LAB 13 / 20

OSPF Multi-Area Design — Stub, NSSA, Type-3 Filtering

OSPF Multi-AreaStub AreaNSSALSA Filtering

Active Nodes

13 OSPF AREA DESIGN OSPF Areas — Active: EDGE-1,EDGE-4,CE-CORP-1,CE-CORP-2 See master topology for full 20-router diagram Active Nodes: EDGE-1,EDGE-4,CE-CORP-1,CE-CORP-2 OSPF Areas EDGE-1,EDGE-4,CE-CORP-1,CE-CORP-2 Refer to lab.html for complete step-by-step configuration and verification commands for each active router Active Zone Inactive (dimmed) Ioannis (John) Alexander Konstas

Active routers: EDGE-1, EDGE-4, CE-CORP-1, CE-CORP-2, CORE-1

Key Concepts

Stub Area — Blocking External LSAs

In a stub area, the ABR blocks Type-5 (external) LSAs and instead injects a Type-3 default route (0.0.0.0/0) into the area. Stub routers use this default for all external destinations. A totally stubby area additionally blocks Type-3 inter-area LSAs — only intra-area routes and the ABR default are present. Configure with area 100 stub no-summary on the ABR (totally stubby). All routers in the area must be configured as stub: area 100 stub.

NSSA — Redistributing External Routes in Stub

NSSA (Not So Stubby Area) allows a stub area to contain an ASBR that redistributes external routes, which would normally be prohibited in a stub. The ASBR generates Type-7 LSAs (only within the NSSA). The ABR translates Type-7 to Type-5 LSAs when advertising to the backbone. This is useful when a CE site has both a VPN connection (via PE) and a direct internet connection — the CE can redistribute its default route as a Type-7 without breaking the stub topology.

Type-3 LSA Filtering

ABRs can filter specific Type-3 (inter-area summary) LSAs using area X filter-list prefix FILTER-NAME in or out. The "in" direction filters LSAs entering the area from the backbone; "out" filters LSAs the ABR generates into the backbone from the area. This is the only place in OSPF where you can influence which inter-area prefixes are visible — OSPF does not support filtering within an area (intra-area routes are always flooded completely).

Area Configuration

EDGE-1 (ABR)Area 0 backbone + Area 100 totally-stubby
router ospf 10 vrf CORP
 router-id 10.255.2.1
 area 100 stub no-summary
 network 10.1.100.0 0.0.0.1 area 100
 area 100 filter-list prefix FILTER-INTERNAL in

ip prefix-list FILTER-INTERNAL deny 10.255.0.0/16 le 32
ip prefix-list FILTER-INTERNAL permit 0.0.0.0/0 le 32
CE-CORP-1Stub area member — ASBR for NSSA
router ospf 10
 router-id 10.255.6.1
 area 100 nssa
 network 10.1.100.0 0.0.0.1 area 100
 network 192.168.100.0 0.0.0.255 area 100
 redistribute static subnets

Verification

show ip ospf database
Expected: In totally-stubby area, only Type-1, Type-2 LSAs visible inside the area. No Type-5 external LSAs. One Type-3 default route from ABR.
show ip ospf database nssa-external
Expected: Type-7 NSSA LSAs from ASBR (CE-CORP-1) visible within the NSSA. ABR translates these to Type-5 in the backbone.
show ip route ospf
Expected: CE router only sees O*IA 0.0.0.0/0 default route from ABR (totally-stubby). All other destinations reached via default.

Research and direction by Ioannis (John) Konstas; compiled and finalized with AI assistance.

Initial Configs — Load These First