Routing & Switching

RIPv2

RIPv2 is the simplest IP routing protocol still worth studying: a distance-vector protocol that teaches the vocabulary — metrics, timers, split horizon, route poisoning — that every later protocol refines. Two chapters: how it works, and why its limits pushed the industry to EIGRP and OSPF.

read in order, or dip in
2 chapters

read in order, or dip in

updated 31 Aug 2026
Free — no signup

updated 31 Aug 2026

Contents

  1. 01RIPv2 Explained: Operation, Timers and ConfigurationRIPv2 is a distance-vector routing protocol that advertises its full routing table to 224.0.0.9 every 30 seconds and measures every path in hop count, with 15 hops as the maximum reachable distance. It added subnet masks, multicast updates and MD5 authentication to RIPv1, making it classless and usable on real networks.
  2. 02RIP Loop Prevention: Split Horizon, Poisoning and Why RIP LostDistance-vector protocols risk routing loops because routers can re-advertise a failed route back to the router that originated it. RIP prevents this with split horizon (never advertise a route out the interface it was learned on), route poisoning (advertise dead routes with metric 16) and triggered updates — but its 15-hop limit, minutes-long convergence and bandwidth-blind metric made it obsolete for serious networks.

Spotted something out of date? Tell us — this library is maintained by the faculty.