It is said that the RIP, Routing Information Protocol is a distance vector routing protocol but I would call it the simplest routing protocol to get into the world of network routing or internetworking. However, ip rip is really a distance vector routing protocol, but not the whole of it. Confused? Let me solve this for you. Actually, rip comes in two different versions, rip version 1 and rip version 2. version one [RIPv1] is distance vector routing protocol while version 2 [RIPv2] is a hybrid routing protocol. A Hybrid Routing protocol has the advantages of both Distance Vector and Link State Routing protocols.
Note: Please do check RFC 1058 and RFCs 1721,1722 for RIPv1 and RIPv2 being distance vector and hybrid routing protocol.
Routing Information Protocol Version 1 (RIPv1)
Both versions of RIP use a hop count of 15 as a metric in order to avoid packets from circling around a loop forever. It means any packet that reaches the sixteenth hop, hop count exceeded, will be dropped automatically. RIPv1 shares routing information periodically after every 30 seconds by default using local broadcasts. RIPv1 is a classful routing protocol and supports up to six equal-cost paths to a single destination. Equal-cost paths are the paths where the metric is the same.
Routing Information Protocol (RIPv2)
RIPv2 is based on RIPv1, which means it is a distance vector
routing protocol but with some routing enhancements built into it from the
vector routing protocols. Therefore, it is commonly called a hybrid routing
protocol.
RIP version 2 supports variable length subnet masking (VLSM) and is a classless routing protocol. It uses multicast to send routing updates and share routing information. It uses a 224.0.0.9 multicast address to send routing updates, after every 30 seconds, and as well as whenever a change in the network occurs (also called triggered updates).
What is the main Difference Between Ripv1 and Ripv2 (ripv1 vs ripv2)
Please refer to the following table to understand the main differences between RIPv1 and RIPv2
|
RIPv1 |
RIPv2 |
|
Supports classful routing only, and
does not support variable
length subnet masking (VLSM) |
In order to allow classless routing
advertisements, RIPv2 includes the network mask in the update. |
|
There is no authentication |
There is authentication available |
|
RIPv1 uses Broadcast for the updates |
Instead of broadcast, RIPv2 uses
multicast. The burden on the network devices that do not need to listen to
RIP updates are reduced with the multicast communication |