Distance Vector Routing Protocols
What are the three distance vector routing
protocols?
What are the key characteristics of RIP?
What are the key characteristics of IGRP?
What are the key characteristics of
EIGRP?
How are distance vector routes
advertised?
Does a router in a distance vector network
have knowledge of the entire path to a
destination network?
What are the 2 things a distance vector
router knows?
What are the two reasons sending an
entire routing table in an update
inefficient?
What is the periodic update time for RIP?
What is the periodic update time for IGRP?
What is the address for broadcast
updates?
What is the algorithm used for?
What processes does the routing protocol
define?
Define Time to Convergence.
RIP, IGRP, EIGRP
Hop count is used as the metric for path selection.
If the hop count for a network is greater than 15, RIP
cannot supply a route to that network.
Routing updates are broadcast or multicast every 30
seconds, by default.
Bandwidth, delay, load and reliability are used to
create a composite metric.
Routing updates are broadcast every 90 seconds,
by default.
IGRP is the predecessor of EIGRP and is now
obsolete.
It can perform unequal cost load balancing.
It uses Diffusing Update Algorithm (DUAL) to
calculate the shortest path.
There are no periodic updates as with RIP and
IGRP. Routing updates are sent only when there is a
change in the topology.
As vectors of distance and direction
No
The direction or interface in which packets should be
forwarded and
The distance or how far it is to the destination
network
consume bandwidth but also consume router CPU
resources to process the updates
30 Sec
90 Sec
255.255.255.255
to calculate the best paths and then send that
information to the neighbors
Mechanism for sending and receiving routing
information.
Mechanism for calculating the best paths and
installing routes in the routing table.
Mechanism for detecting and reacting to topology
changes.
Time to convergence defines how quickly the routers
in the network topology share routing information
and reach a state of consistent knowledge. The
faster the convergence, the more preferable the
protocol. Routing loops can occur when inconsistent
routing tables are not updated due to slow

Define Scalability.
Define Classless (Use of VLSM) or
Classful.
Define Resource Usage.
Define Implementation and Maintenance
List the advantages for distance vector
protocols.
List the disadvantages for distance vector
protocols.
Definitely practice the exercise at the right.
It will help you remember each protocol.
What are the routes that router will initially
discover after booting?
After completing the initial discovery what
does the router start to do?
What does the initial exchange of routing
information contain?
What does the router do with the
information that is not contained in its
routing table?
After the first exchange of routing updates
what has been added to each routing
table?
What is convergence?
What is split horizon?
The amount of time it takes for a network
to converge is directly proportional to
____________________
The speed of achieving convergence
consists of what two things?
convergence in a changing network.
Scalability defines how large a network can become
based on the routing protocol that is deployed. The
larger the network is, the more scalable the routing
protocol needs to be.
Classless routing protocols include the subnet mask
in the updates. This feature supports the use of
Variable Length Subnet Masking (VLSM) and better
route summarization. Classful routing protocols do
not include the subnet mask and cannot support
VLSM.
Resource usage includes the requirements of a
routing protocol such as memory space, CPU
utilization, and link bandwidth utilization. Higher
resource requirements necessitate more powerful
hardware to support the routing protocol operation in
addition to the packet forwarding processes.
Implementation and maintenance describes the level
of knowledge that is required for a network
administrator to implement and maintain the network
based on the routing protocol deployed.
Simple implementation and maintenance
Low resource requirements
Slow convergence
Limited scalability
Routing loops
The directly connected networks
Exchange information
Information about their directly connected networks
It is added to the routing table
Neighbors directly connected routes
When all routers have consistent knowledge of the
network
Prevents information from being sent out the
interface that it was received
the size of that network
How quickly the routers propagate a change in the
topology in a routing update to its neighbors.

What are the two reasons routers
exchange routing updates?
What is the period update time for RIP?
What are the four reasons listed for
topology changes?
What are the three additional timers?
What is an invalid Timer?
What happens to the route after 240
seconds have elapsed?
What does a holddown timer do?
What are the two commands that will show
the timers?
Define bounded update.
What are characteristic of EIGRP
updates?
What is a triggered update?
What are the three reasons to send a
triggered update?
What are the two problems with triggered
updates?
What is it called when all the routers send
updates at the same time on a network
with a hub at the center?
The speed of calculating best path routes using the
new routing information collected.
To exchange routing information with their neighbors
and to maintain up-to-date routing information in the
routing table
30 seconds
Failure of a link
Introduction of a new link
Failure of a router
Change of link parameters
Invalid
Flush
Holddown
If an update has not been received to refresh an
existing route after 180 seconds, that route in the
routing table will be marked as an invalid
It is removed from the routing table or it will be
marked as Flushed
Keeps a route in the routing table, marked as
unreachable, for at least 180 seconds so all other
routers receive that information
Show ip route
Show ip protocols
Updates that are sent only to the routers that need
the information instead of sending information to all
routers
Non-periodic because they are not sent out on a
regular basis.
Partial updates sent only when there is a change in
topology that influences routing information.
Bounded, meaning the propagation of partial
updates are automatically bounded so that only
those routers that need the information are updated.
a routing table update that is sent immediately in
response to a routing change
An interface changes state (up or down)
A route has entered (or exited) the "unreachable"
state
A route is installed in the routing table
Packets containing the update message can be
dropped or corrupted by some link in the network.
The triggered updates do not happen
instantaneously. It is possible that a router that has
not yet received the triggered update will issue a
regular update at just the wrong time, causing the
bad route to be reinserted in a neighbor that had
already received the triggered update.
Synchronized updates
Is this a problem on a switched network? No
What is a routing loop? a packet is continuously transmitted within a series
of routers without ever reaching its intended
destination network
What are some reasons for routing loops? Incorrectly configured static routes
Incorrectly configured route redistribution
(redistribution is a process of handing the routing
information from one routing protocol to another
routing protocol and is discussed in CCNP-level
courses)
Inconsistent routing tables not being updated due to
slow convergence in a changing network
Incorrectly configured or installed discard routes
What mechanism is built into IP to TTL time-to-live
overcome routing loops?
What conditions can be created because Link bandwidth will be used for traffic looping
of routing loops? back and forth between the routers in a loop.
A router's CPU will be strained due to looping
packets.
A router's CPU will be burdened with useless
packet forwarding that will negatively impact the
convergence of the network.
Routing updates may get lost or not be
processed in a timely manner. These conditions
would introduce additional routing loops,
making the situation even worse.
Packets may get lost in "black holes."
What are some of the mechanisms used to Defining a maximum metric to prevent count to
avoid routing loops? infinity
Holddown timers
Split horizon
Route poisoning or poison reverse
Triggered updates
What is count to infinity? a condition that exists when inaccurate routing
updates increase the metric value to "infinity" for a
network that is no longer reachable
What is infinity defined by? Maximum metric value
What is infinity for RIP? 16
What is it called when a route goes up, flapping
then down, then up etc.?
What are holddown timers used for? to prevent regular update messages from
inappropriately reinstating a route that may have
gone bad.
Describe the process of how a holddown 1. A router receives an update from a neighbor
timer works. indicating that a network that previously was
accessible is now no longer accessible.
2. The router marks the network as possibly down
and starts the holddown timer.
3. If an update with a better metric for that network is
received from any neighboring router during the

What is the split horizon rule?
What is route poisoning?
What is split horizon with poison reverse?
What is time-to-live (TTL)?
What happens when a packets TTL
reaches 0?
What are the factors that affect the
distance vector protocol you choose?
What are the features of RIP?
What features were introduced with
RIPv2?
What are the features of EIGRP?
What are the advantages of EIGRP?
holddown period, the network is reinstated and the
holddown timer is removed.
4. If an update from any other neighbor is received
during the holddown period with the same or worse
metric for that network, that update is ignored. Thus,
more time is allowed for the information about the
change to be propagated.
5. Routers still forward packets to destination
networks that are marked as possibly down. This
allows the router to overcome any issues associated
with intermittent connectivity. If the destination
network truly is unavailable and the packets are
forwarded, black hole routing is created and lasts
until the holddown timer expires.
a router should not advertise a network through the
interface from which the update came
to mark the route as unreachable in a routing update
that is sent to other routers
when sending updates out a specific interface,
designate any networks that were learned on that
interface as unreachable
an 8-bit field in the IP header that limits the number
of hops a packet can traverse through the network
before it is discarded
The packet is discarded
Size of the network
Compatibility between models of routers
Administrative knowledge required
Supports split horizon and split horizon with poison
reverse to prevents loops.
Is capable of load balancing up to six equal cost
paths . The default is four equal cost paths.
Includes the subnet mask in the routing updates,
making it a classless routing protocol.
Has authentication mechanism to secure routing
table updates.
Supports variable length subnet mask (VLSM).
Uses multicast addresses instead of broadcast.
Supports manual route summarization.
Triggered updates (EIGRP has no periodic updates).
Use of a topology table to maintain all the routes
received from neighbors (not only the best paths).
Establishment of adjacencies with neighboring
routers using the EIGRP hello protocol.
Support for VLSM and manual route summarization.
These allow EIGRP to create hierarchically
structured large networks.
Although routes are propagated in a distance vector
manner, the metric is based on minimum bandwidth
and cumulative delay of the path rather than hop
count.
Fast convergence due to Diffusing Update Algorithm
(DUAL) route calculation. DUAL allows the insertion
of backup routes into the EIGRP topology table,
which are used in case the primary route fails.
Because it is a local procedure, the switchover to the
backup route is immediate and does not involve the
action in any other routers.
Bounded updates mean that EIGRP uses less
bandwidth, especially in large networks with many
routes.
EIGRP supports multiple network layer protocols
through Protocol Dependent Modules, which include
support for IP, IPX, and AppleTalk.