History of RIP (Routing Information Protocol)

RIP is the oldest of the distance vector routing protocols. Although RIP lacks the sophistication of more advanced routing protocols, its simplicity and continued widespread use is a testament to its longevity. RIP is not a protocol “on the way out.” In fact, an IPv6 form of RIP called RIPng (next generation) is now available.

RIP evolved from an earlier protocol developed at Xerox, called Gateway Information Protocol (GWINFO). With the development of Xerox Network System (XNS), GWINFO evolved into RIP. It later gained popularity because it was implemented in the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) as a daemon named routed (pronounced “route-dee”, not “rout-ed”). Various other vendors made their own, slightly different implementations of RIP. Recognizing the need for standardization of the protocol, Charles Hedrick wrote RFC 1058 in 1988, in which he documented the existing protocol and specified some improvements. Since then, RIP has been improved with RIPv2 in 1994 and with RIPng in 1997.

Reference:

• “RFC 1058: Routing Information Protocol,” http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1058.txt
• CCNA Exploration 5.1.1