RIPng

Routing Information Protocol - Next Generation (RIPng) is specified for use with IPv6 in RFC 2080. Like the IPv4 version of RIP, this routing protocol is based on a Distance Vector algorithm. RIPng routers compare information for various routes through an IPv6 network, especially the information related to the RIPng metric. Due to the limited number of allowed hops, this protocol is used in small- to moderate-sized networks. The valid metric range is from 1 to 15 (hops). The metric values of 16 and above are defined as `infinity' and are considered unreachable.

An RIPng router is assumed to have interfaces to one or more directly-connected networks. Each router maintains a routing table, with one entry for every reachable destination in the RIPng network. Each routing table entry contains a minimum of:

As a UDP-based protocol, the RIPng routing process functions on UDP well-known port number 521 (the `RIPng port'), on which datagrams are sent and received. The RIPng port supports the following: