Avaya C360 Manager, Installation And Configuration Manual

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Avaya C360 Layer 3 Features
172 Installation and Configuration Guide Avaya C360 Multilayer Stackable Switches, version 4.5
RIP (Routing Interchange Protocol) Configuration
RIP Overview
RIP is a "distance vector protocol"- that is, the router decides which path to use on distance (the
number of intermediate hops). In order for this protocol to work correctly, all of the routers (and
possibly the nodes) need to gather information on how to reach each destination in the Internet.
The very simplicity of RIP has a disadvantage, however: it does not take into account the
network bandwidth, physical cost, data priority, and so on.
The C360 supports the widely used RIP routing protocol (both RIPv1 and RIPv2). The RIPv1
protocol imposes some limitations on the network design with regard to subnetting. When
operating RIPv1, you must not configure variable length subnet masks (VLMS). Each IP
network must have a single mask, implying that all subnets in a given IP network are of the
same size. Also, when operating RIPv1, you must not configure supernets, which are networks
with a mask smaller than the natural net mask of the address class, such as 192.1.0.0 with
mask 255.255.0.0 (smaller than the natural class C mask which is 255.255.255.0). For detailed
descriptions of RIP refer to the standards and published literature.
RIPv2 is a new version of the RIP routing protocol but with some advantages over RIPv1. RIPv2
solves some of the problems associated with RIPv1. The most important change in RIPv2 is the
addition of a subnet mask field which allows RIPv2 to support variable length subnets. RIPv2
also includes an authentication mechanism similar to the one used in OSPF.
The RIP version, 1 or 2, is configured per IP interface. Configuration must be homogenous on
all routers on each subnet-there can not be both RIPv1 and RIPv2 routers configured on the
same subnet. However, different IP interfaces of the C360 can be configured with different RIP
versions (as long as all routers on the subnet are configured to the same version).
RIPv2 and RIPv1 are considered the same protocol with regard to redistribution to/from OSPF
and static route preferences.