RIP is one of the oldest and simplest distance-vector routing protocols used in local and wide area networks.
Feature
Description
Type
Distance-vector protocol
Metric
Hop count (max 15 hops)
Algorithm
Bellman-Ford
Administrative Distance
120
Update Timer
Every 30 seconds
Port
UDP 520
Shares routing tables with directly connected neighbors
Counts hops - each router passed = 1 hop
Selects best path based on lowest hop count
16 hops = unreachable (infinity)
No subnet mask information
Broadcast updates (255.255.255.255)
No authentication
Supports VLSM and CIDR
Multicast updates (224.0.0.9)
Supports authentication
Designed for IPv6
Uses multicast FF02::9
Timer
Duration
Purpose
Update
30 sec
Send routing updates
Invalid
180 sec
Mark route as invalid
Flush
240 sec
Remove route from table
Hold-down
Prevent bad updates
✅ Simple to configure
✅ Easy to understand
✅ Supported on most routers
❌ Limited to 15 hops
❌ Slow convergence
❌ High bandwidth usage (periodic updates)
❌ Doesn't consider bandwidth in metric
Router(config)# router rip
Router(config-router)# version 2
Router(config-router)# network 192.168.1.0
Router(config-router)# no auto-summary
Part
Meaning
Router
Hostname of the router
(config)#
You are in Global Configuration Mode
router rip
Command to enable RIP routing protocol
What it does:
Activates the RIP routing process
Enters RIP configuration mode
Prompt changes to (config-router)#
(config-router)#
You are now in Router Configuration Mode
version 2
Use RIP version 2
Enables RIPv2 features:
✅ Supports subnetting (VLSM)
✅ Sends subnet mask in updates
✅ Uses multicast (224.0.0.9) instead of broadcast
✅ Supports authentication
network
Command to specify which network to advertise
192.168.1.0
The network address to include in RIP
Tells RIP which interfaces to use
Enables RIP on interfaces that belong to 192.168.1.0 network
Starts sending and receiving RIP updates on those interfaces
Advertises this network to neighbor routers
Example:
If your router has:
- Interface Fa0/0 = 192.168.1.1 → RIP enabled ✅
- Interface Fa0/1 = 10.0.0.1 → RIP NOT enabled ❌
no
Disable a feature
auto-summary
Automatic summarization to classful boundaries
Disables automatic summarization
Allows advertising subnet details instead of summarized classful networks
With auto-summary
Without auto-summary
192.168.1.0/24 → advertised as 192.168.0.0/16
192.168.1.0/24 → advertised as 192.168.1.0/24
Loses subnet info ❌
Keeps subnet info ✅
Why disable it?
Prevents routing problems in networks with discontiguous subnets
Maintains accurate subnet information
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Step 1: router rip → Enable RIP │
│ ↓ │
│ Step 2: version 2 → Use RIPv2 features │
│ Step 3: network 192.168.1.0 → Advertise this network │
│ Step 4: no auto-summary → Send exact subnets │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
After configuration, verify with:
Router# show ip protocols → Shows RIP settings
Router# show ip route → Shows learned routes
Router# show ip rip database → Shows RIP database
Last changed23 days ago