Web Management Guide-R07

Table Of Contents
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18 Unicast Routing
This chapter describes how to configure the following unicast routing protocols:
RIP – Configures Routing Information Protocol.
Overview
This switch can route unicast traffic to different subnetworks using Routing
Information Protocol (RIP). It supports RIP and RIP-2 dynamic routing. These
protocols exchange routing information, calculate routing tables, and can respond
to changes in the status or loading of the network.
RIP and RIP-2 Dynamic Routing Protocols
The RIP protocol is the most widely used routing protocol. RIP uses a distance-
vector-based approach to routing. Routes are determined on the basis of
minimizing the distance vector, or hop count, which serves as a rough estimate of
transmission cost. Each router broadcasts its advertisement every 30 seconds,
together with any updates to its routing table. This allows all routers on the
network to learn consistent tables of next hop links which lead to relevant subnets.
Non-IP Protocol Routing
The switch supports IP routing only. Non-IP protocols such as IPX and Appletalk
cannot be routed by this switch, and will be confined within their local VLAN group
unless bridged by an external router.
To coexist with a network built on multilayer switches, the subnetworks for non-IP
protocols must follow the same logical boundary as that of the IP subnetworks. A
separate multi-protocol router can then be used to link the subnetworks by
connecting to one port from each available VLAN on the network.