RIP Problems and Some Resolutions

The simplicity of RIP is often given as the main reason for its popularity. Simplicity is great most of the time, but an unfortunate price of simplicity in too many cases is that problems crop up, usually in unusual cases or special situations, and so it is with RIP. The straightforward distance-vector algorithm and operation mechanism work well most of the time, but they have some important weaknesses. We need to examine these problems to understand both the limitations of RIP and some of the complexities that have been added to the protocol to resolve them.

Issues with RIP's Algorithm

The most important area where we find serious issues with RIP is with the basic function of the distance-vector algorithm described ...

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