Distance Vector Routing
Protocols
Routing Protocols and Concepts – Chapter 4
Objectives
▪ Identify the characteristics of distance vector routing
protocols.
▪ Describe the network discovery process of distance
vector routing protocols using Routing Information
Protocol (RIP).
▪ Describe the processes to maintain accurate routing
tables used by distance vector routing protocols.
▪ 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 Technology
– A router using distance vector routing protocols
knows 2 things:
• Distance to final destination
• Vector, or direction, traffic should be directed
Characteristics of Distance Vector
Routing Protocols
– Periodic updates
– Discovering network neighbors
– Broadcast updates
– Entire routing table is included with routing update
▪ Routing Protocol Algorithm:
– Defined as a procedure for accomplishing a certain task
Distance Vector Routing Protocols
How Do Networks Discovered?
▪ Router initial start up (Cold Starts)
– Initial network discovery
• Directly connected networks are initially placed
in routing table
▪ Initial Exchange of Routing Information
– If a routing protocol is configured then:
• Routers will exchange routing information
• Router checks update for new information
– If there is new information:
» Metric is updated
» New information is stored in routing table
▪ 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
▪ 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
Routing Table Maintenance
▪ Periodic Updates: RIPv1, RIPv2 & IGRP
– These are time intervals in which a router sends out its entire
routing table
▪ RIP uses 4 timers
– Update timer
– Invalid timer
– Holddown timer
– Flush timer
▪ Bounded Updates: EIGRP
▪ EIGRP routing updates are:
– Partially updated
– Triggered by topology changes
– Bounded
– Non periodic
▪ Triggered Updates
–Conditions in which triggered updates are sent
•Interface changes state (up or down)
•Route becomes unreachable
•Route is placed in routing table
▪ 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
– Use of random variable
called RIP_JITTER
Routing Loops
– A condition in which a
packet is continuously
transmitted within a
series of routers without
ever reaching its
destination.
▪ 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
▪ Count to Infinity
– This is a routing loop whereby packets bounce infinitely around
a network
▪ Preventing loops by setting a maximum metric
–Distance Vector routing protocols set a specified metric value to
indicate infinity
• Once a router “counts to infinity” it marks the route as
unreachable
▪ Preventing loops with holddown timers
– Holddown timers allow a router 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
▪ Preventing loops with Split Horizon rule
– A router should not advertise a network through the interface
from which the update came
▪ Types of Split Horizon
–Poison Reverse
–Route Poisoning
▪ 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 interface
▪ Split horizon with route
poisoning
– is used to mark the route
as unreachable in a routing
update that is sent to other
router
▪ 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 is discarded
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
• RIPv1 - a classful routing protocol
• RIPv2 - a classless routing protocol
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
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