The Routing Information Protocol (RIP) is a dynamic routing protocol which determines the best path between two hosts based on the lowest hop count among the possible paths. The protocol is dynamic, meaning the routing information is shared between hosts and is updated over time as changes occur in the network. The proxy also supports advertising default gateways in the network via RIP.
Hosts communicate over UDP port 520. The proxy supports RIPv1 and RIPv2. In RIPv1, the hosts send updates to the broadcast address 255.255.255.255 while RIPv2 uses the multicast address 224.0.0.9.
The maximum hop count for RIP is 15, thus limiting the network size.
Step 1 - Creating a RIP configuration file
A RIP configuration file needs to be installed on the device. No RIP configuration file is shipped with the appliance.
Two commands used are net and host which can be used to specify particular parameters to a net / host.
net Nname[/mask] gateway Gname metric Value {passive | active | external}
Parameter |
Description |
Nname |
Name of the destination network. It can be a symbolic network name, or an Internet address specified in dot notation. |
/mask |
Optional number between 1 and 32 indicating the netmask associated with Nname. |
Gname |
Name or address of the gateway to which RIP responses should be forwarded. |
Value |
The hop count to the destination host or network. A net Nname/32 specification is equivalent to the host Hname command (see below). |
passive | active | external |
Specifies whether the gateway is treated as passive or active, or whether the gateway is external to the scope of the RIP protocol. Active routers advertise their routes, while passive routers only listen for updates. |
host Hname gateway Gname metric Value {passive | active | external}
Parameter |
Description |
Hname |
Name of the destination host. It can be a symbolic host name, or an Internet address specified in dot notation. |
Gname |
Name or address of the gateway to which RIP responses should be forwarded. |
Value |
The hop count to the destination host or network. |
passive | active | external |
Specifies whether the gateway is treated as passive or active, or whether the gateway is external to the scope of the RIP protocol. Active routers advertise their routes, while passive routers only listen for updates. |
The following additional parameters and logic statements are supported. Each line must consist of one or more of the following parameter settings, separated by commas or blank spaces.
Parameter |
Description |
if={0|1|2|3} |
Specifies that the other parameters on the line apply to the interface adapter numbered 0, 1, 2, or 3. | represents or logic. |
passwd=XXX |
Specifies an RIPv2 password included on all RIPv2 responses sent and checked on all RIPv2 responses received. The password must not contain any blanks, tab characters, commas or '#' characters. |
no_ag |
Turns off aggregation of subnets in RIPv1 and RIPv2 responses. |
no_super_ag |
Turns off aggregation of networks into supernets in RIPv2 responses. |
passive |
Marks the interface/s to not be advertised in updates sent through other interfaces, and turns off all RIP and router discovery through the interface. |
no_rip |
Disables all RIP processing on the specified interface. |
no_rip_out |
Disables the transmission of all RIP packets. This setting is the default. |
no_ripv1_in |
Causes RIPv1 received responses to be ignored. |
no_ripv1_out |
Disables the transmission of RIPv1 packets. |
no_ripv2_in |
Causes RIPv2 received responses to be ignored. |
no_ripv2_out |
Disables the transmission of RIPv2 packets. |
rip_out |
Enables the transmission of RIPv1 packets. |
ripv1_out | Enables the transmission of RIPv1 packets. |
ripv2_out |
Turns off RIPv1 output and causes RIPv2 advertisements to be multicast when possible. |
ripv2 |
Is equivalent to no_ripv1_in and no_ripv1_out. This parameter is set by default. |
ripv1_in |
Causes RIPv1 packets to be sent. |
ripv1 |
Causes RIPv1 received responses to be handled. |
no_rdisc |
Disables the Internet Router Discovery Protocol. This parameter is set by default. |
no_solicit |
Disables the transmission of Router Discovery Solicitations |
send_solicit |
Specifies that Router Discovery solicitations should be sent, even on point-to-point links, which by default only listen to Router Discovery messages. |
no_rdisc_adv |
Disables the transmission of Router Discovery Advertisements |
rdisc |
Enables the transmission of Router Discovery Advertisements |
rdisc_adv |
Specifies that Router Discovery Advertisements should be sent, even on point-to-point links, which by default only listen to Router Discovery messages. |
bcast_rdisc |
Specifies that Router Discovery packets should be broadcast instead of multicast. |
rdisc_pref=N |
Sets the preference in Router Discovery Advertisements to the integer N. |
rdisc_interval=N |
Sets the nominal interval with which Router Discovery Advertisements are transmitted to N seconds and their lifetime to 3*N. |
trust_gateway=rname |
Causes RIP packets from that router and other routers named in other trust_gateway keywords to be accepted while packets from other routers to be ignored. |
redirect_ok |
Causes RIP to allow ICMP Redirect messages when the system is acting as a router and forwarding packets. Otherwise, ICMP Redirect messages are overridden. |
supply_router_info or advertise_routes |
-s option: Supplying this option forces routers to supply routing information whether it is acting as an Internetwork router or not. This is the default if multiple network interfaces are present or if a point-to -point link is in use.
-g option: This option is used on Internetwork routers to offer a route to the 'default' destination. This is typically used on a gateway to the Internet, or on a gateway that uses another routing protocol whose routes are not reported to other local routers.
-h option: Suppress_extra_host_routes advertise_host_route
-m option: Advertise_host_route on multi-homed hosts
-A option: Ignore_authentication |
no_supply_routing_info |
-q option: opposite of -s. |
Step 2 - Installing a RIP configuration file
Install the RIP configuration file on the appliance using one of the following methods:
RIP needs to be disabled on the appliance before installing certain parameters. Some versions of SGOS are known to crash if these parameters are installed while RIP is enabled. Other versions give a warning message to disable RIP. It is recommended to always disable RIP before installing a new file.
To install the file from the Management Console using one of options 1,2 or 3, please follow the steps below:
Note: When entering RIP settings that affect current settings (for example, when switching from ripv1 to ripv2), disable RIP before you change the settings; re-enable RIP when you have finished
Step 3 - Configure Default Route Advertising (OPTIONAL)
Default route advertisements are treated the same as the static default routes; that is, the default route load balancing schemes also apply to the default routes from RIP.
By default, RIP ignores the default routes advertisement. You can change the default from disable to enable and set the preference group and weight through the CLI only.
To enable and configure advertised default gateway routes:
#(config) rip default-route enable
#(config) rip default-route group group_number
#(config) rip default-route weight weight_number
Where group_number defaults to 1 and weight_number defaults to 100, the same as the static default route set by the ip-default-gateway command.
#(config) show rip default-route
RIP default route settings:
Enabled: Yes
Preference group: 3
Weight: 30
Step 4 - Using Passwords with RIP (OPTIONAL)
The first password specified for an interface is used for output. All passwords pertaining to an interface are accepted on input. For example, with the following configuration file settings:
if=0 passwd=aaa
if=1 passwd=bbb
passwd=ccc
Interface 0 accepts passwords aaa and ccc, and transmits using password aaa.
Interface 1 accepts passwords bbb and ccc, and transmits using password bbb. The other interfaces accept and transmit the password ccc.
RIP Commands Available in the CLI
#(config) rip disable
Disables the current RIP configuration.
#(config) rip enable
Enables the current RIP configuration.
#(config) rip default-route {enable | disable}
Accepts or denies the incoming default route advertisement.
#(config) rip default-route {group number | weight number}
Allows you to set the preference group and weight of the default routes.
#(config) rip no path
Clears the current RIP configuration path as determined using the rip path url command.
#(config) rip path url
Sets the path to the RIP configuration file to the URL indicated by url.
#(config) show rip {default-route | parameters | routes | statistics}
Displays information on RIP settings, including parameters and configuration, RIP routes, and RIP statistics.
#(config) inline rip-settings eof_marker
Updates the current RIP settings with the settings you include between the beginning eof_marker and the ending eof_marker.