Triangular routing is a method for transmitting packets of data in communications networks. It uses a form of routing that sends a packet to a proxy system before transmission to the intended destination. Triangular routing is a problem in mobile IP, however it finds applications in other networking situations, for example to avoid problems associated with network address translation (NAT), implemented for example by Skype.
Contents
Description
Notations Used
CH - Correspondent Host MH - Mobile Host HA - Home Agent FA - Foreign AgentTriangular Routing Problem
The problem in communication between a fixed host and a mobile host, such as a home computer and a smartphone, is that while the mobile host knows the fixed host's address, the fixed host does not know the mobile host's current address. Therefore different routing must be used for the different directions.
In mobile IP, packets that are sent to a mobile host by the correspondent host are first routed to the mobile host's home agent and then forwarded to the mobile host at its current location by its home agent. However, packets that are sent from the mobile host should not be handled in this way, but be instead sent straight to their destination.
Solution
For mobile IP, routing optimization is necessary because all packets sent to the MH shall pass through the HA but the route may not be the best. After receiving the packets sent by the CH to the MH, the HA notifies the CH of the binding information about the MH, i.e., the current foreign agent (FA) address of the MH, and the CH encapsulates the packets and establishes the tunnel to the FA for transparent transmission. The binding information is transferred via a definite port number. If the MH moves again, the new FA will transfer the updated binding information to the old FA to ensure that the packets are transferred to the new FA. And meanwhile the HA gets the updated binding information so the subsequent packets will be transferred directly from the CH to the new FA. The mobile IP with route optimization sets high requirements on the CH. The CH shall have the ability to obtain the binding information, encapsulate the packets and establish the tunnel. Therefore, the CH protocol stack needs lots of modifications.
This may lead to problems when using services that do ingress filtering, since the source address on the packet will be the home address of the mobile host, not the care-of address assigned to the host on its guest network. To avoid this, many mobile IP implementations offer the option of tunneling packets from the mobile host through the home agent too.
Unlike in mobile IPv4, mobile IPv6 avoids triangular routing and is therefore as efficient as native IPv6.