OSPF Loopback interfaces are treated as a stub host and will only have a 32 bit host route on the other devices no matter how the subnet mask is entered under the OSPF network statement.

We will explore how we can disable this default behaviour using a few methods.

As you can see, R4 is configured with IP address 192.168.1.4 and R5 with 192.168.1.5.

We have loopback interfaces added with /24 subnet masks on R4 and R5

R4#sh run int loop0
Building configuration...
Current configuration : 61 bytes
!
interface Loopback0
ip address 4.4.4.4 255.255.255.0
end
R4#

R5#sh run int loop 0
Building configuration...
Current configuration : 61 bytes
!
interface Loopback0
ip address 5.5.5.5 255.255.255.0
end
R5#

We are running basic OSPF Configs as follows…

R4#sh run | se router ospf 1
router ospf 1
router-id 4.4.4.4
log-adjacency-changes
network 4.4.4.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
network 192.168.1.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
R4#

R5#sh run | se router ospf 1
router ospf 1
router-id 5.5.5.5
log-adjacency-changes
network 5.5.5.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
network 192.168.1.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
R5#

This is what we are seeing on R4 and R5 and we expected this…

R5#sh ip ro ospf
4.0.0.0/32 is subnetted, 1 subnets
O       4.4.4.4 [110/11] via 192.168.1.4, 00:12:27, Ethernet0/0
R5#

R4#sh ip ro ospf
5.0.0.0/32 is subnetted, 1 subnets
O       5.5.5.5 [110/11] via 192.168.1.5, 00:12:43, Ethernet0/0
R4#

Now we will try the first method, this is to set the OSPF Network type to point-to-point under the interface configuration mode.

R4#conf t
Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
R4(config)#int loop 0
R4(config-if)#ip ospf network point-to-point
R4(config-if)#

R5#conf t
Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
R5(config)#int loop0
R5(config-if)#ip ospf network point-to-point
R5(config-if)#

As you can see this works, and now we are seeing the whole /24 Range…

R4#sh ip ro ospf
5.0.0.0/24 is subnetted, 1 subnets
O       5.5.5.0 [110/11] via 192.168.1.5, 00:00:04, Ethernet0/0
R4#

R5#sh ip ro ospf
4.0.0.0/24 is subnetted, 1 subnets
O       4.4.4.0 [110/11] via 192.168.1.4, 00:00:18, Ethernet0/0
R5#

Second option we got is to redistribute the connected network with the with the redistribute connected subnets under the Router OSPF configuration mode.

When it comes to redistribution, try not to go wild and it is always a good idea to create route-map to point out what you want redistributed.

R4#sh ip ro ospf
5.0.0.0/24 is subnetted, 1 subnets
O E2    5.5.5.0 [110/20] via 192.168.1.5, 00:00:00, Ethernet0/0
R4#

R5#sh ip ro ospf
4.0.0.0/24 is subnetted, 1 subnets
O E2    4.4.4.0 [110/20] via 192.168.1.4, 00:00:15, Ethernet0/0
R5#

The third option we have is to use the Area Range command. To accomplish this, we will need to add a few more Loopback interfaces on R4 then we will use the area x range command to summarise it.

R4#sh ip int brie | i up
Ethernet0/0    192.168.1.4     YES manual up     up
Loopback0      4.4.4.4         YES manual up     up
Loopback10     10.1.1.1        YES manual up     up
Loopback11     11.1.1.1        YES manual up     up
Loopback12     12.1.1.1        YES manual up     up
R4#

When we add the loopback interfaces into OSPF, it is still showing it as a /32 Host route…

R5#sh ip ro ospf
10.0.0.0/32 is subnetted, 1 subnets
O IA    10.1.1.1 [110/11] via 192.168.1.4, 00:00:22, Ethernet0/0
11.0.0.0/32 is subnetted, 1 subnets
O IA    11.1.1.1 [110/11] via 192.168.1.4, 00:00:12, Ethernet0/0
12.0.0.0/32 is subnetted, 1 subnets
O IA    12.1.1.1 [110/11] via 192.168.1.4, 00:00:12, Ethernet0/0
R5#

Now, we will use the Area 1 Range command to summarise it on R4. Once it is done, we can now see the end result.

Note: The above Loopback networks have been added into Area 1 under the Router OFPF configuration.

R5#sh ip ro ospf
O IA 8.0.0.0/5 [110/11] via 192.168.1.4, 00:00:10, Ethernet0/0
R5#

These are the three method I know of when it comes to disabling the /32 host route on OSPF Loopback Networks…

Vodafone, one of the world’s largest mobile phone operators has finally got their hands on the 2G version of the iPhone.

This means countries like Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey will all be able get a feel of the Apple iPhone.

Even though it is the 2G version of the iPhone, users from most of the above countries won’t have the need to upgrade to the 3G version because it is not supported there; but Eventually people wants to get their hands on the 3G version of the iPhone which is supposed to be out in this summer.

The question is, what other features is the 3G version going to have…? GPS?

Anyone who hasn’t had the experience of using multiple monitors (in most care two), would definitely chose for one big monitor than having two. I would have done the same a year ago but that all changed after I plugged in the second monitor to my system.

If you have two more screens, it would speed up your work, and currently I move all the active screens like E-mails and IMs into one monitor and the static pages like Web Browser and other programs into other.

I am currently using two identical 19″ Samsung monitors at the moment and still considering to upgrade them to 30″ Dells… It is never enough when you get hooked into multiple monitors.

If you are considering on getting multiple monitors, be sure to get identical ones so it will be easy on your eyes and having identical ones would make it a lot easier to calibrate the right brightness / contrast rate etc…

I was rather amused to read an article on TechCrunch couple of days ago under the title “Could Facebook Become The Next Microsoft?” The writer Duncan Riley went onto write that Facebook is going to be the next Microsoft on the web world. Before you read my review on the article, I suggest you read Duncan Riley’s article on TechCrunch Here

Everybody knows about Microsoft and Facebook. I will give a brief introduction about both Companies, so this article will make more sense to the reader…

Microsoft is the leading Operating Systems and software manufacturer in the world. Thousands of companies depend on Microsoft’s to make their revenue by developing third party software for their Operating Systems. Furthermore, there are millions of people and companies who uses Microsoft Software and Operating Systems are familiarised with products and rely on them.

Facebook is a Social Networking Website with some nifty features. These features being, third party applications. This means Facebook will not run the third party applications on their servers, the Facebook Platform is able to communicate with third party applications running on external servers which are not under the control of Facebook, Which means Facebook allows you to pipe information through their API (Application Programming Interface). If you want to know more about how this system works, you should have a read at http://developers.facebook.com/documentation.php

The author of this article Duncan Riley only concentrated on the Facebook Applications which are supported mostly by third parties and he went onto directly compare it with Microsoft. He is directly comparing Microsoft based third party applications (i.e. Software made by other companies, for example Adobe, AutoDesk, Symantec) with Facebook applications. His argument being, If Facebook could control the third party applications like Microsoft is controlling other software developers, then one day Facebook will be the next Microsoft and have some kind of Web OS.

He is pretty much confused the fact that Facebook being a platform will offer opportunities to third party developers. But you need to think about the target audience. Most of the people are forced to use Microsoft Operating Systems and some of its Software…You can argue the fact that it is not true, but if you analyse the situation, you will think otherwise. In the years Microsoft has created an environment where most of the users are forced to use their products.

One main difference being, the users of Facebook have a choice; they have chose to use Facebook, so the target audience of Facebook is far less compared to Microsoft. When it comes to Applications, Facebook pretty much have control over it, but when you compare it to Microsoft and their party applications, it is not the case. By law, Microsoft is forced to work with third party software makers. This is a huge advantage on the software developers side, Microsoft can’t just stop you from making software for their Operating Systems because they don’t like it, or they think you are making more profit from it. This is different when it comes to Facebook, they can just stop you, simple as that. There is no law to protect the third party application makers.

Since Facebook is a web platform, there are a huge security concerns when it comes to third party applications. This is why they don’t let them run it on their servers, otherwise they would get hacked within minutes. The third party applications run on external servers and piped through the Facebook API. This means, the applications will be slow depending on the server / connection it is in… When the external server is down or something wrong with the route between the Facebook servers and the external application servers, it will not work. So, the people who are going to get affected are the end users.

My conclusion being, you can’t just go and compare Microsoft with a Social Networking site with some addons. It is pretty stupid of the writer to go and compare a Software Giant with a website which allows external applications. An average user might think he has a point, but you analyse the facts, the author is completely wrong!

You can’t just go ahead and compare cats and dogs because they have 4 legs.

Is this really necessary? Someone went all the trouble to lable the Orange Cable…

I have uploaded this video to Google about Botnets (Robot Networks). I would like to advice every single Internet User to see it. It should give the average user an idea on how important an Antivirus Software is!

There have been a number of updates to TechForums lately!

After updating vBulletin 3.6.0, I have managed to update the forum skin today. Along with the unique footer image… It looks pretty good. Way better than the default vB skin!

TechForums can be viewed here.

Another new member to my gadget collection! It is the Sony Ericsson Bluetooth Headset HBH-IV835. It’s probably the lightest and the latest one around so I went ahead an ordered it… Looks pretty nice… Here is a picture…

• Weight: 10g.
• Talk Time: Up to 3.5 hours.
• Standby Time: Up to 160 hours.
• Up to 10m range.

This is a paragraph from Sony Ericsson’s site

The diminutive size won’t diminish the sound quality. Clear digital sound is assured with Digital Signal Processing (DSP), fast automatic volume adjustment and Bluetooth 2.0 for a more secure connection. You and the person you are talking to will notice the difference – even if many people won’t even notice you’re wearing a headset at all.

I have been using this Bluetooth Headset for about two weeks now. It’s really good and versatile.

The digital sound quality is exceptional although the talk time of 3.5 Hours is a bit short for someone who talks on the phone for over 3.5 Hours a day needs a recharge… It’s perfect for me because I only need to charge it every 5 days or so…

The design is perfect; you won’t even feel there is something on your ears. It’s pretty much having one side of a headphone in your ears without having a wire coming from it… The earpiece is a bit long in my point of view (3 mm shorter), that’s the only negative point I have about this Headset.

This is how this website looks as a graph…

Check out  http://www.aharef.info/static/htmlgraph/ for more info.

I have been using Typo blog for some time and frankly, I am pretty annoying with its features. So, I have decided to move back to WordPress…