Routing Overview

IP routing at its most basic level allows a network packet to travel from its source
address to its destination address. In a basic LAN there is normally only one network
and traffic can be sent directly to the machine it is intended for. In larger, more
complicated networks there are often multiple subnets which are separated by routers.
The process of routing allows a network packet to reach its destination by examining a
routing table.
Use the buttons below to navigate through the lesson


The biggest network of all, the Internet, is bound together by routers, e.g. Your e-mail
may pass through several routers before reaching its destination. A router contains a list
of the networks it is able to reach. Remote network packets are forwarded to routers
which will pass the packet onto the correct destination (or another router).
Routing is the method computers use to transmit data packets from a machine on one
subnet to a machine on a different subnet. This is done via a router:
Each computer is on a different networkbut all computers can talk to each other
through the router!
A computer with an IP address of 10.10.10.1/24 and a computer with an IP address of
10.10.11.1/24 would be on different networks.
A ping from the 10.10.10.1 host to the 10.10.11.1 host would not reach its target.
To access the distant machine a router must be enabled and configured with the correct
entries.
Routing between networks can be achieved by using a combination of the following
Hardware and Software solutions:
Solution 1: A multi-homed Windows Server (one with more than one network card) can
function as a router.
Each NIC must be bound to the IP address of the network it is attached to. The Routing
and remote Access service must be enabled on the server.
In TCP/IP Networking, the Default Gateway is the router which connects a network
segment to other segments & possibly the rest of the world!
Solution 2: A dedicated, hardware Router. The router has several interfaces which can
be used to link it up to different networks.
The router would normally be configured through a web browser or by using telnet.
Solution 3: Software Routing. There are two types: manually entered static routes and
dynamic routing protocols, such as RIP. Routing works by using a routing table. A
routing table is a database that stores route information. A route table is very similar to a
road map. The route print command can be used to view a computers routing table.




















Dynamic Routing
Where there are only a few networks and routers, it is easy to enter a few static routes. However,
if a larger number of routes are required, manual entry can become quite time consuming.
Dynamic routing, on the other hand, lets routers create their own routing tables, and
communicate these tables to other routers. Dynamic routers are set up through the Routing and
Remote Access MMC Snap-in:
Use the buttons below to navigate through the lesson


RIP Routing
Dynamic routers work by discovering their surroundings and communicating it with other nearby
routers. RIP is a simple protocol, its simple and easy to configure, however it has a few
performance issues that restrict is usefulness on medium-to-large networks. When first initialized
RIP routers start off with an empty routing table. They then start sending out announcements to
other routers advertising which networks they can see. Routers on other networks hear these
announcements and add the routes to their own routing tables. These routers in turn will
advertise their new routes which will then be received by other routers.
RIP is a dynamic routing protocol that is best used on medium sized networks with 5 or more
subnets. It is used to remove the administrative overhead of maintaining routing tables.
Microsofts RIP implementation supports both version 1 and version 2 of RIP. The main
difference between the two versions is in the way updates are sent: RIP v1 routers send a
broadcast every 30 seconds, whilst RIP v2 uses multicasts only when routes are changed. RIP v1
routers are unable to receive RIP v2 multicasts. RIP v2 routers can be configured to use
broadcasts for backward compatibility.
RIP routers use Distance Vector Routing. Distance Vector routing protocols send their entire
routing table to their nearest neighbors at regular intervals. Those neighbors then filter through
the received routing table to learn which direction to send traffic to reach a given network.
Distance Vector routing protocols use a distance measurement (metric) to determine the best
path.
RIP routers will only maintain routing tables for those networks that are within 32 hops (for
the round trip there and back). This is because each hop adds 1 to the metric, thus a route
which goes over more than 32 hops has a metric of more than 16 and is therefore invalid. One
problem that plagues routers is routing loops, occurring when a router (or route) goes offline:
Split Horizon
prevents routing information being sent back to the router it came from. This reduces network
traffic.
Triggered Updates
cause the metric for an offline route to increase to 16, which triggers an update and prevents
other routers from using this route until it comes back online.
Poison Reverse
This algorithm prevents any route with a metric over 16 being used. This avoids routing loops
and count to infinity errors.
Silent RIP Host
In this case, RIP version 2 is configured to only accept routes, and not advertise its own.
Post navigation
Routing Overview
Installing and Configuring RIP