User's Manual

ISG50 User’s Guide 302
CHAPTER 15
Routing Protocols
15.1 Routing Protocols Overview
Routing protocols give the ISG50 routing information about the network from other routers. The
ISG50 stores this routing information in the routing table it uses to make routing decisions. In turn,
the ISG50 can also use routing protocols to propagate routing information to other routers. See
Section 6.7 on page 103 for related information on the RIP and OSPF screens.
Routing protocols are usually only used in networks using multiple routers like campuses or large
enterprises.
15.1.1 What You Can Do in this Chapter
•Use the RIP screen (see Section 15.2 on page 302) to configure the ISG50 to use RIP to receive
and/or send routing information.
•Use the OSPF screen (see Section 15.3 on page 304) to configure general OSPF settings and
manage OSPF areas.
•Use the OSPF Area Add/Edit screen (see Section 15.3.2 on page 309) to create or edit an OSPF
area.
15.1.2 What You Need to Know
The ISG50 supports two standards, RIP and OSPF, for routing protocols. RIP and OSPF are
compared here and discussed further in the rest of the chapter.
Finding Out More
See Section 15.4 on page 311 for background information on routing protocols.
15.2 The RIP Screen
RIP (Routing Information Protocol, RFC 1058 and RFC 1389) allows a device to exchange routing
information with other routers. RIP is a vector-space routing protocol, and, like most such
Table 91 RIP vs. OSPF
RIP OSPF
Network Size Small (with up to 15 routers) Large
Metric Hop count Bandwidth, hop count, throughput, round trip
time and reliability.
Convergence Slow Fast