1

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Currently, Internet and communication networks have an important influence on our daily
lives by enabling people to communicate. There are numerous sectors in which internet and
communication network is used such as education, video conferencing, web applications, IP
telephony, and many more. Internet and communication networks makes use of network
devices such as switches, hubs, bridges, access points, antennas and routers. The most
important device in the network is a router, which connects between two different networks
(K. Zajda, 2010)

The primary purpose of routers is to forward the internet protocol (IP) packets. To quickly
adapt to the changes which occur in a network, the routing protocol uses various algorithms,
processes and messages. According to the characteristics of routing protocols, the protocols
are classified in various groups. At the network layer, there are two classes of protocols:
routed and routing protocols. A routed protocol is responsible for the transportation of
packets across a network and the responsibility of routing protocols is to appropriately
direct the packets from source to destination. The various routing protocols include,
Routing Information Protocol (RIP), Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP)
and Open Shortest Path First (OSPF).

The performance evaluation of Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) over
Routing Information Protocol (RIP) in this project seeks to address which routing protocol is
best suited for use in a Local Area Network (LAN) by determining their convergence and
metric distances. This gives the client an ability to make the right selection of the most
effective protocol that will best fit his organization and satisfies his needs.

On the network layer, achieving routing convergence, the process in which routing tables are
updated, is a crucial and complex process. At every topology change, including a link failure
or recovery, the routing tables need to be updated at which time the convergence process
takes place. The task of updating these tables is accomplished by routers that communicate
according to a set of rules set by routing protocols. The main goals of any routing protocol
are to achieve fast convergence, while remaining simple, flexible, accurate and robust. For
this purpose, a CISCO PACKET TRACER is used as a simulator to implement the proposed
network model (Yakubu Bello, 2015).
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1.1 Background of study

Routing links together small networks to form huge internetworks that span vast regions.
This cumbersome task makes the network layer the most complex in the OSI reference
model. The network layer provides the transfer of packets across the network. Routing
protocols define the path of each packet from source to destination. To complete this task,
routers use routing tables, which contain information about possible destinations in the
network and the metrics (distance, cost, bandwidth, etc.) to these destinations. Routers have
information regarding the neighbor routers around them. The degree of a router’s network
knowledge and awareness depends on the routing protocol it uses. At every change in the
network, including link failure and link recovery, routing tables must be updated. The
efficiency of these updates determines the efficiency of the routing protocols (Shafiul, Khan,
Nazrul Islam, and Ashique, 2013).

There are two main types of routing protocols: static routing and dynamic routing. Static
routing assumes that the network is fixed, meaning no nodes are added or removed and
routing tables are therefore only manually updated. Dynamic or adaptive routing, more
commonly used for internetworking, allows changes in the network topology by using
routing tables that update with each network change. In this project we will only consider
dynamic routing protocols. Within the class of dynamic protocols, we can have Enhanced
Interior Gateway Protocol (EIGRP) which deals with routing information between different
autonomous and RIP which is a distance-vector based algorithm. In this project we will
evaluate the two dynamic routing protocols, RIP and EIGRP.

Dynamic routing protocol

Interior Gateway protocol Exterior Gateway protocol

BGP
Distance Vector protocol Link-state protocol

RIPv1 IGRP OSPF IS-IS

RIPv2 EIGRP

Figure 1. Dynamic Routing protocol

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1.2 Statement of the Problem

A routing protocol enables the network to dynamically adapt to changing conditions;

without it, all routing decisions must be made statically. Choosing the right protocol for a
particular network in an organization is a problem and to overcome this, a performance
evaluation between two routing protocols is carried out to determine which one is best
suited for an organization’s network model.

1.3 Aim and objectives of the study

The aim of this project is to perform an evaluation of EIGRP over RIP in a local area
network configuration and this objective is achieved by:
i. Designing four(4) local area network models
ii. Implementing a network security
iii. Configuring EIGRP and RIP on each of the network models.
iv. Determining the convergence and metric distances between the two network
protocols implemented in the local area network models.
1.4 Significance of the study
This project will serve as a useful approach to demonstrate that the cisco packet tracer
can be employed by network developers to select the most suitable routing protocol for
various networks and to design an optimal routing topology.
This serves as a significant tool in showing which protocol is the best and fastest in
building and maintenance in the routing table’s update and selecting the best path, finding
which routing protocol has the fastest convergence than other in case of a link path
failure or a router is shutdown.
1.5 Scope of the study
This project is limited to:
i. Implementing Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) and Routing
Information protocol (RIP) in a Local Area Network
ii. Performing an evaluation of Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol over
Routing Information protocol
iii. Determining the convergence time and metric distances of both protocols
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2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Theoretical Framework

Routing protocols are key elements of modern communication networks. Currently
deployed is dynamic routing protocols that is used to propagate network topology
information to the neighboring routers such as, Routing Information Protocol (RIP),
Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), and the Open Shortest Path First
(OSPF) protocol. The choice of the right routing protocol depends on a number of
parameters.
In this project, we use the cisco packet tracer modeler to analyze the performance of RIP
and EIGRP protocols, which are commonly deployed in Internet Protocol (IP) networks.
Packet Tracer is a cross-platform visual simulation tool designed by Cisco Systems that
allows users to create network topologies and imitate modern computer networks. The
software allows the simulation and the configuration of Cisco routers and switches using
a simulated command line interface. Packet Tracer makes use of a drag and drop user
interface, allowing users to add and remove simulated network devices as they see fit.

We designed various simulation scenarios to compare their performance by finding the

best path in the network to guarantee its connectivity. Each routing protocol has its own
standards to evaluate a route quality by using metrics such as next hop count, bandwidth,
and delay. A router uses routing table information to determine the best path to forward
the packet (data) to.

2.1.1 End devices

The end devices include the various components used in the assembly of the networks in the
various engineering blocks. Some of these end devices include;

a. Personal Computer (PC)

A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and

price make it suitable for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated
directly by end users, rather than by computer experts or technicians. Personal computers
include workstations, laptops, desktop computers, tablets, etc.
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Figure 2: Workstation computer.

Figure 3: Laptop

b. Printer

A printer is an external hardware output device that takes the electronic data stored on a
computer or other device and generates a hard copy. Printers are one of the most popular
computer peripherals and are commonly used to print text and photos.

Figure 4: Printer
The printer connected in the Local Area Networks serves multiple computers connected
through a common network. This allows multiple computers to print to a single printer, or
for multiple printers to share the workload among several computers as demonstrated in
this project work

c. Server
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The function of the server is to store, retrieve and send or serve files and data to other
computers in the Local Area Network. For the purpose of this project, the server is
connected to the switch.

Figure 5: Server
d. IP phone
An IP phone is a phone system that uses an internet connection to send and receive voice
data. Unlike a regular telephone that uses landlines to transmit analog signals, IP phones
connect to the internet via a router and modem.

Figure 6: IP phone

2.1.2 Router

A router is the networking device that forwards data packets between the computer
networks in the various engineering blocks. It performs the traffic directing functions on
the Internet. The data sent through the internet, such as a web page or email, is in the
form of data packets. The packet is typically forwarded from one router of the
engineering block to another router of the next engineering block through the networks
that constitute an internetwork.
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Figure 7: Router

This router is connected to two or more data lines from different IP networks. When a
data packet comes in on one of the lines, the router reads the network address information
in the packet header to determine the ultimate destination. Then, using information in
its routing table, it directs the packet to the next network.

i. Cisco 1841 Router

The Cisco 1841 modular architecture is specifically designed to meet requirements of

small to medium-sized businesses and small enterprise branch offices as well as service
provider-managed applications for concurrent services at wire-speed performance.
The Cisco 1841 router provides the broadest range of secure connectivity options
combined with availability and reliability features. It also has high-performance
processor, offers wide variety of LAN and WAN options; network interfaces are field-
upgradable to accommodate future technologies. It also provides many slots to add
connectivity and services in the future on an "integrate-as-you-grow" basis making
provision for easier installation and management of the router platform.

Figure 8: CISCO 1841 Router

2.1.3 Switch

The network switch used, essentially lets the connected devices talk together. It allows the
devices to communicate and share information with one another which is vital to the running
of many activities. These devices are computers, printers, routers and servers.
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Figure 9: Switch

Allowing the devices to connect with one another lets devices work together (for example
sending documents from the computer to your printer to be printed), and also means that
devices can share files and other data easily from one device to another. This sharing of
files means the personnel can access the same files on many different devices if necessary.

i. Cisco Catalyst 2950 Switch

The Cisco Catalyst 2950 Series is a line of fixed-configuration, stackable, and standalone
switches that provide wire-speed Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity. This
product line offers two distinct sets of software features and a range of configurations to
allow small, mid-sized, and enterprise branch offices, and industrial environments to select
the right combination for the network edge. The Standard Image (SI) Software offers Cisco
IOS functionality for basic data, video and voice services. For networks with requirements
for additional security, advanced quality of service (QoS) and high availability, the Enhanced
Image (EI) Software delivers intelligent services such as rate limiting and security filtering
for deployment at the network edge.

Figure 10: CISCO 2950-24 switch

Its basic features are:

 24 Ethernet Ports 100BASE-T

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 Managed - Command Line Interface

 Quality of Service Support
 Rack Mountable
2.1.4 CAT-5 Cable

The Ethernet cable used for the setting up of the local area network is the straight through
and crossover CAT-5 cable. The straight through cable which is used for linking the
switches, PCs, printers and servers together and the crossover cable which connects the
various routers.

Networking cables are networking hardware used to connect one network device to other
network devices or to connect two or more computers to share devices such as printers or
servers. The type of cable used is the twisted-pair (Ethernet) cables. But for the purpose
of this project, the CAT-5 Ethernet cables are used. It is configured using a straight-
through and crossover cable configuration. Straight-through cables are used to connect
similar devices in a network as in the case of the routers linking the various engineering
blocks, while crossover cables are used to connect dissimilar devices such as the PC’s,
switches and severs.

Fig 11: Cat-5 cable

2.1.5 Subnetting
The process of dividing IP addresses into smaller subunits that can later be assigned to
multiple network devices in a network is referred to as subnetting.
Every company requires an efficient way of designing their network channel for smooth
and error-free data transmission over the network channel.
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To overcome this problem of excessive use of network IDs, the concept of subnetting is
applied in the system. Some of the reasons for using subnetting include:
i. Sub-network: The most basic reason to apply subnetting is that it efficiently distributes an
IP address into smaller subunits, according to the need of the network.
ii. Increased Security: Subnetting makes it easier in establishing security units over the
network channel to avoid data breaches.
iii. Helps to prevent wastage of IP addresses.
iv. Allows better communication between each sub network in the channel.
2.1.6 IP Routing
IP routing is the process of sending packets from one host on one network to another host
on a different network. IP routing is performed by all hosts, as well as routers, whose main
function is to transport packets across network boundaries. There are majorly two types of
IP routing and these are; Static routing and Dynamic routing.
Static routing allows for network administrators to manually assign IP addresses to user
PCs or hosts. It is mostly used in smaller networks given that you have to configure each
route on every router.
A router follows a dynamic route if a routing protocol is enabled. Routing protocols are
mechanisms by which routing information is exchanged between routers so that routing
decisions can be made. Since the routing is done automatically, there is no need to
configure every route manually. The types of routing protocols are; Enhanced Interior
Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), Routing Information Protocol (RIP), Open Shortest
Path First (OSPF) routing protocol.
i. Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing protocol (EIGRP)
EIGRP is a dynamic routing protocol by which routers automatically share route
information. This eases the workload on a network administrator who does not have to
configure changes to the routing table manually. In addition to the routing table, EIGRP
uses neighbor and topology tables. The neighbors’ table stores data about neighboring
routers that are directly accessible through interfaces that are connected. The topology
table contains the aggregation of the routing tables that are gathered from all neighbors
that are directly connected. It contains a list of destination networks in the EIGRP routed
network and their respective metrics. It has features of both distance vector and link state
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protocols. EIGRP metrics are based on reliability, delay, load, and bandwidth. This kind
of routing protocol can only be configured in a network that contains only Cisco routers.
EIGRP uses the concept of autonomous systems. Each router inside an autonomous
system must have the same Autonomous System Number (ASN) configured.

ii. Routing Information Protocol (RIP)

Routing Information Protocol (RIP) is a dynamic routing protocol that uses hop count as
a routing metric to find the best path between the source and the destination network. It is
an interior gateway routing protocol which works within an autonomous network system
(Shah et al). It is usually used on small networks because it is very simple to configure
and maintain, but lacks some advanced features of routing protocols like OSPF or
EIGRP.

iii. Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a routing protocol for Internet Protocol (IP) networks.
It uses a link state routing (LSR) algorithm and falls into the group of interior gateway
protocols (IGPs), operating within a single autonomous system (AS).

OSPF gathers link state information from available routers and constructs a topology map
of the network. The topology is presented as a routing table to the Internet Layer for
routing packets by their destination IP address. OSPF supports Internet Protocol Version
4 (IPv4) and Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) networks and supports the Classless
Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) addressing model.

OSPF will run on any router that does not necessarily need to be Cisco routers unlike
EIGRP. OSPF routing protocol use the concept of wildcard mask. A wildcard mask, just
like a subnet mask, is also 32-bit long but looks like an inverted subnet mask. For
instance, since the subnet mask for class C IP address is 255.255.255.0, the wildcard
mask will then be: 0.0.0.255.
2.2 Conceptual Framework

To evaluate the performance of EIGRP and RIP routing protocols, simulations are
performed with different scenarios. The purpose of these simulations is not only to study
the individual characteristics of routing protocols under various scenarios in the network
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but also to analyze their functions when they are configured together in the same
network. CISCO PACKET TRACER modeler is used as a networking tool for
simulations. This tool provides a networking environment that fulfills the programmer
requirements to design the communication networking model. The software helps to
understand the network model at any stage with its embedded features such as designing
the network models, data collection and analyses along with simulations of various
parameters of networking.

2.2.1 Development of Block Diagram

ROUTER

SWITCH

SEC SERVER PRINTER

HOD L1 L2 L3

Fig 12: Block diagram of the engineering block Local Area Network
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2.3 Review of Related Empirical Studies

A network is said to have converged when all routers in a network have the same
topological information about their network they find their selves in. With the help of
routing protocols, routers collect topological information (Shah& Waqas 2013).
Convergence is a required property in routing especially dynamic routing. There are
about three forms of routing namely static, default and dynamic (Lammle 2007). A
network topology is said to have converged “when routing tables on all routers
within the network are complete and correct” (Todorovic 2011). Convergence has
also been observed as a manner in which a network recovers from problems and changes
in the network (IXIA 2014).
Convergence time is the time that is required for the routers in a network to learn about
routes in a given network. This time is important because it helps administrators of a
network to determine in the event that a network downtime occurs due to a failed link
between routers or any damage to one router the amount of time it will take for that
network to recover and begin to function as a normal network.

A comprehensive review of related works which has helped in the development of this
project is presented below.
M. N. Islam, et al. (2010). Worked on three network models which are configured with
OSPF, EIGRP and combination of EIGRP and OSPF protocols respectively. The
evaluation performance protocols based on the quantitative metrics such as end-to-end
delay, throughput, packet loss, convergence time, and jitter are presented. Simulation
results demonstrated that the performance of combined EIGRP and OSPF routing
protocols is better than OSPF and EIGRP individually. However, the overall performance
of EIGRP is better than OSPF individually.

M. A. Yehia, et al. (2011). “Analysis of IGP Routing Protocols for Real Time
Applications’’ used group of parameters to evaluation the performance of RIP, OSPF,
and EIGRP protocols. These parameters are: end-to-end delay, traffic sent, and
convergence duration. OPNET simulation tool is used to compare different routing
protocols besides comparing different area division topologies and measuring different
performance parameters. In network convergence parameter the EIGRP gave the best
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conversion duration and was the first to converge. Furthermore, it had the best response
to node failure thus in conversion duration it is more reliable in real time applications.
OSPF was the one with the most traffic sent and the last one to send routing traffic.
EIGRP was the first one to send traffic, whereas RIP protocol had the least traffic, as it
sends only the number of hops.

D. Xu, (2011). Performed a comparison between OSPF, EIGRP, and RIP routing
protocols. Simulation results showed the performance of EIGRP compared to RIP, and
OSPF was better in terms of network convergence activity, routing protocol traffic, and
Ethernet delay. OSPF performs better in terms of http page response time and video
conferencing packet end-to-end delay. RIP performs better in terms of voice packet
delay.

F. A. Hamza, et al. (2011). Worked on the performance comparison of two dynamic

routing protocols: RIP and OSPF are evaluated using Network Simulator (NS2).
Simulation results demonstrate that OSPF has a better performance than RIP in terms of
average throughput and packet delay in different network sizes.

Ambresh G. Birada, (2020). Worked on “A Comparative Study on Routing Protocols:

RIP,
OSPF and EIGRP and Their Analysis Using GNS-3.” Routing protocols like RIP, OSPF,
and EIGRP are applied for an enterprise level designed topology and analyzed their
performances using GNS3. The RIP algorithm was seen as simple and easier to configure
and implement the routers compared with EIGRP and OSPF. An Authenticated secure
connection is established between the routers by providing username and password
through point to point protocol. Parameters like delay and convergence time are
determined for the designed topology. Results of the simulation show that EIGRP and
OSPF have a better delay time compared with RIP and EIGRP has the least convergence
time compared with OSPF and RIP.

D. V. Prasad, (2016). Studied and analyzed RIPv2, EIGRP and OSPFv2 protocols based
on the bandwidth used during convergence, using real-time networking devices. They
have been testing and analyzing the unequal-cost, load balancing capability for those
three protocols in order to address the issue of choosing the optimal routing protocol
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based on the network requirements. The results show that the same protocol may not be
the best for all kinds of networks. It all depends on the network environment and business
needs.

Dogan, et al. (2016). Worked on the types of dynamic routing protocols, aim of dynamic
routing protocols, and analysis of dynamic routing protocols on different network
topologies were elucidated. The authors analyses the performances operations of different
routing protocols in a variety of network topologies (ring, star, and mesh).

K. Grover, et al. (2017). Introduced the performance comparison of RIP, OSFP and
EIGRP routing protocol and suggested the best routing protocol for the given topology.
The results determined that choice of routing protocol depends on different critical
parameters like convergence time, scalability, memory and CPU requirements, security
and bandwidth requirement.

A. C. (2015). Worked on “Analysis of RIPv2, OSPF, EIGRP Configuration on router

Using CISCO Packet tracer” by analyzing and simulating a proposed wired Local Area
Network using different routing protocols using CISCO packet tracer simulator. A
comparison between OSPF and RIP protocols show that, OSPF prevails RIP in terms of
throughput and delay in different size of network.

B. Rathi, et al. (2015). Compares the performance of all the distance vector and link state
routing protocols with both IPv4 and IPv6 with default parameters. The results
demonstrate that EIGRP has the best performance routing protocol under Distance Vector
category of Routing Protocols, while OSPF is better than ISIS routing protocol under
Link State Routing Category.

Salah A. Alabady, et al. (2018). Worked on “Performance Evaluation and Comparison of

Dynamic Routing Protocols for Suitability and Reliability.” The protocols namely,
Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing (EIGRP), Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), and
Routing Information Protocol (RIP) are evaluated and compared. It shows which protocol
is the best and fastest in building and maintenance in the routing table’s update and
selecting the best path, finding which routing protocol is the fastest convergence than
other in case link path failure or a router is shutdown. Additional, also it shows how the
numbers of routers are effecting on the performance of the network such as delay and
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converge. The simulation results show the best performance between them in large
networks and under the most challenging situations that the routers may face under a big
issue such as electricity failure. The results demonstrate that the OSPF has faster
convergence and more reliability than RIP and EIGRP. The work is achieved by using
Packet Tracer simulation program.

A. Bahnasse, et al. (2015). Studied the suitable configurations of EIGRP, OSPF and BGP
routing protocols for a scalable Dynamic Multipoint Virtual Private Network Solution.
The comparative analysis shows that EIGRP protocol is the best in terms of initial
convergence delay, throughput, and queuing delay. BGP shows its efficiency compared
to OSPF.

S. Sirika, et al (2016). Studied and compared the performance of RIP, EIGRP, and OSPF
to show which protocol performs better in real time application by using Cisco packet
tracer and OPNET simulators. The results show the RIPv2 protocol is suitable for small
network and EIGRP is best for fast convergence.

2.4 Summary of Literature Review

The evaluation performance of network routing protocols is very important in assessing

which routing protocol is best suited for an organization’s networking structure. The
approach makes use of the CISCO PACKET TRACER which gives a real time
simulation and the analysis of the two networking routing protocols being evaluated.
The Knowledge and ideas from the reviews has contributed to the development to this
project like the use of the GNS-3 and OPNET simulators by various authors.
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3.0 CIRCUIT ANALYSIS AND DESIGN

3.1 Introduction
The analysis and design of the different components of this project is carried out below:
3.2 Circuit Analysis
The circuit consists of the components used in the assembly of the networks in the
various engineering blocks.

The design of a LAN (local area network) on a Cisco Packet tracer for the engineering
block comprises of four routers; one placed at each of the department main buildings;
Agricultural and Environmental block, Mechanical engineering block, Electrical and
Electronics engineering block and Civil engineering block. Switches were used to link
system like computers, printers, scanners and servers within each block of the four
departments using ports. A port in the switch is used to connect to the router. Routers are
connected to each other using serial cables [this can be a wireless connection]. Type C
class IP addressing was subnetted and used to assign addresses to each component in the
network. The system was configured on the packet tracer using EIGRP and RIP
3.2.1 Method
3.2.2 Subnetting number of networks
We are going to have 4 sub networks for the implementation of the Local Area Network
for the four departments.
Subnetting the Block of class C IP address 192.168.10.0/24 with default subnet mask of
255.255.255.0
Network. Network. Network. Host

192 .168 .10 .0

Changing 255.255.255.0 to binary form
255 . 255 . 255 . 0

11111111 11111111 11111111 00000000

To obtain 4 subnets for the four different networks, we change 4 to binary to obtain the
required bits using the binary pallet.
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
2 2 22 2 2 22 2
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256 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
1 0 0 giving 3 bits.
Therefore 3 bits is required to turn up the default subnet mask:
11111111 . 11111111 . 11111111 . 11100000
255 . 255 . 255 . 128 + 64 + 32 = 224
Wild card mask is given by 225-224 = 31
The new subnet mask becomes 255.255.255.224 and wild card mask 0.0.0.31
To find the increment, the value of the last bit of the 3 bits that were turned up is used,
1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

The increment is at 32
Using the increment to find new ranges of IP address
The range of the network
The ranges of the networks are;
Network 1: 192.168.10.0/27 - 192.168.10.31/27 Department of Agric and Environmental
Network 2: 192.168.10.32/27 - 192.168.10.63/27 Department of Mechanical Engineering
Network 3: 192.168.10.64/27 - 192.168.10.95/27 Department of Elect/Elect Engineering
Network 4: 192.168.10.96/27 - 192.168.10.127/27 Department of Civil Engineering
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Network Name Gate way Ranges

AE 192.168.10.0 192.168.10.1 192.168.10.2
192.168.10.3
192.168.10.4
192.168.10.5
192.168.10.6
192.168.10.7
192.168.10.8
ME 192.168.10.32 192.168.10.33 192.168.10.34
192.168.10.35
192.168.10.36
192.168.10.37
192.168.10.38
192.168.10.39
192.168.10.40
EEE 192.168.10.64 192.168.10.65 192.168.10.66
192.168.10.67
192.168.10.68
192.168.10.69
192.168.10.70
192.168.10.71
192.168.10.72
CE 192.168.10.96 192.168.10.97 192.168.10.98
192.168.10.99
192.168.10.100
192.168.10.101
192.168.10.102
192.168.10.103
192.168.10.104

Router IP address
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192.168.1.0 Router 1-Router 2

192.168.2.0 Router 2-Router 3

192.168.3.0 Router 3-Router 4

3.2.3 Assigning IP and Gateway addresses

Step 1: click on the computer.

Step 2: click on IP Address from the dialogue box that appears.

Step 3: Type in the IP Address, Gateway, and Subnet mask.

Figure 13: IP address and gateway configuration

Using the command line interface (router)

Router configuration

Step 1: Enable Step 11: no shut down

Step 2: configure terminal Step 12: ip address “ip address”

“subnet mask”
Step 3: hostname “name”
Step 13: do write
Step 4: enable secret “password”
Step 14: exit
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Step 5: int f0/0

Step 6: no shut down

Step 7: ip address “ip address” “subnet mask”

Step 8: do write

Step 9: exit

Step 10: int f0/1

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3.2.4 Network security implementation

To secure the entire network, the various security measures are implemented such as,
secret password, console password and telnet access.
Secret password syntax
Step 1: Enable

Step 2: configure terminal

Step 3: enable secret “password”

Step 4: login

Step 5: exit

Console password syntax

Step 1: Enable

Step 2: configure terminal

Step 3: line console 0

Step 4: password “password”

Step 5: login

Step 6: exit

Telnet password syntax

Step 1: Enable

Step 2: configure terminal

Step 3: line vty 0 4

Step 4: password “password”

Step 5: login

Step 6: exit
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Figure 14: network security configuration

3.2.5 Serial port interface setup

Step 1: Enable

Step 2: configure terminal

Step 3: interface serial0/0/0 “ip address” “subnetmask”

Step 4: exit

3.2.6 EIGRP routing configuration

The following steps are applied when configuring enhanced interior routing protocol
(EIGRP) on the router.

Step 1: Enable

Step 2: configure terminal

Step 3: router eigrp 10

Step4: network “IP address” “wild card mask”

Step 5: network “IP address” “wild card mask”

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Step 6: no auto summary

Step 7: exit

Figure 15: EIGRP configuration

3.2.7 RIP routing configuration

When configuring routing information protocol (RIP) the following steps are applied.

Step 1: Enable

Step 2: configure terminal

Step 3: router rip

Step 4: version 2

Step 5: network “IP address”

Step 6: network “IP address”

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Step 7: exit

Figure 16: RIP configuration

3.3 Flow chart

The flow chat shows the implementation process involved in the evaluation of the two
routing protocols used. At the start, the Local Area Networks (LANs) representing the
different engineering departments is created and all components and end devices are put
in place to form the network model. The major parameters involved are the types of
routing protocols implemented. The routers are configured using the Enhanced Interior
Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) and Routing Information Protocol (RIP) and the
simulation is performed. From the simulation, the results are analyzed and the process
reaches the end.
 27

Start

Create Network Model

Choose parameters

Run Simulation

Analyze results

End

Figure 17: Flow chart

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3.4 Simulation model

The simulation model for the evaluation performance of enhanced interior gateway
routing protocol over routing information protocol is shown below.

Figure 18: Simulation Model

 29

3.5 Circuit diagram

The circuit diagram of the setup is shown below

Figure 19: Circuit di

 30

4.0 CONSTRUCTION, TESTING, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Construction
The design and simulation of the LAN was done using the Cisco Packet Tracer (Version
6.0.0). Our design was done using the twisted pair cables, routers, switches, personal
computers, printers, servers and serial cables.
4.2 Testing
The testing of the designed LAN followed series of stages, which includes the
workability of the network. This was done by sending a ping message from one system to
the other. This ping message can be sent using two ways; by using the message tool on
the tools bar or by using the command prompt. The network security, the metric distance
and convergence time were all tested.
4.3 Results
The results obtained from checking the workability of the network was successful by
using both the message tool on the tool bar and the command prompt as shown.

Figure 20: Result gotten from pinging various

PC’s
 31

Figure 21: pinging from command prompt

Network security

The network security was successfully implemented, each department had a network password
set at various levels on the router such as, the enable secret password, console password and
telnet access password.

For AEE router, enable secret password showed 0001, console password showed 0011 and telnet
password showed 0111

For ME router, enable secret password showed 0002, console password showed 0022 and telnet
password showed 0222

For EEE router, enable secret password showed 0003, console password showed 0033 and telnet
password showed 033

For CE router, enable secret password showed 0001, console password showed 0011 and telnet
password showed 0111
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Figure 22: network security

Metric distance

The results from measuring the metric distances of EIGRP and RIP showed they have a metric
distance of 90 for EIGRP and 120 for RIP.

Figure 23: EIGRP metric distance

 33

Figure 24: RIP metric distance

Convergence time

The results for the convergence time for EIGRP and RIP from the simulation shows that EIGRP
converges at approximately 3.071s for ME and AEE routers to 3.233 for EEE and ME routers.
For RIP, it converges at 15.285s for ME, AEE and EEE routers.

Figure 25: EIGRP and RIP convergence

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4.4 Discussion
The network designed was able to ping all the end devices connected on the network. The
security measure implemented across the various routers showed to be effective as it
required the various passwords to access the different levels in the configuration of the
routers.

Both the metric distances and the convergence time between the two routing protocols
(EIGRP and RIP) is determined from the designed LAN.
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5.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Conclusion
The project performance evaluation of EIGRP over RIP indicates from the simulation
results that EIGRP performs better than RIP. Implementation of EIGRP shows that
network convergence time is much faster than RIP because EIGRP network learns the
topology information and updates routing tables faster than RIP when a routing table
changes and this also reduces bandwidth utilization. RIP’s weakness is slower
convergence time in larger networks. This weakness may cause inconsistent routing
entries.
This project also demonstrated that CISCO packet tracer can be employed by network
planners to select the most suitable routing protocol for various networks and to design an
optimal routing topology.

5.2 Problem encountered

In the course of the project, I was faced with a major challenge which was implementing
the subnetted IP address on the serial port of the various routers.

5.3 Recommendation
It is recommended that for future implementation and evaluation of this study, a
performance metric such as bandwidth utilization, to monitor the amount of network
bandwidth utilized by each routing protocol under different traffic loads be considered.

It is also recommended that for a real world application of this project, it should be
conducted in a controlled and isolated environment to avoid disruptions to any
production networks
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