vector protocols in order to overcome large routing loops and offer explicit information when a subnet or network is not accessible. This is usually accomplished by setting the hop count to one more than the maximum.One way to avoid inconsistent updates is route poisoning. When Network 5 goes down, Router E initiates route poisoning by making a table entry for Network 5 as 16, or unreachable. By this poisoning of the route to Network 5, Router C is not susceptible to incorrect updates about the route to Network 5. When Router C receives a router poisoning from Router E, it sends an update, called a poison reverse, back to Router E. This makes sure all routes on the segment have received the poisoned route information. When route poisoning is used with triggered updates it will speed up convergence time because neighboring routers do not have to wait 30 seconds before advertising the poisoned route. Route poisoning causes a routing protocol to advertise infinite-metric routes for a failed route. Route poisoning does not break split horizon rules. Split horizon with poison reverse is essentially route poisoning, but specifically placed on links that split horizon would not normally allow routing information to flow across. In either case, the result is that failed routes are advertised with infinite metrics. Web Links Route Poisoning http://www.firewall.cx/distance_vector.php
Content 7.1 Distance Vector Routing 7.1.6 Avoiding routing loops with triggered updates New routing tables are sent to neighboring routers on a regular basis. For example, RIP updates occur every 30 seconds. However a triggered update is sent immediately in response to some change in the routing table. The router that detects a topology change immediately sends an update message to adjacent routers that, in turn, generate triggered updates notifying their adjacent neighbors of the change. When a route fails, an update is sent immediately rather than waiting on the update timer to expire. Triggered updates, used in conjunction with route poisoning, ensure that all routers know of failed routes before any holddown timers can expire.Triggered updates go ahead and send updates because routing information has changed not waiting for the timer to expire. The router sends another routing update on its other interfaces rather than waiting on the routing update timer to expire. This causes the information about the status of the route that has changed, to be forwarded and starts the holddown timers more rapidly on the neighboring routers. The wave of updates propagates throughout the network. Issuing a triggered update Router C announces that network 10.4.0.0 is unreachable. Upon receipt of this information, Router B announces through interface S0/1 that network 10.4.0.0 is down. In turn, Router A sends an update out interface Fa0/0. Web Links Sending Triggered Updates http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/ tk365/tk554/ technologies_ configuration_ example09186a00800948a1.shtml http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/ td/doc/product/ software /ios120/120newft/ 120t/120t1/ trigrip.htm
Content 7.1 Distance Vector Routing 7.1.7 Preventing routing loops with holddown timers A count to infinity problem can be avoided by using holddown timers: Web Links Holddown http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~kfall/ EE122/lec16/ sld035.htm
Content 7.2 RIP 7.2.1 RIP routing process The modern open standard version of RIP, sometimes referred to as IP RIP, is formally detailed in two separate documents. The first is known as Request for Comments (RFC) 1058 and the other as Internet Standard (STD) 56. RIP has evolved over the years from a Classful Routing Protocol, RIP Version 1 (RIP v1), to a Classless Routing Protocol, RIP Version 2 (RIP v2). RIP v2 enhancements include: RIP prevents routing loops from continuing indefinitely by implementing a limit on the number of hops allowed in a path from the source to a destination. The maximum number of hops in a path is 15. When a router receives a routing update that contains a new or changed entry, the metric value is increased by 1 to account for itself as a hop in the path. If this causes the metric to be incremented beyond 15, it is considered to be infinity and the network destination is considered unreachable. RIP includes a number of features that are common in other routing protocols. For example, RIP implements split horizon and holddown mechanisms to prevent incorrect routing information from being propagated. Web Links Configuring RIP http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/ iosswrel/ps1831/products_configuration_guide_ chapter09186a00800d97f7.html#xtocid1
Content 7.2 RIP 7.2.2 Configuring RIP The router rip command enables RIP as the routing protocol. The network command is then used to tell the router on which interfaces to run RIP. The routing process then associates specific interfaces with the network addresses and begins sending and receiving RIP updates on these interfaces.RIP sends routing-update messages at regular intervals. When a router receives a routing update that includes changes to an entry, it updates its routing table to reflect the new route. The received metric value for the path is increased by 1, and the source interface of the update is indicated as the next hop in the routing table. RIP routers maintain only the best route to a destination but can maintain multiple equal-cost paths to the destination.

A router running RIP can be configured to send a triggered update when the network topology changes using the ip rip triggered command. This command is issued only on serial interfaces at the router(config-if)# prompt. After updating its routing table due to a configuration change, the router immediately begins transmitting routing updates in order to inform other network routers of the change. These updates, called triggered updates, are sent independently of the regularly scheduled updates that RIP routers forward. For example, the descriptions for the commands used to configure router BHM shown in the figure are as follows: The Cisco router interfaces that are connected to networks 10.0.0.0 and 192.168.13.0 send and receive RIP updates. These routing updates allow the router to learn the network topology from neighboring router also running RIP. RIP must be enabled and the networks specified. The remaining tasks are optional. Among these optional tasks are: