Configuring the Routing Information Protocol

Topics on this page: RIP Overview | Configuring RIP | Viewing RIP Statistics

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Your ADSL/Ethernet router can be configured to communicate with other routing devices to determine the best path for sending data to its intended destination. Routing devices communicate this information using a variety of IP protocols. This topic describes how to configure your Zoom modem to use one of these, called the Routing Information Protocol (RIP). 

RIP Overview

RIP is an Internet protocol you can set up to share routing table information with other routing devices on your LAN, at your ISP's location, or on remote networks connected via the ADSL line. Generally, RIP is used to enable communication on autonomous networks. An autonomous network is one in which all the computers are administered by the same entity. An autonomous network may be a single network, or a grouping of several networks under the same administration. An example of an autonomous network is a corporate LAN, including devices that can access it from remote locations, such as the computers telecommuters use. 

Using RIP, each device sends its routing table to its closest neighbor every 30 seconds. The neighboring device in turn passes the information on to its next neighbor and so on until all devices in the autonomous network have the same set of routes. 

When Should You Configure RIP? 

Most small home or office networks do not need to use RIP; they have only one router and one path to an ISP. In these cases, there is no need to share routes, because all routes from the network go to the same ISP gateway. 

You may want to configure RIP if any of the following circumstances apply to your network: 

  • Your home network setup includes an additional router or RIP-enabled PC (other than the ADSL/Ethernet router). The ADSL/Ethernet router and your second router will need to communicate via RIP to share their routing tables. 
  • Your network connects via the ADSL line to a remote network, such as a corporate network. In order for the networks at the two sites to share the routes used internally within each LAN, they should both be configured with RIP. 
  • Your ISP requests that you run RIP for communication with devices on their network. 

Configuring the ADSL/Ethernet Router's Interfaces with RIP

The following instructions describe how to enable RIP on your ADSL/Ethernet router.

In order for the ADSL/Ethernet router to communicate with other devices using RIP, you must also enable the other devices to use the protocol. See the product documentation for those devices. 

 

  1. If the RIP Configuration page is not already displaying, Advanced Status button than the Rip button.
The page contains radio buttons for enabling or disabling the RIP feature and a table listing interfaces on which the protocol is currently running. The first time you open this page, the table may be empty.
  1. If necessary, change the Age and Update Time. These are global settings for all interfaces that use RIP.
  • Age is the amount of time in seconds that the device's RIP table will retain each route that it learns from adjacent computers.
  • Update Time specifies how frequently the ADSL/Ethernet router will send out its routing table to its neighbors.
  1. In the IFName column, select the name of the interface on which you want to enable RIP.
For communication with RIP-enabled devices on your LAN, select the LAN interface (typically eth-0 or usb-0). 
For communication with your ISP or a remote LAN, select the corresponding ppp, eoa, or other WAN interface. 
  1. Select a metric value for the interface.
RIP uses a "hop count" as a way to determine the best path to a given destination in the network. The hop count is the sum of the metric values assigned to each port through which data is passed before reaching the destination. Among several alternative routes, the one with the lowest hop count is considered the fastest path. 
For example, if you assign this port a metric of 1, then RIP will add 1 to the hop count when calculating a route that passes through this port. If you know that communication via this interface is slower than through other interfaces on your network, you can assign it a higher metric value than the others. 
You can select any integer from 1 to 15. 
  1. Select a Send Mode and a Receive Mode.
The Send Mode setting indicates the RIP version this interface will use when it sends its route information to other devices. 
The Receive Mode setting indicates the RIP version(s) in which information must be passed to the ADSL/Ethernet router in order for it to be accepted into its routing table. 
RIP version 1 is the original RIP protocol. Select RIP1 if you have devices that communicate with this interface that understand RIP version 1 only. 
RIP version 2 is the preferred selection because it supports "classless" IP addresses (which are used to create subnets) and other features. Select RIP2 if all other routing devices on your LAN support this version of the protocol. 
  1. Click Add. The new RIP entry will display in the table. 
  2. Click the Enable radio button to enable the RIP feature. 

If you disable the RIP feature, the interface settings you have configured will remain available for future activation. 
  1. Click Save Changes. A page displays to confirm your changes.

NOTE: If want your changes to be permanent, be sure to Write Settings to Flash.

You can delete an existing RIP entry by clicking in the Action column.

 

Viewing RIP Statistics

From the RIP Configuration page, you can click Global Stats to view statistics on attempts to send and receive route table data over RIP-enabled interfaces on the device.

You can click Clear to reset all statistics to 0 and Refresh to display any newly accumulated data.