Routing Protocol
Routing is a vital communication mechanism that governs how data packets travel from source to
destination. Effective routing ensures that data is transferred across networks in an efficient,
reliable, and timely manner. There are two main forms of routing: static and dynamic.
What is Static Routing?
Static Routing is also known as non-adaptive routing which doesn’t change the routing table
unless the network administrator changes or modifies them manually. Static routing does not use
complex routing algorithms and It provides higher or more security than dynamic routing.
Advantages of Static Routing
● No routing overhead for the router CPU which means a cheaper router can be used to
do routing.
● It adds security because only an administrator can allow routing to particular
networks only.
● No bandwidth usage between routers.
Disadvantage of Static Routing
● For a large network, it is a hectic task for administrators to manually add each route
for the network in the routing table on each router.
● The administrator should have good knowledge of the topology. If a new
administrator comes, then he has to manually add each route so he should have very
good knowledge of the routes of the topology.
What is Dynamic Routing?
Dynamic routing is also known as adaptive routing which changes the routing table according to
the change in topology. Dynamic routing uses complex routing algorithms and it does not provide
high security like static routing. When the network change(topology) occurs, it sends the message
to the router to ensure that changes then the routes are recalculated for sending updated routing
information.
Advantages of Dynamic Routing
● Easy to configure.
● More effective at selecting the best route to a destination remote network and also for
discovering remote networks.
Disadvantage of Dynamic Routing
● Consumes more bandwidth for communicating with other neighbors.
● Less secure than static routing.
1. Distance Vector Routing Protocol
These protocols select the best path based on hop counts to reach a destination network in a
particular direction. Dynamic protocol like RIP is an example of a distance vector routing
protocol. Hop count is each router that occurs between the source and the destination network.
The path with the least hop count will be chosen as the best.
Advantages
● Simple to Use : Easy setup and operation.
● Low Resource Usage : Requires minimal CPU and memory.
● Automatic Updates : Handles network changes automatically.
● Good for Small Networks : Works well in simple setups.
Disadvantages
● Slow Convergence : Takes time to update routes after a network change.
● Limited Scalability : Not efficient for large networks.
● High Bandwidth Use : Frequent updates may consume more network bandwidth.
● Less Accurate : Routes may not always be optimal.
2. Link State Routing Protocol
These protocols know more about Internetwork than any other distance vector routing protocol.
These are also known as SPF (Shortest Path First) protocol. OSPF is an example of link-state
routing protocol.
Features
● Hello, messages, also known as keep-alive messages are used for neighbor discovery
and recovery.
● The concept of triggered updates is used i.e. updates are triggered only when there is
a topology change.
● Only that many updates are exchanged which are requested by the neighbor router.
Advantages
● Faster Updates : Quickly adapts to network changes.
● Accurate Routing : Provides optimal routes with a complete network view.
● Works for Large Networks : Suitable for big, complex networks.
● Prevents Routing Loops : Avoids errors in route calculations.
● More Reliable : Less prone to mistakes in routing.
Disadvantages
● High Resource Usage : Requires more memory and processing power.
● Complex Setup : More difficult to configure and maintain.
● Increased Bandwidth : Uses more bandwidth for network updates.
● Not Ideal for Small Networks : Overhead is unnecessary in small setups.
Routing Information Protocol (RIP) V1 & V2
Routing Information Protocol (RIP) protocol is the intradomain (interior) routing protocol which
is based on distance vector routing and it is used inside an autonomous system. Routers and
network links are called nodes. The first column of the routing table is the destination address.
The cost metric in this protocol is hop count which is the number of networks which need to be
passed to reach a destination. Here infinity is defined by a fixed number which is 16; it means
that using a Rip network cannot have more than 15 hops.
RIP Version-1:
It is an open standard protocol that works on the various vendor’s routers. It works on most of
the routers, it is a 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. There will be a total of 16 routers
in the network. When there will be the same number of hop to reach the destination, Rip starts to
perform load balancing. Load balancing means if there are three ways to reach the destination
and each way has the same number of routers then packets will be sent to each path to reach the
destination. This reduces traffic and also the load is balanced. It is used in small companies, in
this protocol routing tables are updated in each 30 sec. Whenever a link breaks, rip traces out
another path to reach the destination. It is one of the slowest protocols.
Advantages of RIP ver1 –
1. Easy to configure, static routers are complex.
2. Less overhead
3. No complexity.
Disadvantage of RIP ver1 –
1. Bandwidth utilization is very high as broadcast for every 30 seconds.
2. It works only on hop count.
3. It is not scalable as the hop count is only 15. If there will be a requirement of more
routers in the network it would be a problem.
4. Convergence is very slow, and wastes a lot of time in finding alternate paths.
RIP Version-2:
Due to some deficiencies in the original RIP specification, RIP version 2 was developed in 1993.
It supports classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) and has the ability to carry subnet
information, its metric is also hop count, and max hop count 15 is the same as rip version 1. It
supports authentication and does subnetting and multicasting. Auto summary can be done on
every router. In RIPv2 Subnet masks are included in the routing update. RIPv2 multicasts the
entire routing table to all adjacent routers at the address [Link], as opposed to RIPv1 which
uses broadcast ([Link]).
Advantages of RIP ver2 –
1. It’s a standardized protocol.
2. It’s VLSM compliant.
3. Provides fast convergence.
4. It sends triggered updates when the network changes.
5. Works with snapshot routing – making it ideal for dial networks.
Disadvantage of RIP ver2
1. Max hop count of 15, due to the ‘count-to-infinity’ vulnerability.
2. No concept of neighbors.
3. Exchanges the entire table with all neighbors every 30 seconds (except in the case of
a triggered update).
Difference between RIPv1 and RIPv2
OSPF
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a link-state routing protocol that is used to find the best path
between the source and the destination router using its own Shortest Path First).
OSPF packet types:
● Hello
● Link state request
● Link state update
● Database Description
● Link state acknowledgment
How OSPF Works:
1. Neighbor Discovery: Routers exchange Hello packets to form neighbors.
2. LSA Exchange: Routers exchange LSAs to share information about their interfaces and
neighbors.
3. Link-State Database: Each router builds a Link-State Database (LSDB) with all the
LSA information.
4. SPF Calculation: The SPF algorithm calculates the shortest paths to each destination.
5. Routing Table Update: The router installs the best routes from the SPF tree into the
routing table.
6. Convergence: When the topology changes, OSPF quickly recalculates routes and
updates the routing table.
OSPF Advantages:
● Scalability for large networks
● Fast convergence and loop-free routing
● Open standard (vendor-neutral, interoperable)
● Efficient bandwidth usage with link-state updates and partial updates
● Support for VLSM for flexible IP addressing
● Load balancing across multiple equal-cost paths
● Security with authentication features
● Hierarchical design with areas to reduce overhead
● Support for external routing integration
● Redundancy and load balancing for higher network reliability
Administrative Distance (AD) is a value used by routers to determine the trustworthiness of a
routing protocol. It represents the preference given to a route learned by a particular routing
protocol when there are multiple possible routes to a destination.
Lower AD = Higher Preference: A route with a lower administrative distance is preferred over
a route with a higher administrative distance, regardless of the protocol used. For example, a
route from OSPF (AD = 110) is preferred over a route from RIP (AD = 120).
Default Administrative Distances:
● Directly Connected Networks: AD = 0 (Most trusted, because the route is directly
accessible).
● Static Routes: AD = 1 (Manually configured routes, which are more trusted than most
dynamic protocols).
● EIGRP (Internal): AD = 90 (Trusted Cisco proprietary protocol).
● OSPF: AD = 110 (Open Shortest Path First, widely used in large networks).
● RIP: AD = 120 (Routing Information Protocol, a simpler protocol with a higher AD).
● BGP (External): AD = 20 (For external BGP routes, it is considered less preferred than
internal BGP, which has an AD of 200).
1. [Link] (ignore Hybrid Protocol)
2. [Link] (Difference)
Rip Protocol:
1. [Link] (difference ***)
2. [Link] (advantage &
disadvantage)
EIGRP:
1. [Link]
2. [Link] (difference between Rip &
EIGRP *** )
OSPF:
● [Link]
e-16-book/[Link]
● [Link]
● [Link]
● [Link]
[Link]
