So far in this series, TLA reader jason Boche has shown us how to install and configure routing using RRAS, the last part of this series will cover the testing of the configuration.
Open up the RRAS MMC and with RIP highlighted in the left window pane, all interfaces configured for RIP should be shown on the right. Each router configured for RIP will broadcast RIP information to nearby neighbors every 30 seconds by default. Note that the Update mode reflects Periodic which means intervals of 30 seconds. This interval can be changed in the Advanced tab of the RIP protocol properties. Also note the Responses sent and Responses received columns indicates communication to and from nearby neighbor routers also configured for RIP.
Now right click on RIP and choose Show Neighbors.
A new window is displayed showing all known neighbors. Neighbors are network hosts that speak the RIP protocol on the network. RIP tracks and shares routing table information with up to 14 of its closest neighbors. The maximum diameter of RIP internetworks is 15 routers.
One interesting thing to note here is that if you have other non-Microsoft routers on the network which are configured with RIP, their routing information will be shared among the Microsoft routers and vise versa. This is a function of the RIP protocol standard that is defined in RFC 1058. RIP Version 2 is a standard defined in RFC 2453.
Right click RIP and choose Properties. Note the two tabs in the resulting window that is subsequently displayed. The General tab allows the granularity of event logging to be configured.
The Security tab describes which RIP enabled routers (neighbors) will be able to talk to each other.
Take a look at the routing table for router1. Its aware of route information for subnets 10.0.0.0, 10.0.1.0, and 10.0.2.0.
Take a look at the routing table for router2. Its aware of route information for subnets 10.0.0.0, 10.0.1.0, and 10.0.2.0.
Examining the routing table of timvpn, it has routing information for the 10.0.0.0 subnet. It has no routing information for the 10.0.1.0 or 10.0.2.0 subnets. To reach those subnets, it will rely on its default gateway which is represented by the route for 0.0.0.0.
Finally, using timvpn, the number of network hops is shown as the tracert command is used in conjunction with various IP addresses in the lab. Hops of two or more indicate network traffic traversing across the routers.
The pathping command is another useful tool which diagnoses bandwidth and network connectivity across routers.
The preceding example provides the basic framework for setting up a routed environment using Microsoft Windows routers. Advanced configuration can be applied to make the solution more secure, more dynamic, or simply more fitting to your needs. Explore the advanced properties of the RRAS configuration tool and become familiar with the flexibility and complex configurations that RRAS provides. At a very minimum, this configuration can be used for studying the Microsoft network infrastructure exams which will measure core competency skills in the area of routing with TCP/IP and RRAS. For a more advanced routed network lab with redundant paths, try putting together a configuration based on the following network diagrams (the capital letters represent Windows routers, ie. A, B, C, D, E, and F.
The same network stated another way. Place a TCP/IP network host on each subnet to test connectivity using the TCP/IP utilities PING, TRACERT, and PATHPING.
