RIP Equal Cost Load Balancing

Purpose:  Master RIP Equal Cost Load Balancing configuration, learn how to modify load balancing path.

Requirement:  Based on connectivity RIP should do load balancing.

Steps:

Step 1: Finish the basic IP configuration according to the diagram, and test connectivity.

Step 2: Enable RIP on 3 routers

R1(config)#router rip
R1(config-router)#version 2
R1(config-router)#no auto-summary
R1(config-router)#network 13.0.0.0
R1(config-router)#network 12.0.0.0

R2(config)#router rip R2(config-router)#version 2
R2(config-router)#no auto-summary
R2(config-router)# network 23.0.0.0
R2(config-router)# network 12.0.0.0
R2(config-router)# network 2.2.2.0

R3(config)#router rip
R3(config-router)#version 2
R3(config-router)#no auto-summary
R3(config-router)# network 13.0.0.0
R3(config-router)# network 23.0.0.0

Step 3: Check route table of R2 to see whether there are 2 routes for network 13.0.0.0

Step 4: If you want to enable packet based load balance, You need to disable Cisco CEF first.

R2(config)#interface s1
R2(config-if)#no ip cef
R2(config-if)#no ip route-cache
R2(config)#interface s0
R2(config-if)#no ip cef
R2(config-if)#no ip route-cache

Step 5: “ping 13.0.0.1 source 2.2.2.2″ and “debug ip packet” to check RIP Equal Cost Load Balancing feature.

Step 6: Change the maximum load balancing number of RIP to 6
Use show ip protocols we can see Maximum path: 4
Change the number to 6：

R2(config)#router rip
R2(config-router)#maximum-paths 6

**Tips: Before IOS 12.3 the maximum number is 6, after 12.3 it could be up to 16.