Choosing an IP routing protocol is an important step. The right protocol can make your routing operate efficiently, and the wrong one can make your life difficult. Each protocol has its own pros and cons, and works better in some situations than others. In this paper, we explore the strengths and weakness of RIP, EIGRP, OSPF, and IS-IS, and discuss when it is appropriate to use each. We will evaluate each protocol in terms of five criteria: • Convergence speed • Ease of use • Network topology required • Vendor support • IPv6 support. | Global Knowledge Expert Reference Series of White Papers B ÂÉ ïB B KMOOOOCOtl B 1. MO Choosing the Right Interior Routing Protocol MO 1-800-COURSES Choosing the Right Interior Routing Protocol Denise Donohue Global Knowledge Instructor CCIE 9566 Introduction Choosing an IP routing protocol is an important step. The right protocol can make your routing operate efficiently and the wrong one can make your life difficult. Each protocol has its own pros and cons and works better in some situations than others. In this paper we explore the strengths and weakness of RIP EIGRP OSPF and IS-IS and discuss when it is appropriate to use each. We will evaluate each protocol in terms of five criteria Convergence speed Ease of use Network topology required Vendor support IPv6 support This paper also provides configuration tasks and commands for Cisco routers. It includes tips for each protocol as well as suggestions on designing your network to maximize the efficiency of each protocol. This paper assumes the reader is already familiar with interior routing protocols. It contains a short description of each protocol but does not go in depth on each of its features or possible configuration commands. A list of good reference material is at the end of the paper for those wishing more information on a particular protocol. Routing Information Protocol RIP RIP was one of the first IP routing protocols. It is simple to understand and simple to configure. RIP version 1 sends its advertisements as broadcasts RIP version 2 sends them as multicasts. Both versions advertise their entire routing table every 30 seconds. For both versions the metric is hop count - with each router counting as a hop. A network with a metric of 16 hops is considered unreachable which limits the diameter of a RIP routing domain. Convergence Speed RIP is notoriously slow to converge. It is a distance vector protocol which means that each router advertises only the path it itself is using to
