The Routing Information Protocol (RIP) uses broadcast UDP data packets to exchange routing information. Cisco software sends routing information updates every 30 seconds, which is termed advertising. If a device does not receive an update from another device for 180 seconds or more, the receiving device marks the routes served by the nonupdating device as unusable. If there is still no update after 240 seconds, the device removes all routing table entries for the nonupdating device.

A device that is running RIP can receive a default network via an update from another device that is running RIP, or the device can source the default network using RIP. In both cases, the default network is advertised through RIP to other RIP neighbors.

The Cisco implementation of RIP Version 2 (RIPv2) supports plain text and message digest algorithm 5 (MD5) authentication, route summarization, classless interdomain routing (CIDR), and variable-length subnet masks (VLSMs).

The Routing Information Protocol (RIP) sends routing-update messages at regular intervals and when the network topology changes. When a device receives a RIP routing update that includes changes to an entry, the device updates its routing table to reflect the new route. The metric value for the path is increased by 1, and the sender is indicated as the next hop. RIP devices maintain only the best route (the route with the lowest metric value) to a destination. After updating its routing table, the device immediately begins transmitting RIP routing updates to inform other network devices of the change. These updates are sent independently of the regularly scheduled updates that RIP devices send.

The Cisco implementation of the Routing Information Protocol (RIP) Version 2 (RIPv2) supports authentication, key management, route summarization, classless interdomain routing (CIDR), and variable-length subnet masks (VLSMs).

By default, the software receives RIP Version 1 (RIPv1) and RIPv2 packets, but sends only RIPv1 packets. You can configure the software to receive and send only RIPv1 packets. Alternatively, you can configure the software to receive and send only RIPv2 packets. To override the default behavior, you can configure the RIP version that an interface sends. Similarly, you can also control how packets received from an interface are processed.

RIPv1 does not support authentication. If you are sending and receiving RIP v2 packets, you can enable RIP authentication on an interface.

The key chain determines the set of keys that can be used on the interface. Authentication, including default authentication, is performed on that interface only if a key chain is configured. For more information on key chains and their configuration, see the "Managing Authentication Keys" section in the "Configuring IP Routing Protocol-Independent Features" chapter in the Cisco IOS IP Routing: Protocol-Independent Configuration Guide.

Cisco supports two modes of authentication on an interface on which RIP is enabled: plain-text authentication and message digest algorithm 5 (MD5) authentication. Plain-text authentication is the default authentication in every RIPv2 packet.

Note

Do not use plain text authentication in RIP packets for security purposes, because the unencrypted authentication key is sent in every RIPv2 packet. Use plain-text authentication when security is not an issue; for example, you can use plain-text authentication to ensure that misconfigured hosts do not participate in routing.

The Routing Information Protocol (RIP) uses a single routing metric to measure the distance between the source and the destination network. Each hop in a path from the source to the destination is assigned a hop-count value, which is typically 1. When a device receives a routing update that contains a new or changed destination network entry, the device adds 1 to the metric value indicated in the update and enters the network in the routing table. The IP address of the sender is used as the next hop. If an interface network is not specified in the routing table, it will not be advertised in any RIP update.

The original version of Routing Information Protocol (RIP), is known as RIP Version 1 (RIPv1). The specification of the RIP, defined in RFC 1058, uses classful routing. Periodic routing updates do not support variable length subnet masks (VLSM) because periodic routing updates do not contain subnet information. All subnets in a network class must be of the same size. Because RIP, as per RFC 1058, does not support VLSM, it is not possible to have subnets of varying sizes inside the same network class. This limitation makes RIP vulnerable to attacks.

To rectify the deficiencies of the original RIP specification, RIP Version 2 (RIPv2), as described in RFC 2453, was developed. RIPv2 has the ability to carry subnet information; thus, it supports Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR).

Routing Information Protocol (RIP) is normally a broadcast protocol, and for RIP routing updates to reach nonbroadcast networks, you must configure the Cisco software to permit this exchange of routing information.

To control the set of interfaces with which you want to exchange routing updates, you can disable the sending of routing updates on specified interfaces by configuring the passive-interface router configuration command.

You can use an offset list to increase increasing incoming and outgoing metrics to routes learned via RIP. Optionally, you can limit the offset list with either an access list or an interface.

Routing protocols use several timers that determine variables such as the frequency of routing updates, the length of time before a route becomes invalid, and other parameters. You can adjust these timers to tune routing protocol performance to better suit your internetwork needs. You can make the following timer adjustments:

• The rate (time, in seconds, between updates) at which routing updates are sent
• The interval of time, in seconds, after which a route is declared invalid
• The interval, in seconds, during which routing information about better paths is suppressed
• The amount of time, in seconds, that must pass before a route is removed from the routing table
• The amount of time for which routing updates will be postponed

You can adjust the IP routing support in the Cisco software to enable faster convergence of various IP routing algorithms, and hence, cause quicker fallback to redundant devices. The total effect is to minimize disruptions to end users of the network in situations where quick recovery is essential

In addition, an address family can have timers that explicitly apply to that address family (or Virtual Routing and Forwarding [VRF]) instance). The timers-basic command must be specified for an address family or the system defaults for the timers-basic command are used regardless of the timer that is configured for RIP routing. The VRF does not inherit the timer values from the base RIP configuration. The VRF will always use the system default timers unless the timers are explicitly changed using the timers-basic command.

Normally, devices that are connected to broadcast-type IP networks and that use distance-vector routing protocols employ the split horizon mechanism to reduce the possibility of routing loops. The split horizon mechanism blocks information about routes from being advertised by a device out of any interface from which that information originated. This behavior usually optimizes communications among multiple devices, particularly when links are broken. However, with nonbroadcast networks, such as Frame Relay and the Switched Multimegabit Digital System (SMDS), situations can arise for which this behavior is less than ideal. In such situations, you may want to disable split horizon with the Routing Information Protocol (RIP).

If an interface is configured with secondary IP addresses and split horizon is enabled, updates might not be sourced by the secondary address. If split horizon is enabled, one routing update is sourced per network number.

Split horizon is not disabled by default for interfaces using any of the X.25 encapsulations. For all other encapsulations, split horizon is enabled by default.

By default, the Cisco software validates the source IP address of incoming Routing Information Protocol (RIP) routing updates. If the source address is not valid, the software discards the routing update. You must disable this functionality if you want to receive updates from a device that is not part of this network. However, disabling this functionality is not recommended under normal circumstances.

You can prevent your device from receiving fraudulent route updates by configuring neighbor router authentication. When configured, neighbor authentication occurs whenever routing updates are exchanged between neighbor devices. This authentication ensures that a device receives reliable routing information from trusted sources.

Without neighbor authentication, unauthorized or deliberately malicious routing updates could compromise network security. A security compromise could occur if someone diverts or analyzes your network traffic. For example, an unauthorized device could send a fictitious routing update to convince your device to send traffic to an incorrect destination. This diverted traffic could be analyzed to learn confidential information about your organization or merely used to disrupt your organization's ability to effectively communicate using the network. Neighbor authentication prevents any such fraudulent route updates from reaching your device.

When neighbor authentication has been configured on a device, the device authenticates the source of each routing update packet that it receives. This is accomplished by the exchange of an authenticating key (sometimes referred to as a password) that is known to both the sending and receiving devices.

There are two types of neighbor authentication used: plain text authentication and message digest algorithm 5 (MD5) authentication. Both authentication methods work in the same way, with the exception that MD5 sends a message digest (also called a "hash") instead of the authenticating key. The message digest is created using the key and a message, but the key itself is not sent, preventing the message from being read while the message is being transmitted. Plain text authentication sends an authenticating key over the wire.

Note	Plain text authentication is not recommended for use as part of your security strategy. Its primary use is to avoid accidental changes to the routing infrastructure. Using MD5 authentication, however, is a recommended security practice.

In plain text authentication, each participating neighbor device must share an authenticating key. This key is specified at each device during configuration. Multiple keys can be specified with some protocols; each key must then be identified by a key number.

In general, when a routing update is sent, the following authentication sequence occurs:

1. A device sends a routing update with a key and the corresponding key number to the neighbor device. In protocols that can have only one key, the key number is always zero. The receiving (neighbor) device checks the received key against the same key stored in its own memory.
   1. If the two keys match, the receiving device accepts the routing update packet. If the two keys do not match, the routing update packet is rejected.

Another form of neighbor device authentication is to configure key management using key chains. When you configure a key chain, you specify a series of keys with lifetimes, and the Cisco software checks each of these keys. This process decreases the likelihood that keys will be compromised. To find the complete configuration information for key chains, refer to the "Configuring IP Routing Protocol-Independent Features" module of the Cisco IOS IP Routing: Protocol-Independent Configuration Guide.

1.    enable

2.    configure terminal

3.    router rip

4.    network ip-address

5.    neighbor ip-address

6.    offset-list [access-list-number | access-list-name] {in | out} offset [interface-type interface-number]

7.    timers basic update invalid holddown flush [sleeptime]

8.    end

1.    enable

2.    configure terminal

3.    router rip

4.    version {1 | 2}

5.    exit

6.    interface type number

7.    ip rip send version [1] [2]

8.    ip rip receive version [1] [2]

9.    ip rip authentication key-chain name-of-chain

10.    ip rip authentication mode {text | md5}

11.    end

1.    enable

2.    configure terminal

3.    interface type number

4.    ip split-horizon

5.    no ip split-horizon

6.    end

Note

We recommend that you do not change the state of the default configuration unless you are certain that your application requires making a change in the configuration to advertise routes properly. Remember that if split horizon is disabled on a serial interface (and that interface is attached to a packet-switched network), you must disable split horizon for all devices in any relevant multicast groups on that network. The summarized network will not be advertised when split horizon is enabled.

1.    enable

2.    configure terminal

3.    interface type number

4.    ip split-horizon

5.    exit

6.    router rip

7.    no validate-update-source

8.    end