
Operation Manual – IPv4 Routing
H3C S5500-EI Series Ethernet Switches
Chapter 2 RIP Configuration
2-1
Chapter 2 RIP Configuration
Note:
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The term “router” in this document refers to a router in a generic sense or a Layer 3
switch.
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The S5500-EI series only support single RIP process.
When configuring RIP, go to these sections for information you are interested in:
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RIP Overview
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Configuring RIP Basic Functions
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Configuring RIP Route Control
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Configuring RIP Network Optimization
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Displaying and Maintaining RIP
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RIP Configuration Examples
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Troubleshooting RIP
2.1 RIP Overview
RIP is a simple Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP), mainly used in small-sized networks,
such as academic networks and simple LANs. RIP is not applicable to complex
networks.
RIP is still widely used in practical networking due to easier implementation,
configuration and maintenance than OSPF and IS-IS.
2.1.1 RIP Working Mechanism
I. Basic concepts
RIP is a distance vector routing protocol, using UDP packets for exchanging
information through port 520.
RIP uses a hop count to measure the distance to a destination. The hop count is known
as the metric. The hop count from a router to a directly connected network is 0. The hop
count from one router to a directly connected router is 1. To limit convergence time, the
range of RIP metric value is from 0 to 15. A metric value of 16 (or bigger) is considered
infinite, which means the destination network is unreachable. That is why RIP is not
suitable for large-scaled networks.