Protocol

[vaishkhan161190]

Hello,

Anyone can tell me that in my network how can i know that which one protocol (RIP, IGP, OSPF, EIGRP, BGP, etc) should be configure in my network.

[Jon Marshall]

Not enough information to say really.

What I can say is IGRP and RIP probably not unless your devices cannot support anything else.

BGP is used primarily when you either connect to an MPLS WAN and that is what the SP supports or you have multhomed internet connections.

EIGRP/OSPF are typically the IGPs used within LANs and sometimes over WANs depending on the type of WAN.

EIGRP is a good choice if you are running all Cisco. It is relatively easy to configure, provides fast failover between redundant links and is flexible in terms of sumarisation etc.

If you are running EIGRP across your WAN as well you need to be able to summarise sites.

OSPF is a good choice if you have multiple vendors for your network kit. It requires careful planing because it imposes a hierarchy on your design and is less flexible in terms of what can be done within a particular area (or at least that is the way it seems to me).

Either could work well and do in a lot of environments.

Jon

[Joseph W. Doherty]

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Posting

Very much depends on the size and complexity of your network, and a Jon notes, you haven't provided enough information.

For very small networks, some only use static routing, i.e. you might not need a dynamic routing protocol at all.

For small networks, even very small, RIP might be used.  RIP doesn't have too much to recommend it except for if a device supports dynamic routing, it will likely support RIP, and if there's additional charge for a dynamic protocol, RIP is usually included in the base routing package.

For almost any size network, excluding huge networks or those requiring complex routing policies, OSPF or EIGRP (generally only if all Cisco) might be used.

Jon mentioned OSPF's hiearchy requires careful planning, and it does, but OSPF, especially on current gen equiptment, especially Cisco's, can usually support a rather large area, so many small to mid sized networks might be albe to run with a single OSPF area.  For those, OSPF isn't much more complex than using RIP and works in many ways "better" than RIP.  (Also very similar situation with EIGRP, i.e. it's not overly complex unless you desire to take advanage of its features designed for larger networks.)

BGP supports huge route tables (e.g. the Internet's) and supports complicated routing policies.  As Jon also notes, many MPLS WAN vendors will usually provide routing via BGP.  Unless you have a real need for BGP features, you'll probably want to avoid it.