Compatible Systems 5.4 - Manual (Page 29)

Chapter 2 - IP Routing & Bridging 23
the address. A few networks use all zeroes in this field. If you are unsure
which type your network uses, check with your network administrator.
To have CompatiView calculate a default broadcast address, make sure that
the Broadcast Address field is empty, position the cursor in the Subnet Mask
field, then just tab through the Broadcast Address field.
> Routing Protocol
Routers exchange information about the most effective path for packet
transfer between various end points. There are a number of different protocols
which have been defined to facilitate the exchange of this information.
Routing Information Protocol (RIP) 1 is the most widely used routing
protocol on IP networks. All gateways and routers that support RIP 1 period-
ically broadcast routing information packets. These RIP 1 packets contain
information concerning the networks that the routers and gateways can reach
as well as the number of routers/gateways that a packet must travel through
to reach the receiving address.
RIP 2 is an enhancement of RIP 1 which allows IP subnet information to be
shared among routers, and provides for authentication of routing updates.
When this protocol is chosen, the router will use the multicast address
224.0.0.9 to send and/or receive RIP 2 packets for this network interface. As
with RIP 1, the router’s routing table will be periodically updated with infor-
mation received in these packets.
RIP 2 is more useful in a variety of environments and allows the use of vari-
able subnet masks on your network. It is also necessary for implementation
of “classless” addressing as accomplished with CIDR (Classless Inter
Domain Routing).
It is recommended that RIP 2 be used on any segment where all routers can
use the same IP routing protocol. If one or more routers on a segment must
use RIP 1, then all other routers on that segment should also be set to use RIP
1.
• If RIP 2 is selected with this pull-down menu, the router will send and/or
accept RIP 2 packets over this interface, and will then periodically update
its routing table with the information provided from these packets. On a
large network, an up-to-date routing table will enhance network perfor-
mance since the router will always be aware of the optimal path to use
when sending packets.
• If RIP 1 is selected with this pull-down menu, the router will send and/or
accept RIP 1 packets, and will then periodically update its routing table
with the information provided from these packets.