SonicOS 7.1 Rules and Policies for Classic Mode

OSPF and RIP Advanced Routing Services

In addition to Policy-based Routing and RIP advertising, SonicOS offers the option of enabling Advanced Routing Services (ARS). Advanced Routing Services provides full advertising and listening support for the Routing Information Protocol (RIPv1 - RFC1058) and (RIPv2 - RFC2453), and Open Shortest Path First (OSPFv2 – RFC2328). Advanced Routing Service should only be enabled by those environments requiring support for either or both of these dynamic routing protocols.

RIP and OSPF are Interior Gateway Protocols (IGP) that are both widely used by networks of various sizes to automate the process of route distribution. RIP is commonly used within smaller networks, while OSPF is used by larger networks, although network size should not be the only factor used to determine the appropriateness of one protocol over the other – network speed, interoperability requirements, and relative overall complexity, for example, should also be considered. RIPv1 and RIPv2 are both supported by ARS, the largest differences between the two being that RIPv2 supports VLSM (Variable Length Subnet Masks), authentication, and routing updates. Routing Information Protocol Differences illustrates the major differences between RIPv1, RIPv2, and OSPFv2/OSPFv3:

Routing Information Protocol Differences
RIPv1 RIPv2 OSPFv2/OSPFv3
Protocol metrics Distance Vector Distance Vector Link State
Maximum Hops 15 15 Unlimited
Routing table updates Full table broadcast periodically, slower convergence Full table broadcast or multicast periodically, slower convergence Link state advertisement multicasts, triggered by changes, fast convergence
Subnet Sizes Supported Only class-based (a/b/c) subnets support Class-based only VLSM
Autonomous system topology Indivisible and flat Indivisible and flat Area-based, allowing for segmentation and aggregation

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