We learned it is a OSPF problem so we should check the interfaces between them first. On both R3 and R4 use “show running-config” command to check their S1/0 interfaces

R3#show running-config <<output omitted>> ! interface Serial1/0   description **Connected to R4-Branch1 office**   ip address 10.10.240.1 255.255.255.252   encapsulation ppp   ip ospf 3 area 0 ! <<output omitted>>

R4#show running-config <<output omitted>> ! interface Serial1/0   description **Connected to R3-Main Branch office**   ip address 10.10.240.2 255.255.255.252   encapsulation ppp   ip ospf 4 area 2 ! <<output omitted>>

In the output above we see their Area IDs are mismatched; interface S1/0 of R3 is in area 0 (R3: ip ospf 3 area 0) while interface s1/0 of R4 is in area 2 (R4: ip ospf 4 area 2).
Question 2
Explanation
Continue checking their connected interfaces with the “show running-config” command:

R3#show running-config <<output omitted>> ! interface Serial1/1   description **Connected to R5-Branch2 office**   ip address 10.10.240.5 255.255.255.252   encapsulation ppp   ip ospf hello-interval 50   ip ospf 3 area 0 ! <<output omitted>>

R5#show running-config <<output omitted>> ! interface Serial1/0   description **Connected to R3-Main Branch office**   ip address 10.10.240.6 255.255.255.252   encapsulation ppp   ip ospf 5 area 0 ! <<output omitted>>

The only difference we can see here is the line “ip ospf hello-interval 50” on R3. This command sets the number of seconds R3 waits before sending the next hello packet out this interface. In this case after configuring this command, R3 will send hello packets to R5 every 50 seconds. But the default value of hello-interval is 10 seconds and R5 is using it. Therefore we can think of a hello interval mismatch problem here. You can verify with the “show ip ospf interface <interface>” command on each router.

R3#sh ip ospf int s1/1 Serial1/1 is up, line protocol is up   Internet Address 10.10.240.5/30, Area 0   Process ID 3, Router ID 192.168.3.3, Network Type POINT_TO_POINT, Cost: 64   Enabled by interface config, including secondary ip addresses   Transmit Delay is 1 sec, State POINT_TO_POINT,   Timer intervals configured, Hello 50, Dead 200, Wait 200, Retransmit 5   oob-resync timeout 200   Hello due in 00:00:28   Supports Link-local Signaling (LLS)   Index 2/2, flood queue length 0   Next 0x0(0)/0x0(0)   Last flood scan length is 0, maximum is 0   Last flood scan time is 0 msec, maximum is 0 msec   Neighbor Count is 0, Adjacent neighbor count is 0   Suppress hello for 0 neighbor(s)

R5#sh ip ospf int s1/0 Serial1/0 is up, line protocol is up   Internet Address 10.10.240.6/30, Area 0   Process ID 5, Router ID 10.10.240.6, Network Type POINT_TO_POINT, Cost: 64   Enabled by interface config, including secondary ip addresses   Transmit Delay is 1 sec, State POINT_TO_POINT,   Timer intervals configured, Hello 10, Dead 40, Wait 40, Retransmit 5   oob-resync timeout 40   Hello due in 00:00:04   Supports Link-local Signaling (LLS)   Index 1/1, flood queue length 0   Next 0x0(0)/0x0(0)   Last flood scan length is 0, maximum is 0   Last flood scan time is 0 msec, maximum is 0 msec   Neighbor Count is 0, Adjacent neighbor count is 0   Suppress hello for 0 neighbor(s)

So we can see both hello and dead interval are mismatched because the dead interval always four times the value of hello interval, unless you manually configure the dead interval (with the ip ospf dead-interval <seconds> command).
Question 3
Explanation
Continue checking their connected interfaces with the “show running-config” command:

R1#show running-config <<output omitted>> ! interface Ethernet0/1   description **Connected to L2SW**   ip address 10.10.230.1 255.255.255.0   ip ospf hello-interval 25   ip ospf 1 area 0 ! <<output omitted>>

R2#show running-config <<output omitted>> ! interface Ethernet0/1   description **Connected to L2SW**   ip address 10.10.230.2 255.255.255.0   ip ospf 2 area 0 ! <<output omitted>>

We see the hello interval on R1 is not the same as R2 (and you can verify with the “show ip ospf interface <interface> command”) -> There is a hello and dead interval mismatch problem. We should configure “no ip ospf hello-interval 25” on R1.
Note: Maybe there are some versions of this question in the exam. For example there are some reports saying that Ethernet0/1 on R1 is shutdown (and this is the correct choice in the exam). So please be careful checking the config on the routers before choosing the correct answers.
Question 4
Explanation

R3#show running-config <<output omitted>> username R6 password CISCO36 ! interface Serial1/2   description **Connected to R6-Branch3 office**   ip address 10.10.240.9 255.255.255.252   encapsulation ppp   ip ospf 3 area 0   ppp authentication chap ! <<output omitted>> ! router ospf 3   router-id 192.168.3.3 ! <<output omitted>>

R6#show running-config <<output omitted>> username R3 password CISCO36 ! interface Serial1/0   description **Connected to R3-Main Branch office**   ip address 10.10.240.10 255.255.255.252   encapsulation ppp   ip ospf 6 area 0   ppp authentication chap ! <<output omitted>> ! router ospf 6   router-id 192.168.3.3 ! <<output omitted>>

We are not sure about the configuration of ppp authentication in this case. Some reports said that only one router has the “ppp authentication chap” command but it is just a trick and is not the problem here. The real problem here is R6 uses the same router-id of R3 (192.168.3.3) so OSPF neighborship cannot be established. In real life, such configuration error will be shown in the command line interface (CLI). So please check carefully for this question.