Comparative study of RIP, OSPF and EIGRP

protocols using Cisco Packet Tracer

C.G. Dumitrache, G. Predusca, L.D. Circiumarescu, N. Angelescu, D.C. Puchianu
Department of Electrical, Electronics, Information Technology
Valahia University of Targoviste
Targoviste, Romania
{dumitrache1978czr, ynyko, nicoletaangelescu, pdantgv}@yahoo.com; [email protected]

Abstract—determined by the development of new types of protocol telephones, conference calls, education process
routing protocols, the process of designing of the new topologies development, media access applications, online newspapers
had radically changed the last years. At the modern time this applications and so on.
designing process should take into account all the existing
services and also the ones that could be implemented in the
future if we keep in mind the fact that at present we witness an II. TECHNICAL INFORMATION ABOUT IP PROTOCOLS
amazing development of the traffic generated by the various Routing protocols should be very well planned and
applications. The study is focused on the comparative analysis of dimensioned for each type of network. They are used
the routing protocols RIPv2 (Routing Information Protocol), according to the choices of the network administrator. The
OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) and EIGRP (Enhanced Interior advantage of the routing protocols consists of the fact that they
Gateway Routing Protocol) using the soft Cisco Packet Tracer. converge very quickly, even though the main route disappears,
meaning that these protocols are auto adaptive [1].
Keywords—routing protocols, DNS, HTTPS, HTTP, RTP,
Cisco Packet Tracer In order to optimize the routing protocols, the solution
should be very carefully chosen in order not to overload the
I. INTRODUCTION low performance hardware.
Even from the moment of the creation of the first The dynamic routing protocols are divided in two distinct
computers, the need of their interlinkage became a major categories: interior routing protocols and exterior routing
interest in order to share the outputs obtained after the protocols.
execution of various tasks they were originally programmed
for. As the time passed by, some of the manufacturers began A. Interior routing protocols
to develop their own systems of interlinkage for their Interior routing protocols are classified as follows: distance
computers. Afterwards, even though the necessity of vector and link-state protocols.
interlinkage became a major issue among the users, this matter
was still unable to be solved due to the diverse protocols that To the category ”Distance vector” belong the following
were used in order to intercommunicate in various protocols: RIPv1, RIPv2, OSPF and EIGRP [2-6]. These
geographical areas. protocols are characterized by the following features:
• Very easy to implement algorithms, and very easy
When this first issue was solved simultaneously appeared to be computed by the processor;
the first small real networks, which were to be known later as • They do not tax the hardware with a lot of
LAN. Meanwhile, along with the increasing number of network calculus;
computers and other devices (printers, IP communication cell
• They do not have a picture of network topology;
phones and other smart devices which were designed to make
one able to communicate), was developed the next stage, • They are scaled on small networks;
namely the MAN networks. The WAN networks (Wide Area • They support authentication;
Network) in comparison to MAN networks are not • One of the great issues of these protocols is the
geographically limited. The major advantage that these routing loops.
networks brought is that it could interconnected more LAN Protocols OSPF and IS-IS belong to the category ”Link-
networks. The price was indeed more expensive especially state”. These protocols are characterized by the following
considering the fact that LAN networks are ones of a high features:
speed. • They bring more complex algorithms (Dijkstra)
At the time being the computer networks give us the which use information from all the devices from the
possibility to communicate and interact in real time. Now we network. In addition to that, they reconstruct the
use the networks at maximum capacity in order to use a great topology of the whole network, determining the
variety of applications as the ones following: web taxing of processing power of the network hardware
applications, video conferences, e-commerce applications, IP devices.

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 • They compute the shortest route; communicates by means of multicast messages using IP
• Each router will create a link state advertisement that 224.0.0.5 and 224.0.0.6
will be notified to the whole network, and each router EIGRP. In the middle of 80’s years, this protocol was
using this will compute the routing table of the whole launched by Cisco being in great competition with OSPF,
network in what is known as link-state database; especially because it uses a simpler algorithm than OSPF, this
The disadvantage of the link-state protocol is that all the one scales very well on the big-size networks, while OSPF is
devices will compute the whole topology of the network and very well scaled both medium-size networks and on the big-
high-performance hardware is needed for that, which only size networks. This one was used only on Cisco devices until
means an additional cost. 2015. Since 2015 was decided to be used by anyone interested
in using it, being destined for “free usage”. This protocol is the
If a router learns a route by means of two routing most efficient routing protocol.
protocols, the one with the shorter administrative distance will
be automatically used. That means that if it learns a route
using OSPF protocol and one which uses the EIGRP protocol, TABLE I. IMPORTANT PARAMETERS OF RIP, OSPF, AND EIGRP
PROTOCOLS
the EIGRP protocol will be used to route the data packages
because this last one has the administrative distance shorter Protocol RIP OSPF EIGRP
than OSPF, respectively 90 comparing to 120.
Convergence time slow fast fast
RIP v1. - is a protocol which is based on the routing VLSM no yes yes
metric of the hop count. The limit of maximum hop count of
Bandwidth usage high low low
RIP v1 protocol is 15. Each package which reaches the value
of 16 will be thrown away. Using this protocol, each router Resources usage low high low
sends its own routing table each 30 seconds, by means of the Multiple path support no yes yes
broadcast local address. The administrative distance used by
Scalability no yes yes
this protocol is 120. Each route has an associated value of
time, which is resetting each time when updates about the Patented no no yes
routes are received. When the value of time expires, the route Non-IP Protocol no no yes
is marked as unfindable pursuant to the setting made by the
router with the metric 16, which is retained in the routing table
for 180 seconds. After this period of time the” flush timer” B. Exterior routing protocols
function occurs, that retains the invalid route for other 60
seconds. RIP v1 uses UDP 520 port and has no authentication Exterior routing protocols have only one type - ”Path-Vector
support, being usually used in small networks. Routing Protocol”. To this type belong the following
protocols: EGP and BGP. These are usually used for linking
RIP v2. This protocol improves RIP v1 because uses internet providers and big companies. They are especially
VLSM (Variable-Length Subnet Mask) as an authentication
created and used for internet.
support. It uses the UDP 520 port and has an administrative
distance of 120, using the address 224.0.0.9 for multicast
routes updates, and the update time values are like the ones III. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ROUTING USING CISCO
used by RIP v1. It is used in small networks and also supports PACKET TRACER
CIDR. Packet Tracer is a software developed by Cisco company
in order to simulate devices (router 2811, switch 2960, cell
OSPF implements a mechanism for a secure transmission phones VoIP 7960, computers and other devices that can be
of the messages. In order to compute the shortest route, the assigned to IP-s) and various protocols that are used for
Dijkstra algorithm is used. The algorithm designs graphs that devices interlinking in order to create the networks; they can
have assigned on each segment between two intermediate be studied in what concerns their function in order to avoid the
points a certain cost, this being obtained as a result of a issues that may occur (Figure 1) [7-9].
formula. The adjacency in OSPF case is realized by messages
of Hello type that are sent every 10 seconds and is created
only with the neighbours, not with the other routers. For the
model of this, each router will have an identifier. The number
of networks determines the number of LSA that occur in the
routing table of each router. The advantage of this fact is that
anytime will be found an alternative route in case a link fails,
but this is coming with a lot of additional resources which are
needed. Another advantage of OSPF is that it can as well
divide a topology in more regions. This one functions between Fig. 1. Cisco Packet Tracer interface
regions as distance vector routing protocol, and within the
regions (areas) functions as a link state protocol. This happens Using Packet Tracer software we have created and
because between the regions it has no entire vision, and within analyzed the following network that we divided in six areas
the regions, this one knows the entire topology. OSPF protocol (Figures 2-7). In the first area named Ground floor we inserted
a couple of workstations (workstation 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16,

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 17, 18, 19 - ground floor students, Server 3 ground floor) Management - 10.1.99.0/24. All the devices get IPs using
which get their IPs from router 2 by DHCP from network DHCP protocol from router 4 (Figure 4).
10.20.30.0/24, a server 3 ground floor and a wireless router
that assigns IPs in network 192.169.0.0/29 using the same
method. The two smartphones and the tablet are connected
to the Wi-Fi router and to network 172.16.1.0/24 using 3G
connection as can be seen in Figure 2.

Fig. 4. Second floor Area

In the fourth area (Third Floor) we have 4 VLANs

assigned to the following networks: Students - 10.3.1.0,
Teachers - 10.3.2.0, Voice - 10.3.3.0 and Management -
10.3.99.0. Besides the workstations, we also find in this area a
web server with a static IP 10.3.2.2/24 declared in the server
DNS in order that the site www.cezar.ro to be accessed by any
device from any network (Figure 5).

Fig. 2. Ground floor area of the application

In the second area that we named First Floor, we have

created 4 VLANs we gave the following VLAN names:
Students, Teachers, Voice and Management. The VLANS has
defined the following networks: Students - 10.0.1.0/24,
Teachers - 10.0.2.0/24, Voice - 10.0.3.0/24 and Management -
10.0.99.0/24 (Figure 3).

Fig. 5. Third Floor Area

The fifth area was named Home. Here we find a server

which offers access to the following devices: Garage,
Webcam, Reading lamp, Temperature monitoring device,
Central heating and Air Condition. All these devices have
assigned static IPs from network 101.217.1.0/24. In order to
open the garage door using the smartphone 2 from 3G area,
we open IOE monitor interface in order to access management
Fig. 3. First Floor Area
server from Home area. The username cezar and password
In the third area which we named Second Floor we have 2202 will be used. After the link is established, all the devices
created 4 VLANs to which we have the following VLAN parameters situated in this area can be monitored and changed
names: Students, Teachers, Voice and Management and to (Figure 6).
which we have assigned the following networks: Students -
10.1.1.0/24, Teachers - 10.1.2.0/24, Voice - 10.1.3.0/24 and

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 Fig. 8. First Scenario – network analysis using the routing protocol EIGRP

The response time between the devices obtained for this

scenario, for the specific cases of DNS and HTTPS services
Fig. 6. Home Area are given in Table II, and for the cases of HTTP and RTP
services, are given in Table III.
We also have created the Servers room (the Sixth Area)
that is very important for all the servers as here we find the
following: DNS, EMAIL, NTP and CENTRAL OFFICE TABLE II. RESPONSE TIMES IN THE CASE OF THE FIRST SCENARIO -
PROTOCOL EIGRP (DNS, HTTPS)
SERVER 3G. All these have fixed IPs assigned from network
10.10.10.0/24 (Figure 7). First Scenario – EIGRP Protocol
Time Time
DNS Service HTTPS Service
(s) (s)
0 Workstation 16 0,023 Workstation 16
0,001 Switch Ground Floor 0,024 Switch Ground Floor
0,002 Router 2 0,025 Router 2
0,003 Router 3 0,026 Router 1
0,004 Switch Servers Room 0,027 Router 4
0,005 DNS Server 0,028 Switch Third Floor
0,006 Switch Servers Room 0,029 Server 5 Teachers
0,007 Router 3 0,03 Switch Third Floor
0,008 Router 2 0,031 Router 4
0,009 Switch Ground Floor 0,032 Router 1
0,01 Workstation 16 0,033 Router 2
Fig. 7. Servers Area
0,034 Switch Ground Floor
We also have the 3G Area (the seventh area) where we 0,035 Workstation 16
have 4 smartphones and 2 tablets that have assigned IPs from
3G and Wi-Fi networks. Smartphones 0 and 1 connected to
wireless network have assigned IPs from the wireless router TABLE III. RESPONSE TIMES IN THE CASE OF THE FIRST SCENARIO -
EIGRP PROTOCOL (HTTP, RTP)
situated in Ground Floor Area as they are also connected to
the 3G network. Smartphones 2 and 3 are connected to the First Scenario –EIGRP Protocol
wireless router situated in the Third Floor Area and 3G Time Time
network. The same situation holds for the tablets 0 and 1 by HTTP Service RTP Service
(s) (s)
means of Wi-Fi from the two routers and 3G from the basic 0 Smartphone 2 0 Phone 1
work station. 0,003 Wireless router 0 0,001 Switch First Floor
0,004 Switch Third Floor 0,002 Router 2
A. First Scenario – network analysis using the routing 0,005 Router 4 0,003 Router 3
protocol EIGRP 0,006 Router 1 0,004 Router 4
In this scenario we have configured the routers with the 0,007 Router Home 0,005 Switch Second Floor
routing protocol EIGRP as can be seen in the figure below 0,008 Switch Home 0,006 Phone 3
(Figure 8): 0,009 Management Server
0,011 Switch Home
0,012 Router Home
0,013 Router 1
0,014 Router 4
0,015 Switch Third Floor
0,016 Wireless Router 0
0,022 Smartphone 2

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 From the simulation results which we obtained in the Figure 8 TABLE V. RESPONSE TIMES IN THE CASE OF THE SECOND SCENARIO -
OSPF PROTOCOL (HTTP, RTP)
and Tables II-III for EIGRP protocol, can be observed the
followings: The Second Scenario –EIGRP Protocol
• The access of web server between the Time
HTTP Service
Time
RTP Service
workstation 16 Ground Floor Students and (s) (s)
Server 5 Teachers has influenced the duration 0 Smartphone 2 0 Phone 1
between the moment of the initialization of the 0,004 Wireless router 0 0,001 Switch First Floor
browser using https service and the moment of 0,005 Switch Third Floor 0,002 Router 2
the web page loaded to be of 0,035s. 0,006 Router 4 0,003 Router 3
• For http using the route Smartphone 2 to 0,007 Router 1 0,004 Router 4
Management Server and back to Smartphone 2 0,008 Router Home 0,005 Switch Second Floor
we have a delay of 0.022s. 0,009 Switch Home 0,006 Phone 3
• Using the RTP service between Phone 1and 0,01 Server 1
Phone 3 we have a delay of 0,006s. 0,012 Switch Home
0,013 Router Home
B. Scenario 2 – analysis of the network using the OSPF 0,014 Router 1
routing protocol 0,015 Router 4
0,016 Switch Third Floor
In the second scenario (Figure 9) we used the OSPF
routing protocol and the same services (DNS, HTTPS, HTTP 0,017 Wireless Router 0
and RTP). The response time is presented in the Tables IV - 0,023 Smartphone 2
V.
From simulation results obtained in Figure 9 and Tables IV-V
for OSPF protocol we observe the followings:
• While accessing the web server between the
work station 16 Ground Floor Students and
Server 5 Teachers, since the moment of the
browser initialization using https service to the
display of the web page the time that passed was
of 0,035s.
• For the http service using the Smartphone 2 –
Management Server - Smartphone 2 we have a
Fig. 9. Scenario 2 – analysis of the network using OSPF routing protocol delay of 0,023s.
• Using RTP service between Phone 1 and Phone
3 we have a delay of 0,006s.
TABLE IV. RESPONSE TIMES IN THE CASE OF THE SECOND SCENARIO -
OSPF PROTOCOL (DNS, HTTPS)
C. Scenario 3 – analysis of the network using the RIPv2
The Second Scenario –OSPF Protocol routing protocol
Time Time
(s)
DNS Service
(s)
HTTPS Service In the third scenario, using the RIPv2 routing protocol
0 Workstation 16 0,023 Workstation 16 (Figure 10) and the same services (DNS, HTTPS, HTTP and
0,001 Switch Ground Floor 0,024 Switch Ground Floor RTP) we obtained the following response time presented in in
0,002 Router 2 0,025 Router 2
Tables VI – VII.
0,003 Router 3 0,026 Router 1
0,004 Switch Servers Room 0,027 Router 4
0,005 DNS Server 0,028 Switch Third Floor
0,006 Switch Servers Room 0,029 Server 5 Teachers
0,007 Router 3 0,03 Switch Third Floor
0,008 Router 2 0,031 Router 4
0,009 Switch Ground Floor 0,032 Router 1
0,01 Workstation 16 0,033 Router 2
0,034 Switch Ground Floor
0,035 Workstation 16

Fig. 10. Scenario 3 – analysis of the network using RIPv2 routing protocol

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 TABLE VI. RESPONSE TIMES IN THE CASE OF THE THIRD SCENARIO - RIPV2
PROTOCOL (DNS, HTTPS) • using RTP service between Phone 1 to Phone 3
we have a delay of 0,033 s;
The Third Scenario – OSPF Protocol
Time Time
(s)
DNS Service
(s)
HTTPS Service IV. CONCLUSIONS
0,004 workstation 16 0,331 workstation 16 Considering the executed simulations and the gained
0,005 Switch Ground Floor 0,332 Switch Ground Floor outcomes we can conclude that the most efficient protocol is
0,006 Router 2 0,333 Router 2 EIGRP because uses a less complicated algorithm than the one
0,007 Router 3 0,334 Router 1 OSPF does; this one is very well scaled on the middle-sized
0,008 Switch Servers Room 0,335 Router 4 networks and well on the big-sized networks, while OSPF is
0,009 DNS Server 0,336 Switch Third Floor very well scaled both on the middle-sized and big-sized
0,01 Switch Servers Room 0,337 Server 5 Teachers
networks, the latter computing the shortest route. Each router
will announce in the entire network the routing table and each
0,011 Router 3 0,338 Switch Third Floor
router using this one will compute the topology of the entire
0,012 Router 2 0,339 Router 4
network, requesting very big resources and higher costs
0,013 workstation 16 0,34 Router 3
comparing to EIGRP. The last protocol that could be used for
0,014 workstation 16 0,341 Router 2 routing a topology is RIP because its time is not very good,
0,342 Switch Ground Floor therefore it will generate delays in the network.
0,343 workstation 16
From the analysis made and the response times obtained,
TABLE VII. RESPONSE TIMES IN THE CASE OF THE THIRD SCENARIO - RIPV2 we can conclude that there are differences between the used
PROTOCOL ( HTTP, RTP) routing protocols. These differences are generated by the used
algorithms that introduce the delays in the execution of some
The Third Scenario – EIGRP Protocol
services. We consider that a viable software for the network
Time Time simulation is Packet Tracer. This software allows us to design
HTTP Service RTP Service
(s) (s)
and simulate virtual networks, by using them we can obtain a
0,005 Smartphone 2 0,027 Phone 1
traffic decongestion and at the same time we can strengthen
0,006 Wireless router 0 0,028 Switch First Floor
the network security.
0,007 Switch Third Floor 0,029 Router 2
0,008 Router 4 0,03 Router 3
0,009 Router 1 0,031 Router 4
0,01 Router Home 0,032 Switch Second Floor
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0,011 Switch Home 0,033 Phone 3
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