Asian Journal of Technology & Management Research [ISSN: 2249 –0892] Vol. 04 – Issue: 01 (Jan - Jun 2014) 13 A Comparative Evaluation of Classless Routing Protocols (EIGRP) and Classful Routing Protocols (RIP) Mohd. Rahul College of Computers and Information Technology Taif University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia mohd.rahul@gmail.com Abstract- The Classful routing protocol does not carry the subnet mask information in its routing table. RIP version 1 (Routing Information Protocol) is a Classful routing protocol, this was the Internet's first widely used routing protocol in networks. RIP is useful for local and medium size networks. The RIP is known as a distance-vector routing protocol, which works in the hop count as a routing metric, The RIP allowed 15 no’s maximum hops counts. The 16th hop count is considered as infinite distance viewing such distance as unreachable and undesirable route in it routing process. The RIP operates the limited size of the networks. The Classless routing protocol can carry the subnet mask information, Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) is an advanced distance-vector routing protocol, Classful routing protocol designed by Cisco Systems. EIGRP is an enhanced version of old routing protocol, as IGRP (Interior Gateway Routing Protocol). EIGRP supports VLSM and CIDR allowing network designers to maximize address space. EIGRP is based on distance vector and link-state algorithms. This paper consist of advantages of classless (EIGRP) routing protocol over Classful routing Protocol (RIP). This includes the various trouble resolving techniques and traffic handling techniques during communication in simple as well in bulky networks. [1] Key Words: - Routing protocols, Classful (RIP), Classless (EIGRP) I. INTRODUCTION Classful Routing: The Classful routing Protocol does not send subnet mask info at what time a route update is send out. All devices in the system has to make use of the similar subnet mask. It’s not allows Variable Length Subnet Masking. [2] For example: RIP V1 & IGRP are the Classful routing protocols Routing Information Protocol (RIP): RIP is a Classful protocol, means that it doesn't carry subnet mask info in its routing table. RIP is not able to support Variable Length Subnet Masking (VLSM) and discontiguous networks. It is a Distance-Vector protocol. RIP version 1 The originally RIP specified in RFC 1058 [5] Uses Classful routing. The periodic routing updates do not carry subnet information, lacking support for variable length subnet masks (VLSM). This limitation makes it impossible to have different-sized subnets inside of the same network class. So the all subnets in a network class must have the same size. RIP V1 doesn’t support for router authentication, making RIP vulnerable to various attacks. [6] 1. RIP uses the Bellman-Ford Algorithm to calculate its routes. 2. RIP uses the Bellman Ford Algorithm to calculate the network. 3. The all router sends a list of distance-vectors each of its neighbors periodically in the network. 4. The metric should be a positive integer. The metric measures the cost to get to the destination. In RIP, the cost describes number of hops. 5. RIP allowed 15 hops counts. 6. RIPv1 is specified in RFC 1058 7. RIPv2 is specified in RFC 2453[5] The Massage format for RIP RIP message format is shown in below. (Fig: 1) all messages contains command entry and a version number and can contain entries for up to 25 routes. Each route entry includes an address family ID (identifier), the IP address accessible by the route, and the hop count for the route. [7] Command Version Reserved Address Family ID Reserved IP Address Reserved Reserved Metric Fig: 1 (Massage format for RIP) Command will always be set to either one, signifying a Request message, or two, signifying a Response message.