RIP: Routing Information Protocol
Version 1 uses packet format shown in fig 10.3
Key fields: command, AFI, IP address, metric
Command: request and response.
Address Family Identifier (AFI): 2 for IP. RIP has not been used for other protocols yet.
IP address: subnet masks are not passed => variable length subnet masks (VSLMs) cannot be supported. The routers have to know apriori what subnet masks are being used. Convention: 255.255.255.0
Metric: hop count. Max = 16 (“infinity”)
RIP uses UDP: requires broadcast capability