Routing Protocols

 Data is sent in the form of packets

 Routers are used to direct packets to its destination
 Router determine packet’s destination IP address and
choses the best path
Routing Protocol
A routing protocol specifies how routers communicate
with each other, disseminating information that enables
them to select routes between any two nodes on a
computer network.

Each router has a prior knowledge only of networks

attached to it directly.

A routing protocol shares this information first among

immediate neighbours, and then throughout the network.
This way, routers gain knowledge of the topology of the
network.
 Routing Protocol

Routing
algorithms
determine the
specific choice of
route.

Two paths from

A to B.
Example

Host A wants to communicate with B

Dynamic routing is enabled

Example

Step1: A will look how to communicate with Host B

on local Subnet.

Step 2: It will look for local routing table for

remote Subnet 192.168.2.10.
Example

Step3: There is no match for Host B Subnet ,

packet will be routed to Host A default gateway
(which is Router A)
Example

Step4: Router A will now look at its routing table for destination
subnet 192.168.2.0.
Router A learns about 192.168.2.0 through Router B.

Step 5: Router B looks at its table for destination subnet, and

sees it is directly connected. Hence routed directly to Host B.
For routing troubleshooting

- Understanding how things should be routing

- Confirm correct IP
- Look at routing tables
- Use ping and traceroute
- Use packet simulation mode in packet tracer.
 Routing Protocols

Static Routing Dynamic Routing

Interior Gateway Exterior Gateway

Protocols (IGPs) Protocols (EGPs)
Static Routing Protocols
Dynamic routing protocol
  Dynamic routing protocol classification.

Classful routing protocols

Terminologies
Autonomous system (AS):
An autonomous system (AS) is a collection of routers
(single n/w or group of n/w) under a common
administration such as a company or an organization.
An AS is also known as a routing domain.
Typical examples of an AS are a company’s internal
network and an ISP’s network.
The Internet is based on the AS concept
IGP and EGP Routing Protocols
 IGP versus EGP Routing Protocols
 Dynamic routing protocol classification.
Distance Vector Routing Protocols
Distance vector means that routes are advertised by
providing two characteristics:
Distance: Identifies how far it is to the destination
network and is based on a metric such as the hop count,
cost, bandwidth, delay, and more
Vector: Specifies the direction of the next-hop router
or exit interface to reach the destination
Distance Vector Routing Protocols
 A router using a distance vector routing protocol does not
have the knowledge of the entire path to a destination network.
 Distance vector protocols use routers as sign posts along the
path to the final destination. The only information a router
knows about a remote network is the distance or metric to
reach that network and which path or interface to use to get
there.
 Distance vector routing protocols do not have an actual map of
the network topology.
There are four distance vector IPv4 IGPs:
 RIPv1: First generation legacy protocol
 RIPv2: Simple distance vector routing protocol
 IGRP: First generation Cisco proprietary protocol (obsolete
and replaced by EIGRP)
 EIGRP: Advanced version of distance vector routing
Link-State Routing Protocols
 Router configured with a link-state routing protocol can create a
complete view or topology of the network.
 This is done by gathering information from all of the other routers.
 Link-state update is only sent when there is a change in the topology
Link-state protocols work best in situations where:
The network design is hierarchical, usually occurring
in large networks.
Fast convergence of the network is crucial.
The administrators have good knowledge of the
implemented link-state routing protocol

There are two link-state IPv4 IGPs:

OSPF: Popular standards-based routing protocol
IS-IS: Popular in provider networks
Consider this topology (for differentiating distance
vector and link state)
In Distance vector
This is how R1 sees the network

This is how R4 sees the network

In link state
This is how R1 sees the network. R1 tree would look
like:
In link state
R4 has constructed its own shortest-path tree, different
from that of R1:
Few Terminologies
 Metric: Router metrics are metrics used by a router to make routing
decisions. It is typically one of many fields in a routing table.
Router metrics can contain any number of values that help the
router determine the best route among multiple routes to a
destination.
 A Metric can include:
 measuring link utilisation
 number of hops (hop count)
 speed of the path
 packet loss (router congestion/conditions)
 latency (delay)
 path reliability
 path bandwidth
 throughput
 load
 MTU
Few Terminologies
 Hop Count: The hop count refers to the number of
intermediate devices (like routers) through which data must
pass between source and destination, rather than flowing
directly over a single wire.
 MTU: The maximum transmission unit (MTU) of a
communications protocol of a layer is the size (in bytes or
octets) of the largest protocol data unit that the layer can
pass onwards.
 AD: Administrative distance is the feature that routers use
in order to select the best path when there are two or more
different routes to the same destination from two different
routing protocols. Administrative distance defines the
reliability of a routing protocol.
When multiple paths to the same destination are available, the
router uses the route with the lowest administrative distance
and inserts the preferred route into its routing table.
Administrative Distance
Connected interface 0
Static route 1
EIGRP) summary route 5
External (BGP) 20
Internal EIGRP 90
IGRP 100
OSPF 110
(IS-IS) 115
(RIP) 120
(EGP) 140
External EIGRP 170
Internal BGP 200
Few Terminologies
Load balancing: load balancing is the capability of a
router to distribute traffic over all the router network
ports that are the same distance from the destination
address. Load balancing increases the utilization of
network segments, and so increases effective network
bandwidth.
Equal cost path – Applicable when different paths to a
destination network report the same routing metric
value.
Unequal cost path – Applicable when different paths to
a destination network report are of different routing
metric values.
Few Terminologies
 Routing loop: A routing loop is a situation where a packet
keeps getting routed between two or more routers because
of problems in the routing table. In case of distance vector
protocols, the fact that these protocols route by rumour and
have a slow convergence time can cause routing loops.
 Split Horizon: Split horizon is a technique incorporated by
distance vector routing protocols for avoiding routing loops
(by preventing the routing path to be sent/advertised back to
the node from which the advertising router has received it).
 Hold Down: A hold down timer is a technique used by
routers. When a router receives a notification about an
offline route or node, the router will initiate a hold down
timer allowing the offline router to recover and not update
its routing table until the time expires.
RIP
RIPV2
Routing Protocol Characteristics