What is Routing Information Protocol (RIP)?
Routing Information Protocol (RIP) is a distance vector protocol that uses hop count as its primary metric. RIP defines how routers should exchange information when moving traffic between a connected set of local area networks.
In Enterprise, first open the shortest path (OSPF) Routing has largely replaced RIP as the most widespread interior gateway protocol. RIP was supplanted primarily due to its simplicity and inability to scale to very large and complex networks. Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is another distance vector protocol now used to carry routing information across autonomous systems on the Internet.
RIP was originally developed for the Xerox PARC Universal Protocol and was named GWINFO in the Xerox Network Systems protocol suite in 1981. RIP, defined in RFC 1058 in 1988, is known for being easy to configure and use in small networks.
How the Routing Information Protocol works
RIP uses a distance vector algorithm to decide which path a packet will take to reach its destination. Each RIP router manages arouting table, which is a list of all destinations that the router can reach. Every router broadcasts its entire routing table to its nearest neighbors every 30 seconds. In this context,Neighborsare the other routers to which a router is connected directly, i.e. H. the other routers in the same network segments as the selected router. The neighbors, in turn, broadcast the information to their nearest neighbors, and so on, until all RIP hosts within the network have the same knowledge of the routing paths. This shared knowledge is referred to asconvergence.
When a router receives an update on a route and the new route is shorter, it updates its table entry with the length and next-hop direction of the shorter route. If the new path is longer, it waits for a "hold" period to see if subsequent updates also reflect the higher value. It will only update the table entry if the new, longer path has been determined to be stable.
When a router goes down or a network connection is lost, the network knows it because that router stops sending updates to its neighbors or stops sending and receiving updates over the broken connection. If a particular route in the routing table is not updated for six consecutive update cycles (i.e. for 180 seconds), a RIP router will drop that route and inform the rest of the network of the problem through its own periodic updates.
RIP versions
There are three versions of the Routing Information Protocol:
- RIPv1
- RIPv2
- RIPng
RIPv1, standardized in 1988, is also known as the Classful Routing Protocol because it does not transmitsubnetMask the information in your routing updates. On the other hand, RIPv2, which was standardized in 1998, is called Classless Routing Protocol because it sends subnet mask information in its routing updates. RIPng is an extension of RIPv2 created to support itIPv6.
In RIPv1, routes are decided based on destination IP and number of hops. RIPv2 evolved this method and began to include subnet masks and gateways. Also, in RIPv1, the routing table is sent to all stations in the connected network, while RIPv2 sends the routing table to aMulticastAddress to reduce network traffic. In addition, RIPv2 uses authentication for security, a feature RIPv1 lacks.
RIP-Konfiguration
RIP works at the application layer of theOSI-Modell. The Routing Information Protocol configuration process is fairly simple. After the IP addresses have been assigned to the machines involved and the routers' interfaces, developers can issue the router RIP command, which tells the router to enable RIP. Developers can then use the network command, which allows users to identify the networks they want to work with. Only the networks assigned directly to the router need to be specified.
Users can also configure each port to perform the following actions:
- Prevent RIP packets from being sent or received.
- Receive packages in different formats.
- Send packets formatted for each of the different RIP versions to the RIPv1 broadcast address.
RIP functions
RIP uses a modified number of hops to determine the distance of the network. A changed hop count reflects the fact that network engineers can allocate routes at a higher cost. By default, if a router's neighbor owns a destination network and can deliver packets directly to the destination network without using other routers, that route has one hop. In network management terminology, this is described as the cost of one.
RIP only supports 15 hops in a route. If a packet cannot reach a destination within 15 hops, the destination is considered unreachable. Routes can be assigned a higher cost (as if they involved additional hops) if the organization wants to limit or discourage their use. For example, a satellite backup connection can be assigned a cost of 10 to force traffic to follow other routes when they are available.
RIP-Timer
Timers in RIP help regulate performance. This includes:
- Update Timers-- Frequency of routing updates. Every 30 seconds, IP RIP sends a full copy of its routing table, subject to changeshared horizon. (The Internet Packet Exchange RIP does this every 60 seconds.)
- invalid timer-- Missing updated content in a routing update. RIP waits 180 seconds to mark a route as invalid and immediately puts it on hold.
- Standby timer and enabled updates-- Help with route stability in a Cisco environment. Holds ensure that periodic update messages do not unduly cause a routing loop. The router does not respond to new, non-superior information for a certain period of time. The RIP timeout is 180 seconds.
- Download-Timer-- RIP waits another 240 seconds after holding down before removing the route from the table.
Other stability features that help with routing loops includepoison backwards. Reverse poisoning is a way for a gateway node to tell its neighboring gateways that one of the gateways is no longer connected. To do this, the notifying gateway sets the number of hops to the disconnected gateway to a number that indicatesinfinite, which in layman's terms simply means "You can't get there". Since RIP supports up to 15 hops to another gateway, setting the hop count to 16 is equivalent to infinite.
RIP advantages
The benefits of RIP include:
- feasible configuration
- easy to understand
- mostly no loops
- guaranteed to support almost all routers
- encouragesload balancing
Also, RIP is preferred over static routes due to its ease of configuration and the fact that it does not need to be updated every time the topology changes.
Disadvantages of RIPs
Unfortunately, the disadvantage of RIP is the higher network and processing overhead compared to static routing.
Other disadvantages of RIP are the following:
- not always loop-free
- only supports load balancing at equal cost
- Hole jamming may occur
- Bandwidth intensive and inefficient
- Large networks lead to slower convergence
RIP Restrictions
While using RIP, users may encounter various limitations. For example, the Routing Information Protocol causes increased network traffic due to the checks and updates it performs on neighboring routers every 30 seconds. In addition, since RIP only updates neighboring routers, updates from non-neighboring routers can be forgotten since the information is not immediately accessible.
Another limitation of RIP is its enforcement of a maximum number of hops of 15. As a result, remote routers on large networks may be inaccessible or unreachable. Also, the closest path may not be the shortest path. This is because RIP does not take into account several factors when calculating the shortest path.
Editor's note:This definition was updated in December 2022 to improve the reading experience.
FAQs
What routing protocol does RIP use? ›
The Routing Information Protocol (RIP) Version 1 uses broadcast UDP data packets, and RIPv2 uses multicast packets to exchange the routing information. Cisco software sends routing information updates every 30 seconds, which is termed advertising.
Should I enable RIP on my router? ›RIP is a dynamic routing protocol. Unless you have multiple routers you need to distribute routes to there really isn't any reason to run it. All it will do is put extra traffic on the wire and eat up a few cpu cycles on your router. Save this answer.
What are the RIP and OSPF protocols How do they work? ›| RIP | OSPF |
|---|---|
| It's a Distance Vector protocol that determines the transmission path based on the distance or hops count. | It is a link-state protocol that determines the shortest path by analyzing many factors such as speed, cost, and path congestion. |
Routing algorithms determine the specific choice of route. Each router has a prior knowledge only of networks attached to it directly. A routing protocol shares this information first among immediate neighbors, and then throughout the network. This way, routers gain knowledge of the topology of the network.
Why is RIP used? ›Rest in peace (R.I.P.), a phrase from the Latin requiescat in pace (Ecclesiastical Latin: [rekwiˈeskat in ˈpatʃe]), is sometimes used in traditional Christian services and prayers, such as in the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and Methodist denominations, to wish the soul of a decedent eternal rest and peace.
What is the example of RIP? ›RIP will automatically summarize routes to the classful boundary by default. For example, if you've got an interface with IP address 192.168. 10.1/30, and under RIP you include that with a network statement, it will be advertised as 192.168. 10.0/24.
Does anyone still use RIP? ›RIP does this, and it's still widely used today.
What is the main disadvantage of using a RIP? ›Although RIP is simple to configure, it suffers from a few drawbacks. RIP is limited to a hop count of 15. This means that an advertisement can pass through only 16 routers before the route is considered unreachable. Also, RIP is considered slow to recover when there is a change in the network topology.
Is RIP obsolete? ›RIP is a protocol that is used for routing IP networks. It was designed in the early 1980's for communication between gateways (computers with two NIC's). It is the oldest routing protocol used by the network industry and is considered by many to be inefficient or border-line obsolete.
What is difference between OSPF and RIP protocol? ›The main difference between OSPF and RIP is that RIP only keeps track of the closest router for each destination address, while OSPF keeps track of a complete topological database of all connections in the local network.
What is the main difference between OSPF and RIP? ›
The main difference between them is OSPF is categorized into link state routing whereas RIP is categorized as vector routing protocol. OSPF stands for Open Shortest Path First is a link state and hierarchical IGP routing protocol algorithm.
What is the difference between RIP and OSPF routing protocol? ›OSPF routing protocol has complete knowledge of network topology, allowing routers to calculate routes based on incoming requests. OSPF protocol has no limitations in hop count, unlike RIP protocol that has only 15 hops at most. So OSPF converges faster than RIP and has better load balancing.
What is IP Routing for dummies? ›IP Routing stands for Internet Protocol Routing and is the technology that determines the path for data packets between networks. It forwards data from a source to the intended destination, by sending it through various networks. These networks receive the packets and forward them to the next network.
What are the 3 types of routing protocols? ›Routing Information Protocol (RIP) Interior Gateway Protocol (IGRP) Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)
What are the 3 classes of routing protocols? ›There are three types of routing protocols: distance vector, link state, and hybrid. Depending on the situation, each one has its pros and cons and should be considered on a case by case basis. Distance vector – This class of protocols is used to find the best path to a remote network by looking at the distance.
What is RIP in simple words? ›rest in peace. ◊ R.I.P. is often written on a gravestone as a wish that the person buried there will have peace in death.
What port does RIP use? ›RIP uses User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port 520. RIP has the following architectural limitations: The longest network path cannot exceed 15 hops (assuming that each network, or hop, has a cost of 1).
What are the three main parts of a RIP? ›Rip currents have three main parts, "the Feeder Zone", "the Neck", and "the Head".
Why is RIP obsolete? ›In most networking environments, RIP is not the preferred choice of routing protocol, as its time to converge and scalability are poor compared to EIGRP, OSPF, or IS-IS.
How many routers are in RIP? ›In the same way, RIP can support maximum upto 15 hops, which means that the 16 routers can be configured in a RIP.
Is RIP reliable? ›
RIP Version-1:
It works on most of the routers, it is classful routing protocol. Updates are broadcasted. Its administrative distance value is 120, it means it is not reliable, The lesser the administrative distance value the reliability is much more. Its metric is hop count and max hop count is 15.
It is generally loop free. Conserve bandwidth, smaller routing updates sent & received. Minimized routing table and then faster lookup. The main disadvantage of RIP is the inability to scale to large or very large networks.
Why is RIP bad for large networks? ›Increased network traffic: RIP checks with its neighboring routers every 30 seconds, which increases network traffic. Maximum hop count: RIP has a maximum hop count of 15, which means that on large networks, other remote routers may not be able to be reached.
Why does RIP use UDP instead of TCP? ›Nevertheless, many important applications run over UDP rather TCP. UDP is used for RIP routing table updates (see Chapter 4 on the network layer), because the updates are sent periodically, so that lost updates are replaced by more up-to-date updates. UDP is used to carry network management (SNMP - see Chapter 8) data.
Does RIP use broadcast? ›There are two versions of RIP, version 1 transmits full updates every 30 seconds using broadcast. Version 2 supports partial, triggered updates and uses multicast. RIP is a slow routing protocol compared to other IGP (Interior Gateway Protocols) like OSPF, EIGRP and IS-IS.
What is an advantage of OSPF compared to RIP? ›What is an advantage of OSPF compared to RIP? Link-state routing protocols require more CPU processing and memory to compute the routes using the Dijkstra algorithm. They are more complex but converge much faster than distance vector protocols like RIP.
Can a router run both OSPF and RIP at the same time? ›Running both RIP and OSPF in the same network on all routers is possible but does not make much sense. Both routing protocols will build their databases and compute the shortest paths from their own point of view.
How is BGP different from RIP? ›OSPF and RIP are Interior Gateway Protocols (IGP) and distribute routing information within an autonomous system, whereas BGP is a Exterior Gateway Protocol. The routes learned via the dynamic routing protocols are applied to the kernel routing table.
What is the function of OSPF or RIP? ›OSPF works for IP(Internet Protocol) Protocol. It calculates the metric in terms of Hop Count. It calculates the metric in terms of bandwidth. In RIP, the whole routing table is to be broadcasted to the neighbors every 30 seconds by the routers.
Why do we use OSPF? ›The main advantage of a link state routing protocol like OSPF is that the complete knowledge of topology allows routers to calculate routes that satisfy particular criteria. This can be useful for traffic engineering purposes, where routes can be constrained to meet particular quality of service requirements.
Does BGP use RIP? ›
In BGP the calculations are in terms of HOP count. RIP is a vector type. BGP is Hybrid type. RIP allows a maximum of 15 HOP counts.
Is RIP and OSPF the same? ›RIP (Routing Information Protocol) is one of the oldest routing protocols in service, whereas OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) serves as the most widely adopted IGP for large enterprise networks. Network managers may find themselves in a dilemma when choosing between RIP vs OSPF.
What is RIP and BGP protocol? ›OSPF and RIP are Interior Gateway Protocols (IGP) and distribute routing information within an autonomous system, whereas BGP is a Exterior Gateway Protocol. The routes learned via the dynamic routing protocols are applied to the kernel routing table.
What are the three routing protocols? ›Routing protocols are mechansims by which routing information is exchanged between routers so that routing decisions can be made. In the Internet, there are three types of routing protocols commonly used. They are: distance vector, link state, and path vector.
Is RIP protocol internal or external? ›Routing Information Protocol (RIP) is an Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) designed to manage a relatively small network. RIP is based on the Bellman-Ford or the distance-vector algorithm.
Does RIP have authentication? ›Understanding RIP Authentication
RIPv2 provides authentication support so that RIP links can require authentication keys (passwords) before they become active. Authentication provides an additional layer of security on the network beyond the other security features. By default, this authentication is disabled.
RIP uses User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port 520.
What are the disadvantages of RIP protocol? ›Although RIP is simple to configure, it suffers from a few drawbacks. RIP is limited to a hop count of 15. This means that an advertisement can pass through only 16 routers before the route is considered unreachable. Also, RIP is considered slow to recover when there is a change in the network topology.
Is RIP a layer 3 protocol? ›RIP works at layer 3 and sends routing information across the network.
What are the main differences between RIP and OSPF routing protocols? ›The main difference between OSPF and RIP is that RIP only keeps track of the closest router for each destination address, while OSPF keeps track of a complete topological database of all connections in the local network.
Why RIP is Layer 7 protocol? ›
Because rip uses UDP port 520 on layer 4.
Is RIP protocol still used? ›Version 2 supports partial, triggered updates and uses multicast. RIP is a slow routing protocol compared to other IGP (Interior Gateway Protocols) like OSPF, EIGRP and IS-IS. Even though it's not commonly used anymore, it is a still a great routing protocol to start with if you are new to networking.
What is RIP protocol advantages and disadvantages? ›It is generally loop free. Conserve bandwidth, smaller routing updates sent & received. Minimized routing table and then faster lookup. The main disadvantage of RIP is the inability to scale to large or very large networks.
Which port is RIP? ›RIP is based on UDP and uses port 520 for route updates. By limiting routes to a maximum of 15 hops, the protocol helps prevent the development of routing loops, but also limits the supported network size. If more than 15 hops are required, traffic is not routed.