Lecture Week 4

Distance Vector Routing

Protocols
Routing Protocols and Concepts
Classifying Routing Protocols
• Types of routing protocols:
-Interior Gateway Protocols (IGP)
-Exterior Gateway Protocols (EGP)
Classifying Dynamic Routing
Protocols
Objectives
• Characteristics : of distance vector routing
protocols.
• Operations:
• network discovery process of distance vector
routing protocols using Routing Information
Protocol (RIP).
• processes to maintain accurate routing tables
used by distance vector routing protocols.
• Routing loops: Identify the conditions leading to a
routing loop and explain the implications for router
performance.
• Recognize that distance vector routing protocols
are in use today
Distance Vector Routing Protocols

• Examples of Distance Vector routing

protocols:
 Routing Information Protocol (RIP)
 Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP)
 Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP)
Distance Vector Routing Protocols: Characteristics

–The Meaning of Distance Vector:

• A router using distance vector routing protocols
knows 2 things:
• Distance to final destination
• Vector, or direction, traffic should be directed
Distance Vector Routing Protocols: Characteristics

Characteristics of Distance Vector routing

protocols:
 Periodic updates (RIP :30 seconds, GRP 90
seconds )
 Neighbors
 Broadcast updates
 Entire routing table is included with routing update
 Distance Vector Routing Protocols: Characteristics

 Routing Protocol Algorithm:

-Defined as a procedure for accomplishing a certain task
Operations: Network Discovery
• Router initial start up (Cold Starts)
-Initial network discovery
 Directly connected networks are initially placed in
routing table
Operations: Network Discovery
• Initial Exchange of Routing Information
–If a routing protocol is configured then
– Form the neighbor relationship
-Routers will exchange routing
information
• Routing updates received from other routers
-Router checks update for new
information
If there is new information:
-Metric is updated
-New information is
 Operations: Network Discovery
• Exchange of Routing Information
–Router convergence is reached when
-All routing tables in the network contain the
same network information
–Routers continue to exchange routing information
-If no new information is found then
Convergence is reached
Operations: Network Discovery
• Convergence must be reached before a
network is considered completely operable
• Speed of achieving convergence consists of 2
interdependent categories
-Speed of broadcasting routing
information
-Speed of calculating routes
Operations: Routing Table
Maintenance
• Periodic Updates: RIPv1 & RIPv2
These are time intervals in which a router
sends out its entire routing table.
Operations: Routing Table
Maintenance
• RIP uses 4 timers
-Update timer
-Invalid timer 180 seconds
-Holddown timer 180 seconds
-Flush timer 240 seconds
Routing Table Maintenance
• Triggered Updates
–Conditions in which triggered updates are sent
-Interface changes state
-Route becomes unreachable
-Route is placed in routing table
Routing Table Maintenance
• Bounded Updates: EIGRP
• EIRPG routing updates are
-Partial updates
-Triggered by topology changes
-Bounded
-Non periodic
 Routing Table Maintenance
• Random Jitter
Synchronized updates
A condition where multiple routers on multi access
LAN segments transmit routing updates at the same
time.
 Problems with synchronized updates
-Bandwidth consumption
-Packet collisions
 Solution to problems with
synchronized updates
- Used of random variable
called RIP_JITTER
 Routing Loops
• Routing loops are
A condition in
which a packet
is continuously
transmitted
within a series of
routers without
ever reaching its
destination.
Routing Loops

• Routing loops may be caused by:

-Incorrectly configured static routes
-Incorrectly configured route redistribution
-Slow convergence
-Incorrectly configured discard routes
• Routing loops can create the following issues
-Excess use of bandwidth
-CPU resources may be strained
-Network convergence is degraded
-Routing updates may be lost or not processed in a timely
manner
Routing Loops
• Count to Infinity
This is a routing loop whereby packets
bounce infinitely around a network.
Routing Loops
• Setting a maximum
• Distance Vector routing protocols set a
specified metric value to indicate infinity
Once a router “counts to infinity” it marks
the route as unreachable
Routing Loops
• Preventing loops with holddown timers
-Holddown timers allow a router to not accept
any changes to a route for a specified period of
time.
-Point of using holddown timers
 Allows routing updates to propagate through
network with the most current information.
Routing Loops
• The Split Horizon Rule is used to prevent
routing loops
• Split Horizon rule:
A router should not advertise a network
through the interface from which the
update came.
Routing Loops
• Split horizon with
poison reverse
The rule states
that once a router
learns of an
unreachable route
through an interface,
advertise it as
unreachable back
through the same
Routing Loops
• IP & TTL
–Purpose of the TTL field
The TTL field is found in an IP header and
is used to prevent packets from endlessly
traveling on a network
• How the TTL field works
-TTL field contains a numeric value
The numeric value is decreased by one by
every router on the route to the
destination.
If numeric value reaches 0 then Packet
Routing Protocols Today
• Factors used to determine whether to use RIP or EIGRP include
-Network size
-Compatibility between models of routers
-Administrative knowledge
Routing Protocols Today
• RIP
Features of RIP:
-Supports split horizon & split horizon with
poison reverse
-Capable of load balancing
-Easy to configure
-Works in a multi vendor router
environment
Routing Protocols Today
• EIGRP
Features of EIGRP:
-Triggered updates
-EIGRP hello protocol used to establish
neighbor adjacencies
-Supports VLSM & route summarization
-Use of topology table to maintain all
routes
-Classless distance vector routing protocol
-Cisco proprietary protocol
Summary
• Characteristics of Distance Vector routing protocols
–Periodic updates
–RIP routing updates include the entire routing table
–Neighbors are defined as routers that share a link and
are configured to use the same protocol
• The network discovery process for D.V. routing protocol
–Directly connected routes are placed in routing table 1st
–If a routing protocol is configured then
• Routers will exchange routing information
–Convergence is reached when all network routers have
the
same network information
Summary
• D.V. routing protocols maintains routing tables by
–RIP sending out periodic updates
–RIP using 4 different timers to ensure information is
accurate and convergence is achieved in a timely manner
–EIGRP sending out triggered updates
• D.V. routing protocols may be prone to routing loops
– routing loops are a condition in which packets
continuously traverse a network
–Mechanisms used to minimize routing loops include
defining maximum hop count, holddown timers, split
horizon, route poisoning and triggered updates
Summary
• Conditions that can lead to routing loops include
–Incorrectly configured static routes
–Incorrectly configured route redistribution
–Slow convergence
–Incorrectly configured discard routes
• How routing loops can impact network performance
includes:
–Excess use of bandwidth
–CPU resources may be strained
–Network convergence is degraded
–Routing updates may be lost or not processed
Summary

• Routing Information Protocol (RIP)

A distance vector protocol that has 2 versions
RIPv1 – a classful routing protocol
RIPv2 - a classless routing protocol
• Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing
Protocol (EIGRP)
–A distance vector routing protocols that has
some features of link state routing protocols
–A Cisco proprietary routing protocol
Thank You