Jan 10, 20222 min read

Difference Between RIP (Routing Information Protocol) vs OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)

RIP (Routing Information Protocol)

RIP (Routing Information Protocol), is an example of distance vector routing for local networks. RIP works to deliver the whole routing table to all active interfaces every 30 seconds. In RIP protocol, hop count is the only metrics to decide the best path to a remote network. Let’s take an example to see how RIP protocol works: Assuming, we have two paths available from the Source to the Destination. It is clear that Path 2 will be selected by RIP protocol since it has fewer hop counts.

Advantages:

RIP protocol is a great fit for small networks - It’s easy to understand and configure.
RIP routing is guaranteed to support almost all routers.
RIP does not require an update every time the network topology changes.

Disadvantages:

RIP can create a traffic bottleneck as it broadcasts its updates every 30 seconds. Since any routing update in RIP will take up great bandwidth, the resources for critical IT processes are hence limited.
The hop counts of RIP are limited to 15 hops, so any router beyond that distance is considered infinity, and hence unreachable.
The convergence rate is slow. When any link goes down it takes a lot of time to choose alternate routes.
RIP doesn’t support multiple paths on the same route, which may generate more routing loops. While using fixed hop count metrics to select the best routes, RIP fails to work when routes are compared based on real-time data. This causes packet loss and overloads network operations due to repeated processes.

OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)

OSPF (Open Shortest Path First), a link-state routing protocol, is massively adopted in large enterprise networks. OSPF routing protocol collects link state information from routers in the network and determines the routing table information to forward packets. This occurs by creating a topology map for the network. Unlike RIP, OSPF only exchanges routing information when there’s a change in network topology. OSPF protocol best fits for complex networks that comprise multiple subnets working to ease network administration and optimize traffic. It effectively calculates the shortest path with minimum network traffic when the change occurs.

Advantages:

OSPF routing protocol has complete knowledge of network topology, allowing routers to calculate routes based on incoming requests.
OSPF protocol has no limitations in hop count, unlike RIP protocol that has only 15 hops at most. So OSPF converges faster than RIP and has better load balancing.
OSPF multicasts link-state updates and sends the updates only when there is a change in the network.

Disadvantage:

OSPF protocol demands advanced knowledge about complex networks, making it not as easy to learn as some other protocols.
OSPF routing doesn’t scale when there are more routers added to the network. The lack of scalability in OSPF protocol makes it unsuitable for routing across the Internet.
OSPF protocol maintains multiple copies of routing information, increasing the amount of memory needed.

Difference Between RIP and OSPF

RIP OSPF

It is a Distance Vector protocol and it uses the distance or hops count to determine the transmission path.	It is a link state protocol and it analyzes different sources like the speed, cost and path congestion while identifying the shortest path.
It is basically use for smaller size organization.	It is basically use for larger size organization in the network.
The networks are classified as areas and tables here.	The networks are classified as areas, sub areas, autonomous systems and backbone areas here.
It requires less memory and CPU intensive as compared to OSPF	It requires memory and CPU intensive
In RIP, the convergence time is slow	In OSPF, Convergence time is fast
In RIP, Bellman-Ford Algorithm is used	In OSPF, Dijkstra Algorithm is used
It is based on Hop Count and it allows maximum of 15 hops	It is based on Bandwidth
Its administrative distance is 120.	Its administrative distance is 110.