Routing Information Protocol (RIP) is a
distance-vector routing protocol. The
Deep Edge
implementation of RIP supports RIP version 2 (see RFC 2453) and RIPng (see RFC 2080).
RIP was designed for small IP networks and relies on hop count to determine routes;
the best
routes have the fewest number of hops. 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 routing loops,
but also
limits the supported network size. If more than 15 hops are required, traffic is not
routed. RIP
also can take longer to converge than OSPF and other routing protocols.
When RIP is enabled, Deep Edge multicast
requests for RIP updates from each of its RIP-enabled interfaces. Neighboring routers
respond
with information from their routing tables. Deep Edge adds routes from neighbors to its own routing table only if those routes
are not already recorded in the routing table. When a route already exists in the
routing table,
Deep Edge compares the advertised route to the
recorded route and chooses the shortest route for the routing table.
RIP uses hop count as the metric for choosing the best route. A hop count of 1 represents
a
network that is connected directly to the unit, while a hop count of 16 represents
a network that
Deep Edge cannot reach. Each network that a packet travels through to reach its destination
usually counts as one hop. When Deep Edge compares two routes to the same destination, it adds
the route having the lowest hop count to the routing table.
Similarly, when RIP is enabled on an interface, Deep Edge sends RIP responses to neighboring routers on a regular basis. The updates
provide information about the routes in the Deep Edge routing table, subject to the rules that administrators specify for
advertising those routes. Administrators can specify how often Deep Edge sends updates, how long a route can be kept
in the routing table without being updated, and, for routes that are not updated regularly,
how
long the unit advertises the route as unreachable before it is removed from the routing
table.
When configuring RIP settings, administrators must specify the networks running RIP
and any
additional settings needed to adjust RIP operation on the Deep Edge interfaces connected to the RIP-enabled network.