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TIM KEARY - NETWORK ADMINISTRATION EXPERT

UPDATED: December 9, 2020

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 Contents [hide]

Distance Vector and Link State Protocols

Link State Routing Protocols
IGP and EGPs
Types of Routing Protocol
Classful and Classless Routing Protocols
Dynamic Routing Protocols
Routing Protocols and Metrics
Administrative Distance
Closing Words
Routing Protocols FAQs

Router protocols include:

Routing Information Protocol (RIP)

Interior Gateway Protocol (IGRP)
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)
Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP)
Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP)
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
Intermediate System-to-Intermediate System (IS-IS)
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RIP, IGRP OSPF, IS-IS

These protocols measure the distance based on how many

hops data has to pass to get to its destination. The number
of hops is essentially the number of routers it takes to
reach the destination.

Generally, distance vector protocols send a routing table

full of information to neighboring devices. This approach
makes them low investment for administrators as they can
be deployed without much need to be managed. The only
issue is that they require more bandwidth to send on the
routing tables and can run into routing loops as well.
Link state routing protocols use an algorithm to work this
out. One of the key differences to a distance vector protocol
is that link state protocols don’t send out routing tables;
instead, routers notify each other when route changes are
detected.

Routers using the link state protocol creates three types of

tables; neighbor table, topology table, and routing
table. The neighbor table stores details of neighboring
routers using the link state routing protocol, the topology
table stores the whole network topology, and the routing
table stores the most efficient routes.

IGPs are routing protocols that exchange routing

information with other routers within a single autonomous
system (AS). An AS is defined as one network or a
collection of networks under the control of one enterprise.
The company AS is thus separate from the ISP AS.

Each of the following is classified as an IGP:

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)

Routing Information Protocol (RIP)
Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS)
Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP)
On the other hand, EGPs are routing protocols that are
used to transfer routing information between routers in
different autonomous systems. These protocols are more
complex and BGP is the only EGP protocol that you’re
likely to encounter. However, it is important to note that
there is an EGP protocol named EGP.

Examples of EGPs include:

Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)

Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP)
The ISO’s InterDomain Routing Protocol (IDRP)

1982 – EGP
1985 – IGRP
1988 – RIPv1
1990 – IS-IS
1991 – OSPFv2
1992 – EIGRP
1994 – RIPv2
1995 – BGP
1997 – RIPng
1999 – BGPv6 and OSPFv3
2000 – IS-ISv6

Routing Information Protocol or RIP is one of the first

routing protocols to be created. RIP is used in both Local
Area Networks (LANs) and Wide Area Networks (WANs),
and also runs on the Application layer of the OSI model.
There are multiple versions of RIP including RIPv1 and
RIPv2. The original version or RIPv1 determines network
paths based on the IP destination and the hop count of the
journey.

RIPv1 interacts with the network by broadcasting its IP

table to all routers connected to the network. RIPv2 is a
little more sophisticated than this and sends its routing
table on to a multicast address. RIPv2 also uses
authentication to keep data more secure and chooses a
subnet mask and gateway for future traffic. The main
limitation of RIP is that it has a maximum hop count of 15
which makes it unsuitable for larger networks.

See also: LAN Monitoring tools

Interior Gateway Protocol or IGRP is a distance vector

routing protocol produced by Cisco. IGRP was designed to
build on the foundations laid down on RIP to function more
effectively within larger connected networks and removed
the 15 hop cap that was placed on RIP. IGRP uses
metrics such as bandwidth, delay, reliability, and load to
compare the viability of routes within the network. However,
only bandwidth and delay are used under IGRP’s default
settings.

IGRP is ideal for larger networks because it broadcasts

updates every 90 seconds and has a maximum hop
count of 255. This allows it to sustain larger networks than
a protocol like RIP. IGRP is also widely used because it is
resistant to routing loops because it updates itself
automatically when route changes occur within the
network.

Open Shortest Path First or OSPF protocol is a link-state

IGP that was tailor-made for IP networks using the
Shortest Path First (SPF) algorithm. The SPF routing
algorithm is used to calculate the shortest path spanning-
tree to ensure efficient data transmission of packets. OSPF
routers maintain databases detailing information about the
surrounding topology of the network. This database is filled
with data taken from Link State Advertisements (LSAs)
sent by other routers. LSAs are packets that detail
information about how many resources a given path would
take.

OSPF also uses the Dijkstra algorithm to recalculate

network paths when the topology changes. This protocol is
also relatively secure as it can authenticate protocol
changes to keep data secure. It is used by many
organizations because it’s scalable to large environments.
Topology changes are tracked and OSPF can recalculate
compromised packet routes if a previously-used route has
been blocked.

Exterior Gateway Protocol or EGP is a protocol that is used

to exchange data between gateway hosts that neighbor
each other within autonomous systems. In other words,
EGP provides a forum for routers to share information
across different domains. The most high profile example of
an EGP is the internet itself. The routing table of the EGP
protocol includes known routers, route costs, and network
addresses of neighboring devices. EGP was widely-used
by larger organizations but has since been replaced by
BGP.

The reason why this protocol has fallen out of favor is that
it doesn’t support multipath networking environments. The
EGP protocol works by keeping a database of nearby
networks and the routing paths it could take to reach them.
This route information is sent on to connected routers.
Once it arrives, the devices can update their routing tables
and undertake more informed path selection throughout the
network.
Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol or EIGRP is a
distance vector routing protocol that is used for IP,
AppleTalk, and NetWare networks. EIGRP is a Cisco
proprietary protocol that was designed to follow on from the
original IGRP protocol. When using EIGRP, a router takes
information from its neighbors’ routing tables and records
them. Neighbors are queried for a route and when a
change occurs the router notifies its neighbors about the
change. This has the end result of making neighboring
routers aware of what is going on in nearby devices.

EIGRP is equipped with a number of features to maximize

efficiency, including Reliable Transport Protocol (RTP)
and a Diffusing Update Algorithm (DUAL). Packet
transmissions are made more effective because routes are
recalculated to speed up the convergence process.

Border Gateway Protocol or BGP is the routing protocol

of the internet that is classified as a distance path vector
protocol. BGP was designed to replace EGP with a
decentralized approach to routing. The BGP Best Path
Selection Algorithm is used to select the best routes for
data packet transfers. If you don’t have any custom settings
then BGP will select routes with the shortest path to the
destination.

However many administrators choose to change routing

decisions to criteria in line with their needs. The best
routing path selection algorithm can be customized by
changing the BGP cost community attribute. BGP can
make routing decisions based Factors such as weight,
local preference, locally generated, AS_Path length, origin
type, multi-exit discriminator, eBGP over iBGP, IGP metric,
router ID, cluster list and neighbor IP address.
BGP only sends updated router table data when something
changes. As a result, there is no auto-discovery of topology
changes which means that the user has to configure BGP
manually. In terms of security, BGP protocol can be
authenticated so that only approved routers can exchange
data with each other.

Intermediate System-to-Intermediate System (IS-IS) is a

link-state, IP routing protocol and IGPP protocol used on
the internet to send IP routing information. IS-IS uses a
modified version of the Dijkstra algorithm. An IS-IS
network consists of a range of components including end
systems, (user devices), intermediate systems (routers),
areas, and domains.

Under IS-IS routers are organized into groups called areas

and multiple areas are grouped together to make up a
domain. Routers within the area are placed with Layer 1
and routers that connect segments together are classified
as Layer 2. There are two types of network addresses used
by IS-IS; Network Service Access Point (NSAP) and
Network Entity Title (NET).

Routing protocols can also be categorized as classful and

classless routing protocols. The distinction between these
two comes down to how they go about executing routing
updates. The debate between these two forms of routing is
often referred to as classful vs classless routing.

Classful routing protocols don’t send subnet mask

information during routing updates but classless routing
protocols do. RIPv1 and IGRP are considered to be
classful protocols. These two are classful protocols
because they don’t include subnet mask information in
their routing updates. Classful routing protocols have since
become outdated by classless routing protocols.

As mentioned above, classful routing protocols have been

replaced by classless routing protocols. Classless routing
protocols send IP subnet mask information during
routing updates. RIPv2, EIGRP, OSPF, and IS-IS are all
types of class routing protocols that include subnet mask
information within updates.

Dynamic routing protocols are another type of routing

protocols that are critical to modern enterprise-grade
networks. Dynamic routing protocols allow routers to
automatically add information to their routing tables
from connected routers. With these protocols, routers
send out topology updates whenever the topological
structure of the network changes. This means that the user
doesn’t have to worry about keeping network paths up-to-
date.

One of the main advantages of dynamic routing protocols

is that they reduce the need to manage configurations. The
downside is that this comes at the cost of allocating
resources like CPU and bandwidth to keep them running
on an ongoing basis. OSPF, EIGRP, and RIP are
considered to be dynamic routing protocols.

No matter what type of routing protocol is being used, there

will be clear metrics that are used to measure which route
is the best to take. A routing protocol can identify multiple
paths to a destination network but needs to have the ability
to work out which is the most efficient. Metrics allow the
protocol to determine which routing path should be chosen
to provide the network with the best service.

The simplest metric to consider is hop count. The RIP

protocol uses hop count to measure the distance it takes
for a data packet to reach its destination. The more hops
that a packet has to travel through, the farther the packet
has to travel. Thus the RIP protocol aims to choose routes
while minimizing hops where possible. There are many
metrics besides hop count that are used by IP routing
protocols. Metrics used include:

Hop count – Measures the number of routers that a

packet must travel through
Bandwidth – Chooses the routing path based on
which has the highest bandwidth
Delay – Chooses the routing path based on which
takes the least time
Reliability – Assesses the likelihood that a network
link will fail based on error counts and previous
failures
Cost – A value configured by the administrator or the
IOS which is used to measure the cost of a route
based on one metric or a range of metrics
Load – Chooses the routing path based on the traffic
utilization of connected links

Protocol Type Type of Metric Used

RIP Hop count

RIPv2 Hop count

IGRP Bandwidth, Delay

OSPF Bandwidth

BGP Chosen by administrator

EIGRP Bandwidth, Delay

Protocol Type Type of Metric Used

IS-IS Chosen by administrator

Administrative distance is one of the most important

features within routers. Administrative is the term used to
describe a numerical value that is used to prioritize which
route should be used when there are two or more available
connection routes. When one or more routes are located,
the routing protocol with the lower administrative
distance is selected as the route. There is a default
administrative distance but administrators can also
configure their own as well.

Administrative Distance Route Source Default Distance

Connected Interface 0

Static Route 1

Enhanced IGRP summary route 5

External BGP 20

Internal Enhanced IGRP 90

IGRP 100

OSPF 110

IS-IS 115

RIP 120

EIGRP external route 170

Internal BGP 200

Unknown 255

The lower the numerical value of the administrative

distance, the more the router trusts the route. The closer
the numerical value is to zero the better. Routing protocols
use administrative distance mainly as a way to assess the
trustworthiness of connected devices. You can change the
administrative distance of the protocol by using the
distance process within the sub-configuration mode.

As you can see, routing protocols can be defined and

thought of in a wide array of different ways. The key is to
think of routing protocols as distance vector or link state
protocols, IGP or EGP protocols, and classful or classless
protocols. These are the overarching categories that
common routing protocols like RIP, IGRP, OSPF, and BGP
fall within.

Of course, within all of these categories, each protocol has

its own nuances in how it measures the best routing path,
whether that is by hop count, delay, or other factors.
Learning everything you can about these protocols that you
retain during day-to-day networking will aid you greatly in
both an exam and real-world environment.

The Bellman-Ford and Dijkstra algorithms both include a

calculation of the cost (distance) of traversing a link. The
main difference between the methodologies is that the cost
calculations for Bellman-Ford can be positive or negative,
but Dijkstra only operates in the positive. Other differences
are that Bellman-Ford only informs neighboring devices but
includes calculations of the cost to non-neighbors, while
Dijkstra will broadcast to all but only frame its calculations
in terms of cost to neighbors.
Forwarding is an internal process for a network device,
such as a switch. It just requires the device to transfer data
received on one interface out through another interface.
Routing involves calculating a path to a destination before
deciding which interface to transfer out the incoming data.

BGP offers more flexibility and more control to the creators

and owners of a device than OSPF. BGP processes
include options on what routes should be advertised and
which notifications will be accepted by the device. It offers
more control over route selection. This enables more
flexibility to avoid overloading on particular links, which
OSPF would automatically assume to provide the fastest
route.

See also: Tools for traceroute and tracert

KRP
August 13, 2020 at 6:54 pm

This is great article simple explained everything anyone can understand,

cheers, do more like this, best of luck.

Somedude
June 20, 2020 at 7:40 am

Thanks dude
 Christian Flores
May 14, 2020 at 4:44 pm

Thank you so much on what you’ve done in this post. I’ve been working in
network environment and this is the first time someone summarized
routing protocols in a very short and sweet approach. Again thank you so
much. May the Lord Jesus blessed the works of your hands and extend
His love through you by blessing others with your words. God bless.

zinkolatt
July 5, 2019 at 7:38 am

This is very useful and thanks you.

Tich
March 31, 2021 at 12:19 pm

Quite informative indeed. I am looking for information about IP

addressing and subnet masking.

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