Comparison of dynamic routing protocols

Each dynamic routing protocol was designed to meet a specific routing need. Each protocol does some things well, and other things not so well. For this reason, choosing the right dynamic routing protocol for your situation is not an easy task.

 

Features of dynamic routing protocols

Each protocol is better suited for some situations over others.

Choosing the best dynamic routing protocol depends on the size of your network, speed of convergence required, the level of network maintenance resources available, what protocols the networks you connect to are using, and so on. For more information on these dynamic routing protocols, see Routing Information Protocol (RIP) on page 300, Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) on page 338, Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) on page 377, and Intermediate System to Intermediate System Protocol(IS-IS) on page 419.

 

Comparing RIP, BGP, and OSPF dynamic routing protocols

Protocol                           RIP                                   BGP                                 OSPF / IS-IS

Routing algorithm           Distance Vector, basic        Distance Vector, advanced

Link-state

 

Common uses Small non-complex net- works

Network backbone, ties multinational offices together

Common in large, com- plex enterprise networks

Strengths    Fast and simple to imple- ment

 

Near universal support

Good when no redund- ant paths

Graceful restart

BFD support

Only needed on border routers

Summarize routes

Fast convergence

Robust

Little management over- head

No hop count limitation

Scalable