ROUTING PROTOCOLS COMPARATIVE STUDY IN MESH NETWORKS USING GNS3

Abstract

The implementation of meshed networks is a high-performance solution at the level of redundant links. Dynamic routing is responsible for calculating the optimal route in packet network topologies with numerous links. The process of finding the best feasible route constitutes the processing of different metrics of the routing algorithm, in which convergence times may differ depending on the network topology. In this way, the operation and performance of the routing protocol can be evaluated. This paper presents a comparative study of three routing protocols, RIPV2, OSPF and EIGRP, configured in a mesh network topology. The study analyzes the performance of the three routing protocols using a GNS3 network simulator. The software allows simulating different network scenarios, incorporating in the simulations the real operating systems of the routers (IOS). A meshed topology has been simulated with these three protocols to observe and analyze network behavior, traffic flow, routing update time and network convergence. The simulation scenario is composed of 4 routers connected by Fast-Ethernet interfaces. The network equipment devices used correspond to Cisco routers with operating system version 12.4(13b) for a 2691 router service platform with IP Base. To perform the simulations, a virtual machine is used through the use and integration of GNS3 with VirtualBox. The virtual machine corresponds to a computer with a Windows 10 operating system, which is connected to a router interface of the network in a mesh topology. From the computer, data packets are sent in the form of a ping, whose data is recorded and monitored using network management software. Each router has 3 network interfaces that connect to the other routers creating a mesh network of redundant links to reach each router. Each router is configured with routing protocols to be analyzed and evaluated for possible failures. The analysis of the operation of each routing protocol analyzed in the study and its performance in the event of network failures has allowed us to estimate the convergence time of each one. As shown in the results, RIP presents the lowest time to initialize the network, while OSPF is the protocol that presents the best convergence time after the first and second network failure. Finally, EIGRP shows the lowest number of interfaces affecting during the first and second network failure.