Configuring Routing Information Protocol

Routing Information Protocol (RIP) is a commonly used routing protocol in small to medium TCP/IP
networks. It is a stable protocol that uses a distance-vector algorithm to calculate routes.

• Finding Feature Information, page 1

• Prerequisites for RIP, page 1
• Restrictions for RIP, page 2
• Information About Configuring RIP, page 2
• How to Configure RIP, page 8
• Configuration Examples for RIP, page 25
• Additional References, page 27
• Feature Information for Configuring RIP, page 29
• Glossary, page 31

Finding Feature Information

Your software release may not support all the features documented in this module. For the latest caveats and
feature information, see Bug Search Tool and the release notes for your platform and software release. To
find information about the features documented in this module, and to see a list of the releases in which each
feature is supported, see the feature information table.
Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and Cisco software image support.
To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to www.cisco.com/go/cfn. An account on Cisco.com is not required.

Prerequisites for RIP

You must configure ip routing command before you configure RIP.

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Restrictions for RIP

Restrictions for RIP

Routing Information Protocol (RIP) uses hop count as the metric to rate the value of different routes. The hop
count is the number of devices that can be traversed in a route. A directly connected network has a metric of
zero; an unreachable network has a metric of 16. This limited metric range makes RIP unsuitable for large
networks.

Information About Configuring RIP

RIP Overview
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).

RIP Routing Updates

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.

RIP Routing Metric

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.

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Authentication in RIP

Authentication in RIP
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.

Exchange of Routing Information

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

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RIP Route Summarization

• 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.

RIP Route Summarization

Summarizing routes in RIP Version 2 improves scalability and efficiency in large networks. Summarizing IP
addresses means that there is no entry for child routes (routes that are created for any combination of the
individual IP addresses contained within a summary address) in the RIP routing table, reducing the size of
the table and allowing the router to handle more routes.
Summary IP address functions more efficiently than multiple individually advertised IP routes for the following
reasons:
• The summarized routes in the RIP database are processed first.
• Any associated child routes that are included in a summarized route are skipped as RIP looks through
the routing database, reducing the processing time required. Cisco routers can summarize routes in two
ways:
• Automatically, by summarizing subprefixes to the classful network boundary when crossing classful
network boundaries (automatic summary).

Note Automatic summary is enabled by default.

• As specifically configured, advertising a summarized local IP address pool on the specified interface
(on a network access server) so that the address pool can be provided to dialup clients.

When RIP determines that a summary address is required in the RIP database, a summary entry is created in
the RIP routing database. As long as there are child routes for a summary address, the address remains in the
routing database. When the last child route is removed, the summary entry also is removed from the database.
This method of handling database entries reduces the number of entries in the database because each child
route is not listed in an entry, and the aggregate entry itself is removed when there are no longer any valid
child routes for it.
RIP Version 2 route summarization requires that the lowest metric of the "best route" of an aggregated entry,
or the lowest metric of all current child routes, be advertised. The best metric for aggregated summarized
routes is calculated at route initialization or when there are metric modifications of specific routes at
advertisement time, and not at the time the aggregated routes are advertised.

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Split Horizon Mechanism

The ip summary-address rip routerconfiguration command causes the router to summarize a given set of
routes learned via RIP Version 2 or redistributed into RIP Version 2. Host routes are especially applicable
for summarization.
See the "Route Summarization Example, on page 25" section at the end of this chapter for examples of using
split horizon.
You can verify which routes are summarized for an interface using the show ip protocols EXEC command.
You can check summary address entries in the RIP database. These entries will appear in the database only
if relevant child routes are being summarized. To display summary address entries in the RIP routing database
entries if there are relevant routes being summarized based upon a summary address, use the show ip rip
database command in EXEC mode. When the last child route for a summary address becomes invalid, the
summary address is also removed from the routing table.

Split Horizon Mechanism

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.

Interpacket Delay for RIP Updates

By default, the software adds no delay between packets in a multiple-packet RIP update being sent. If you
have a high-end router sending to a low-speed router, you might want to add such interpacket delay to RIP
updates, in the range of 8 to 50 milliseconds.

RIP Optimization over WAN Circuits

Devices are used on connection-oriented networks to allow potential connectivity to many remote destinations.
Circuits on the WAN are established on demand and are relinquished when the traffic subsides. Depending
on the application, the connection between any two sites for user data could be short and relatively infrequent.

Source IP Addresses of RIP Routing Updates

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.

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Neighbor Router Authentication

Neighbor Router Authentication

You can prevent your router from receiving fraudulent route updates by configuring neighbor router
authentication. When configured, neighbor authentication occurs whenever routing updates are exchanged
between neighbor routers. This authentication ensures that a router receives reliable routing information from
a trusted source.
Without neighbor authentication, unauthorized or deliberately malicious routing updates could compromise
the security of your network traffic. A security compromise could occur if an unfriendly party diverts or
analyzes your network traffic. For example, an unauthorized router could send a fictitious routing update to
convince your router 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 being received by your router.
When neighbor authentication has been configured on a router, the router 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 the receiving router.
There are two types of neighbor authentication used: plain text authentication and Message Digest Algorithm
Version 5 (MD5) authentication. Both forms work in the same way, with the exception that MD5 sends a
"message digest" instead of the authenticating key itself. The message digest is created using the key and a
message, but the key itself is not sent, preventing it from being read while it is being transmitted. Plain text
authentication sends the authenticating key itself over the wire.

Note Note that 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 router must share an authenticating key. This key is
specified at each router 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 router sends a routing update with a key and the corresponding key number to the neighbor router. In
protocols that can have only one key, the key number is always zero. The receiving (neighbor) router
checks the received key against the same key stored in its own memory.
2 If the two keys match, the receiving router accepts the routing update packet. If the two keys do not match,
the routing update packet is rejected.

MD5 authentication works similarly to plain text authentication, except that the key is never sent over the
wire. Instead, the router uses the MD5 algorithm to produce a "message digest" of the key (also called a
"hash"). The message digest is then sent instead of the key itself. This ensures that nobody can eavesdrop on
the line and learn keys during transmission.
Another form of neighbor router 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 IOS software rotates through
each of these keys. This decreases the likelihood that keys will be compromised. To find complete configuration
information for key chains, refer to the "Managing Authentication Keys" section in the Configuring IP Routing

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IP-RIP Delay Start Overview

Protocol-Independent Features module of the Cisco IOS IP Routing: Protocol-Independent Configuration

Guide.

IP-RIP Delay Start Overview

The IP-RIP Delay Start feature is used on Cisco devices to delay the initiation of Routing Information Protocol
Version 2 (RIPv2) neighbor sessions until the network connectivity between the neighbor devices is fully
operational, thereby ensuring that the sequence number of the first message digest algorithm 5 (MD5) packet
that the device sends to the non-Cisco neighbor device is 0. The default behavior for a device configured to
establish RIPv2 neighbor sessions with a neighbor device using MD5 authentication is to start sending MD5
packets when the physical interface is up.
The IP-RIP Delay Start feature is often used when a Cisco device is configured to establish a RIPv2 neighbor
relationship using MD5 authentication with a non-Cisco device over a Frame Relay network. When RIPv2
neighbors are connected over Frame Relay, it is possible for the serial interface connected to the Frame Relay
network to be up while the underlying Frame Relay circuits are not yet ready to transmit and receive data.
When a serial interface is up and the Frame Relay circuits are not yet operational, any MD5 packets that the
device attempts to transmit over the serial interface are dropped. When MD5 packets are dropped because the
Frame Relay circuits over which the packets need to be transmitted are not yet operational, the sequence
number of the first MD5 packet received by the neighbor device after the Frame Relay circuits become active
will be greater than 0. Some non-Cisco devices will not allow an MD5-authenticated RIPv2 neighbor session
to start when the sequence number of the first MD5 packet received from the other device is greater than 0.
The differences in vendor implementations of MD5 authentication for RIPv2 are probably a result of the
ambiguity of the relevant RFC (RFC 2082) with respect to packet loss. RFC 2082 suggests that devices should
be ready to accept either a sequence number of 0 or a sequence number higher than the last sequence number
received. For more information about MD5 message reception for RIPv2, see section 3.2.2 of RFC 2082 at
the following url: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2082.txt.
The IP-RIP Delay Start feature is supported over other interface types such as Fast Ethernet and Gigabit
Ethernet.
Cisco devices allow an MD5-authenticated RIPv2 neighbor session to start when the sequence number of the
first MD5 packet received from the other device is greater than 0. If you are using only Cisco devices in your
network, you do not need to use the IP-RIP Delay Start feature.

Offset-list
An offset list is the mechanism for increasing incoming and outgoing metrics to routes learned via RIP. This
is done to provide a local mechanism for increasing the value of routing metrics. Optionally, you can limit
the offset list with either an access list or an interface.

Timers
Routing protocols use several timers that determine such variables 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

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How to Configure RIP

• The interval of time (in seconds) after which a route is declared invalid
• The interval (in seconds) during which routing information regarding 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

It also is possible to tune the IP routing support in the software to enable faster convergence of the various IP
routing algorithms, and, hence, quicker fallback to redundant routers. The total effect is to minimize disruptions
to end users of the network in situations where quick recovery is essential.

How to Configure RIP

Enabling RIP and Configuring RIP Parameters

SUMMARY STEPS

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

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 enable Enables privileged EXEC mode.
• Enter your password if prompted.
Example:
Device> enable

Step 2 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.

Example:
Device# configure terminal

Step 3 router rip Enables a RIP routing process and enters router
configuration mode.
Example:
Device(config)# router rip

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Enabling RIP and Configuring RIP Parameters

Command or Action Purpose

Step 4 network ip-address Associates a network with a RIP routing process.

Example:
Device(config-router)# network 10.1.1.0

Step 5 neighbor ip-address Defines a neighboring device with which to exchange

routing information.
Example:
Device(config-router)# neighbor 10.1.1.2

Step 6 offset-list [access-list-number | access-list-name] {in | out} (Optional) Applies an offset list to routing metrics.
offset [interface-type interface-number]

Example:
Device(config-router)# offset-list 98 in 1 Ethernet
1/0

Step 7 timers basic update invalid holddown flush [sleeptime] (Optional) Adjusts routing protocol timers.

Example:
Device(config-router)# timers basic 1 2 3 4

Step 8 end Exits router configuration mode and returns to

privileged EXEC mode.
Example:
Device(config-router)# end

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Specifying a RIP Version and Enabling Authentication

Specifying a RIP Version and Enabling Authentication

SUMMARY STEPS

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

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 enable Enables privileged EXEC mode.
• Enter your password if prompted.
Example:
Device> enable

Step 2 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.

Example:
Device# configure terminal

Step 3 router rip Enters router configuration mode.

Example:
Device(config)# router rip

Step 4 version {1 | 2} Enables the Cisco software to send only RIP Version 2
(RIPv2) packets.
Example:
Device(config-router)# version 2

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Command or Action Purpose

Step 5 exit Exits the router configuration mode and enters the global
configuration mode.
Example:
Device(config-router)# exit

Step 6 interface type number Specifies an interface and enters interface configuration
mode.
Example:
Device(config)# interface Ethernet 3/0

Step 7 ip rip send version [1] [2] Configures an interface to send only RIPv2 packets.

Example:
Device(config-if)# ip rip send version 2

Step 8 ip rip receive version [1] [2] Configures an interface to accept only RIPv2 packets.

Example:
Device(config-if)# ip rip receive version 2

Step 9 ip rip authentication key-chain name-of-chain Enables RIP authentication.

Example:
Device(config-if)# ip rip authentication
key-chain chainname

Step 10 ip rip authentication mode {text | md5} Configures the interface to use message digest algorithm
5 (MD5) authentication (or let it default to plain-text
Example: authentication).

Device(config-if)# ip rip authentication mode

md5

Step 11 end Exits interface configuration mode and returns to

privileged EXEC mode.
Example:
Device(config-if)# end

Summarizing RIP Routes

RIP Version 2 supports automatic route summarization by default. The software summarizes subprefixes to
the classful network boundary when classful network boundaries are crossed. If you have disconnected subnets,
disable automatic route summarization to advertise the subnets. When route summarization is disabled, the

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Summarizing RIP Routes

software sends subnet and host routing information across classful network boundaries. To disable automatic
summarization, use the no auto-summary command in router configuration mode.

Note Supernet advertisement (advertising any network prefix less than its classful major network) is not allowed
in RIP route summarization, other than advertising a supernet learned in the routing tables. Supernets
learned on any interface that is subject to configuration are still learned. For example, the following
summarization is invalid: (invalid supernet summarization)

Router(config)# interface Ethernet 1

Router(config-if)# ip summary-address rip 10.0.0.0 252.0.0.0
.
.
>

SUMMARY STEPS

1. enable
2. configure terminal
3. interface type number
4. ip summary-address rip ip-address network-mask
5. exit
6. router rip
7. no auto-summary
8. end

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 enable Enables privileged EXEC mode.
• Enter your password if prompted.
Example:
Router> enable

Step 2 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.

Example:
Router# configure terminal

Step 3 interface type number Enters the interface configuration mode.

Example:
Router(config)# interface Ethernet 3/0

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Enabling or Disabling Split Horizon

Command or Action Purpose

Step 4 ip summary-address rip ip-address network-mask Specifies the IP address and network mask that identify
the routes to be summarized.
Example:
Router(config-if)# ip summary-address rip
10.2.0.0 255.255.0.0

Step 5 exit Exits the interface configuration mode.

Example:
Router(config-if)# exit

Step 6 router rip Enters the router configuration mode.

Example:
Router(config)# router rip

Step 7 no auto-summary Used in router configuration mode, disables automatic

summarization.
Example:
Router(config-router)# no auto-summary

Step 8 end Exits router configuration mode and returns to privileged

EXEC mode.
Example:
Router(config-router)# end

Enabling or Disabling Split Horizon

To enable or disable split horizon, use the following commands in interface configuration mode, as needed.

SUMMARY STEPS

1. enable
2. configure terminal
3. interface type number
4. ip split-horizon
5. no ip split-horizon
6. end

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Disabling the Validation of Source IP Addresses

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 enable Enables privileged EXEC mode.
• Enter your password if prompted.
Example:
Router> enable

Step 2 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.

Example:
Router# configure terminal

Step 3 interface type number Enters interface configuration mode.

Example:
Router(config)# interface Ethernet 3/0

Step 4 ip split-horizon Enables split horizon.

Example:
Router(config-if)# ip split-horizon

Step 5 no ip split-horizon Disables split horizon.

Example:
Router(config-if)# no ip split-horizon

Step 6 end Exits interface configuration mode and returns to

privileged EXEC mode.
Example:
Router(config-if)# end

Disabling the Validation of Source IP Addresses

Perform this task to disable the default function that validates the source IP addresses of incoming routing
updates.

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Disabling the Validation of Source IP Addresses

Note Split horizon for Frame Relay and SMDS encapsulation is disabled by default. 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.
In general, changing the state of the default is not recommended unless you are certain that your application
requires making a change in order 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 routers in any relevant multicast groups on that network.

Note Summarized network will not be advertised when split horizon is enabled.

SUMMARY STEPS

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

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 enable Enables privileged EXEC mode.
• Enter your password if prompted.
Example:
Router> enable

Step 2 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.

Example:
Router# configure terminal

Step 3 interface type number Enters interface configuration mode.

Example:
Router(config)# interface Ethernet 3/0

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Configuring Interpacket Delay

Command or Action Purpose

Step 4 ip split-horizon Enables split horizon.

Example:
Router(config-if)# ip split-horizon

Step 5 exit Exits interface configuration mode.

Example:
Router(config-if)# exit

Step 6 router rip Enters router configuration mode.

Example:
Router(config)# router rip

Step 7 no validate-update-source Disables the validation of the source IP address of

incoming RIP routing updates.
Example:
Router(config-router)# no validate-update-source

Step 8 end Exits router configuration mode and returns to

privileged EXEC mode.
Example:
Router(config-router)# end

Configuring Interpacket Delay

Perform this to configure interpacket delay.

SUMMARY STEPS

1. enable
2. configure terminal
3. interface type number
4. exit
5. router rip
6. output-delay milliseconds
7. end

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Optimizing RIP over WAN

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 enable Enables privileged EXEC mode.
• Enter your password if prompted.
Example:
Router> enable

Step 2 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.

Example:
Router# configure terminal

Step 3 interface type number Enters interface configuration mode.

Example:
Router(config)# interface Ethernet 3/0

Step 4 exit Exits interface configuration mode.

Example:
Router(config-if)# exit

Step 5 router rip Enters router configuration mode.

Example:
Router(config)# router rip

Step 6 output-delay milliseconds Configures interpacket delay for outbound RIP updates.

Example:
Router(config-router)# output-delay 8

Step 7 end Exits router configuration mode and returns to privileged

EXEC mode.
Example:
Router(config-router)# end

Optimizing RIP over WAN

There are two problems when RIP is not optimized:
• Periodic broadcasting by RIP generally prevents WAN circuits from being closed.

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Optimizing RIP over WAN

• Even on fixed, point-to-point links, the overhead of periodic RIP transmissions could seriously interrupt
normal data transfer because of the quantity of information that passes through the line every 30 seconds.

To overcome these limitations, triggered extensions to RIP cause RIP to send information on the WAN only
when there has been an update to the routing database. Periodic update packets are suppressed over the interface
on which this feature is enabled. RIP routing traffic is reduced on point-to-point, serial interfaces. Therefore,
you can save money on an on-demand circuit for which you are charged for usage. Triggered extensions to
RIP partially support RFC 2091, Triggered Extensions to RIP to Support Demand Circuits .
Perform the following task to enable triggered extensions to RIP and to display the contents of the RIP private
database.

SUMMARY STEPS

1. enable
2. configure terminal
3. interface serial controller-number
4. ip rip triggered
5. end
6. show ip rip database [prefix mask]

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 enable Enables privileged EXEC mode.
• Enter your password if prompted.
Example:
Router> enable

Step 2 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.

Example:
Router# configure terminal

Step 3 interface serial controller-number Configures a serial interface.

Example:
Router(config)# interface serial3/0

Step 4 ip rip triggered Enables triggered extensions to RIP.

Example:
Router(config-if)# ip rip triggered

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Command or Action Purpose

Step 5 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:
Router(config-if)# end

Step 6 show ip rip database [prefix mask] Displays the contents of the RIP private database.

Example:
Router# show ip rip database

Configuring IP-RIP Delay Start for Routers Connected by a Frame Relay Network
The tasks in this section explain how to configure a router to use the IP-RIP Delay Start feature on a Frame
Relay interface.

Timesaver Cisco routers allow an MD5-authenticated RIPv2 neighbor session to start when the sequence number of
the first MD5 packet received from the other router is greater than 0. If you are using only Cisco routers
in your network, you do not need to use the IP-RIP Delay Start feature.

Prerequisites
Your router must be running Cisco IOS Release 12.4(12) or a later release.

Note The IP-RIP Delay Start feature is supported over other interface types such as Fast Ethernet and Gigabit
Ethernet. If your Cisco router cannot establish RIPv2 neighbor sessions using MD5 authentication with
a non-Cisco device, the IP-RIP Delay Start feature might resolve the problem.

Restrictions
The IP-RIP Delay Start feature is required only when your Cisco router is configured to establish a RIPv2
neighbor relationship with a non-Cisco device and you want to use MD5 neighbor authentication.

Configuring RIPv2
This required task configures RIPv2 on the router.
This task provides instructions for only one of the many possible permutations for configuring RIPv2 on your
router.

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SUMMARY STEPS

1. enable
2. configure terminal
3. router rip
4. network ip-network
5. version {1 | 2}
6. [no] auto-summary

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 enable Enables privileged EXEC mode.
• Enter your password if prompted.
Example:
Router> enable

Step 2 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.

Example:
Router# configure terminal

Step 3 router rip Enables a RIP routing process, which places you in router
configuration mode.
Example:
Router(config)# router rip

Step 4 network ip-network Associates a network with a RIP routing process.

Example:
Router(config-router)# network 192.168.0.0

Step 5 version {1 | 2} Configures the software to receive and send only RIP Version
1 or only RIP Version 2 packets.
Example:
Router (config-router)# version 2

Step 6 [no] auto-summary Disables or restores the default behavior of automatic

summarization of subnet routes into network-level routes.
Example:
Router(config-router)# no auto-summary

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Configuring Frame Relay on a Serial Subinterface

This required task configures a serial subinterface for Frame Relay.

Note This task provides instructions for only one of the many possible permutations for configuring Frame
Relay on a subinterface. For more information about and instructions for configuring Frame Relay, see
the Configuring Frame Relay part of the Cisco IOS Wide-Area Networking Configuration Guide .

SUMMARY STEPS

1. enable
2. configure terminal
3. interface type number
4. no ip address
5. encapsulation frame-relay [mfr number | ietf]
6. frame-relay lmi-type {cisco | ansi | q933a}
7. exit
8. interface type number/subinterface-number {point-to-point | multipoint}
9. frame-relay interface-dlci dlci [ietf | cisco]

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 enable Enables privileged EXEC mode.
• Enter your password if prompted.
Example:
Router> enable

Step 2 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.

Example:
Router# configure terminal

Step 3 interface type number Specifies an interface and enters interface configuration
mode.
Example:
Router(config)# interface serial3/0

Step 4 no ip address Removes a previously configured IP address from the

interface.
Example:
Router(config-if)# no ip address

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Command or Action Purpose

Step 5 encapsulation frame-relay [mfr number | ietf] Specifies the type of Frame Relay encapsulation for the
interface.
Example:
Router(config-if)# encapsulation frame-relay ietf

Step 6 frame-relay lmi-type {cisco | ansi | q933a} Specifies the type of Frame Relay local management
interface (LMI) for the interface.
Example:
Router(config-if)# frame-relay lmi-type ansi

Step 7 exit Exits interface configuration mode.

Example:
Router(config-if)# exit

Step 8 interface type number/subinterface-number Specifies a subinterface and the connection type for the
{point-to-point | multipoint} subinterface and enters subinterface configuration mode.

Example:
Router(config)# interface serial3/0.1
point-to-point

Step 9 frame-relay interface-dlci dlci [ietf | cisco] Assigns a data-link connection identifier (DLCI) to a
Frame Relay subinterface.
Example:
Router(config-subif)# frame-relay interface-dlci
100 ietf

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Configuring IP with MD5 Authentication for RIPv2 and IP-RIP Delay on a Frame Relay
Subinterface

SUMMARY STEPS

1. enable
2. configure terminal
3. key chain name-of-chain
4. key number
5. key-string string
6. exit
7. exit
8. interface type number
9. no cdp enable
10. ip address ip-address subnet-mask
11. ip rip authentication mode {text | md5}
12. ip rip authentication key-chain name-of-chain
13. ip rip initial-delay delay
14. end

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 enable Enables privileged EXEC mode.
• Enter your password if prompted.
Example:
Device> enable

Step 2 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.

Example:
Device# configure terminal

Step 3 key chain name-of-chain Specifies the name of a key chain and enters key chain
configuration mode.
Example:
Device(config)# key chain rip-md5

Step 4 key number Specifies the key identifier and enters key chain key
configuration mode. The range is from 0 to 2147483647.
Example:
Device(config-keychain)# key 123456

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Command or Action Purpose

Step 5 key-string string Configures the key string.

Example:
Device(config-keychain-key)# key-string
abcde

Step 6 exit Exits key chain key configuration mode.

Example:
Device(config-keychain-key)# exit

Step 7 exit Exits key chain configuration mode.

Example:
Device(config-keychain)# exit

Step 8 interface type number Specifies a subinterface and enters subinterface configuration
mode.
Example:
Device(config)# interface serial 3/0.1

Step 9 no cdp enable Disables Cisco Discovery Protocol options on the interface.
Note Cisco Discovery Protocol is not supported by non-Cisco
Example: devices; and the IP-RIP Delay Start feature is required
Device(config-subif)# no cdp enable only when you are connecting to a non-Cisco device.
Therefore, you should disable Cisco Discovery Protocol
on any interfaces on which you want to configure the
IP-RIP Delay Start feature.
Step 10 ip address ip-address subnet-mask Configures an IP address for the Frame Relay subinterface.

Example:
Device(config-subif)# ip address 172.16.10.1
255.255.255.0

Step 11 ip rip authentication mode {text | md5} Specifies the mode for RIPv2 authentication.

Example:
Device(config-subif)# ip rip authentication
mode md5

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Command or Action Purpose

Step 12 ip rip authentication key-chain Specifies a previously configured key chain for Routing
name-of-chain Information Protocol Version (RIPv2) message digest algorithm
5 (MD5) authentication.
Example:
Device (config-subif)# ip rip authentication
key-chain rip-md5

Step 13 ip rip initial-delay delay Configures the IP-RIP Delay Start feature on the interface. The
device will delay sending the first MD5 authentication packet
Example: to the RIPv2 neighbor for the number of seconds specified by
the delay argument. The range is from 0 to 1800.
Device(config-subif)# ip rip initial-delay
45

Step 14 end Exits the subinterface configuration mode and returns to

privileged EXEC mode.
Example:
Device(config-subif)# end

Configuration Examples for RIP

Route Summarization Example

The following example shows how the ip summary-address riprouter configuration command can be used
to configure summarization on an interface. In this example, the subnets 10.1.3.0/25, 10.1.3.128/25, 10.2.1.0/24,
10.2.2.0/24, 10.1.2.0/24 and 10.1.1.0/24 can be summarized as shown below while sending the updates over
an interface.

Router(config)#interface GigabitEthernet 0/2

Router(config-if)#ip summary-address rip 10.1.0.0 255.255.0.0
Router(config-if)#ip summary-address rip 10.2.0.0 255.255.0.0
Router(config-if)#ip summary-address rip 10.3.0.0 255.255.0.0

Split Horizon Examples

Two examples of configuring split horizon are provided.

Example 1
The following configuration shows a simple example of disabling split horizon on a serial link. In this example,
the serial link is connected to an X.25 network.

Router(config)# interface Serial 0

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Address Family Timers Example

Router(config-if)# encapsulation x25

Router(config-if)# no ip split-horizon

Example 2
In the next example, the figure below illustrates a typical situation in which the no ip split-horizon interface
configuration command would be useful. This figure depicts two IP subnets that are both accessible via a
serial interface on Router C (connected to a Frame Relay network). In this example, the serial interface on
Router C accommodates one of the subnets via the assignment of a secondary IP address.
The Ethernet interfaces for Router A, Router B, and Router C (connected to IP networks 10.13.50.0,
10.155.120.0, and 10.20.40.0, respectively all have split horizon enabled by default, while the serial interfaces
connected to networks 172.16.1.0 and 192.168.1.0 all have split horizon disabled with the no ip split-horizon
command.The figure below shows the topology and interfaces.
In this example, split horizon is disabled on all serial interfaces. Split horizon must be disabled on Router C
in order for network 172.16.0.0 to be advertised into network 192.168.0.0 and vice versa. These subnets
overlap at Router C, interface S0. If split horizon were enabled on serial interface S0, it would not advertise
a route back into the Frame Relay network for either of these networks.

Configuration for Router A

interface ethernet 1
ip address 10.13.50.1
!
interface serial 1
ip address 172.16.2.2
encapsulation frame-relay
no ip split-horizon

Configuration for Router B

interface ethernet 2
ip address 10.155.120.1
!
interface serial 2
ip address 192.168.1.2
encapsulation frame-relay
no ip split-horizon

Configuration for Router C

interface ethernet 0
ip address 10.20.40.1
!
interface serial 0
ip address 172.16.1.1
ip address 192.168.1.1 secondary
encapsulation frame-relay
no ip split-horizon

Address Family Timers Example

The following example shows how to adjust individual address family timers. Note that the address family
"notusingtimers" will use the system defaults of 30, 180, 180, and 240 even though timer values of 5, 10, 15,

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and 20 are used under the general RIP configuration. Address family timers are not inherited from the general
RIP configuration.

Router(config)# router rip

Router(config-router)# version 2
Router(config-router)# timers basic 5 10 15 20
Router(config-router)# redistribute connected
Router(config-router)# network 5.0.0.0
Router(config-router)# default-metric 10
Router(config-router)# no auto-summary
Router(config-router)#
Router(config-router)# address-family ipv4 vrf abc
Router(config-router-af)# timers basic 10 20 20 20
Router(config-router-af)# redistribute connected
Router(config-router-af)# network 10.0.0.0
Router(config-router-af)# default-metric 5
Router(config-router-af)# no auto-summary
Router(config-router-af)# version 2
Router(config-router-af)# exit-address-family
Router(config-router)#
Router(config-router)# address-family ipv4 vrf xyz
Router(config-router-af)# timers basic 20 40 60 80
Router(config-router-af)# redistribute connected
Router(config-router-af)# network 20.0.0.0
Router(config-router-af)# default-metric 2
Router(config-router-af)# no auto-summary
Router(config-router-af)# version 2
Router(config-router-af)# exit-address-family
Router(config-router)#
Router(config-router)# address-family ipv4 vrf notusingtimers

Router(config-router-af)# redistribute connected

Router(config-router-af)# network 20.0.0.0
Router(config-router-af)# default-metric 2
Router(config-router-af)# no auto-summary
Router(config-router-af)# version 2
Router(config-router-af)# exit-address-family
Router(config-router)#

Example: IP-RIP Delay Start on a Frame Relay Interface

Additional References
The following sections provide references related to configuring Routing Information Protocol.

Related Documents

Related Topic Document Title

Protocol-independent features, filtering RIP information, Configuring IP Routing Protocol-Independent
key management (available in RIP Version 2), and VLSM Features

IPv6 Routing: RIP for IPv6 Cisco IOS IP Routing: RIP Configuration Guide

RIP commands: complete command syntax, command Cisco IOS IP Routing: RIP Command Reference
mode, command history, defaults, usage guidelines, and
examples

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Additional References

Related Topic Document Title

Configuring Frame Relay Cisco IOS Wide-Area Networking Configuration
Guide

Standards

Standard Title
None --

MIBs

MIB MIBs Link

No new or modified MIBS are supported and support To locate and download MIBs for selected platforms,
for existing MIBs has not been modified. Cisco IOS releases, and feature sets, use Cisco MIB
Locator found at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/go/mibs

RFCs

RFC Title
RFC 1058 Routing Information Protocol

RFC 2082 RIP-2 MD5 Authentication

RFC 2091 Triggered Extensions to RIP to Support Demand

Circuits

RFC 2453 RIP version 2

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Feature Information for Configuring RIP

Technical Assistance

Description Link
The Cisco Support website provides extensive online http://www.cisco.com/cisco/web/support/index.html
resources, including documentation and tools for
troubleshooting and resolving technical issues with
Cisco products and technologies.
To receive security and technical information about
your products, you can subscribe to various services,
such as the Product Alert Tool (accessed from Field
Notices), the Cisco Technical Services Newsletter,
and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) Feeds.
Access to most tools on the Cisco Support website
requires a Cisco.com user ID and password.

Feature Information for Configuring RIP

The following table provides release information about the feature or features described in this module. This
table lists only the software release that introduced support for a given feature in a given software release
train. Unless noted otherwise, subsequent releases of that software release train also support that feature.
Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and Cisco software image support.
To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to . An account on Cisco.com is not required.

Table 1: Feature Information for Configuring Routing Information Protocol

Feature Name Releases Feature Information

IP-RIP Delay Start 12.4(12), The IP-RIP Delay Start feature is
used on Cisco routers to delay the
15.0(1)M,
initiation of RIPv2 neighbor
12.2(33)SRE, sessions until the network
15.0(1)SY connectivity between the neighbor
routers is fully operational, thereby
ensuring that the sequence number
of the first MD5 packet that the
router sends to the non-Cisco
neighbor router is 0. The default
behavior for a router configured to
establish RIPv2 neighbor sessions
with a neighbor router using MD5
authentication is to start sending
MD5 packets when the physical
interface is up.
The following commands were
introduced or modified: ip rip
initial-delay.

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Feature Name Releases Feature Information

IP Summary Address for RIPv2 12.0(7)T 12.1(3)T 12.1(14) The IP Summary Adddress for
12.2(2)T 12.2(27)SBB 15.0(1)M RIPv2 feature introduced the
12.2(33)SRE 15.0S ability to summarize routes.
Summarizing routes in RIP Version
2 improves scalability and
efficiency in large networks.
Summarizing IP addresses means
that there is no entry for child
routes (routes that are created for
any combination of the individual
IP addresses contained within a
summary address) in the RIP
routing table, reducing the size of
the table and allowing the router to
handle more routes.
The following commands were
introduced or modified by this
feature: ip summary-address rip.

Routing Information Protocol 12.2(27)SBB 15.0(1)M Routing Information Protocol (RIP)

12.2(33)SRE 15.0S is a commonly used routing
protocol in small to medium
TCP/IP networks. It is a stable
protocol that uses a distance-vector
algorithm to calculate routes.

Triggered RIP 12.0(1)T 15.0(1)M 12.2(33)SRE Triggered RIP was introduced to

15.0S overcome constant RIP updates
over expensive circuit-based WAN
links. Triggered extensions to RIP
cause RIP to send information on
the WAN only when there has been
an update to the routing database.
Periodic update packets are
suppressed over the interface on
which this feature is enabled. RIP
routing traffic is reduced on
point-to-point, serial interfaces.
The following commands were
introduced or modified: ip rip
triggered, show ip rip database.

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Glossary

Glossary
address family --A group of network protocols that share a common format of network address. Address
families are defined by RFC 1700.
IS-IS --Intermediate System-to-Intermediate System. OSI link-state hierarchical routing protocol based on
DECnet Phase V routing, where routers exchange routing information based on a single metric, to determine
network topology.
RIP --Routing Information Protocol.RIP is a dynamic routing protocol used in local and wide area networks.
VRF --VPN routing and forwarding instance. A VRF consists of an IP routing table, a derived forwarding
table, a set of interfaces that use the forwarding table, and a set of rules and routing protocols that determine
what goes into the forwarding table. In general, a VRF includes the routing information that defines a customer
VPN site that is attached to a PE router.

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