Study and Performance of Interior Gateway IP routing Protocols

Abstract

Large IP networks cannot be possible without routing protocols providing the appropriatepaths between end sites. Many interior gateway routing protocols have been developed basedon well known algorithms for IP networks in order to prevent routing loops. Some of theseinterior gateway routing protocols are RIP, OSPF and EIGRP. Each one of them has itsbenefits and drawbacks, and the best election depends on many parameters such as thenetwork features, network hardware, few bandwidth wastage, scalability, costs, etc. In thispaper we present a survey and a test performance of the main interior gateway IP routingprotocols (although some of them can work with other non-IP protocols) that are used insidethe Autonomous Systems. We will see which one provides the lowest delay path, the lowestnumber of hops, the lowest convergence time, and how the traffic sent through the networkhave different behavior depending on the routing protocol running in it, among others. Finally,we will conclude our paper providing some advises to the IP network designers andadministrators. This work will help them to take the best election depending on their case.