Dynamic Routing Protocol Performance in a Fault-Tolerant Ethernet-based IP Network

摘要

Using a hybrid star-ring shaped Ethernet network with a fault-tolerant reconfigureable Ethernet proxy (FREP), we experimentally evaluated the performance of the RIP, OSPF, and EIGRP dynamic routing protocols. The protocols were analyzed in their ability to provide fast convergence rates in the FREP environment with a minimum trade-off in CPU utilization and network overhead. Our results show that all three protocols can be finely tuned to provide the desired convergence rates and are well suited for operation in a simple ring-shaped Ethernet-based network. RIP is well-suited for this application due its inherent support of routing loops. It's main drawback is the broadcasting of ～1kB packets at the specified update interval. OSPF and EIGRP also performed well with their main disadvantage being configuration complexity and increased CPU overhead. These two protocols, however, possess additional advanced features that allow them to scale well into larger and more complex networks. Convergence rates as low as 3.3 sec. were achieved with all three routing protocols as opposed to an average of 40 sec. using each protocol's default settings.