Route Advertisement

The Dell SonicWALL Security Appliance uses RIPv1 or RIPv2 to advertise its static and dynamic routes to other routers on the network. Changes in the status of VPN tunnels between the firewall and remote VPN gateways are also reflected in the RIPv2 advertisements. Choose between RIPv1 or RIPv2 based on your router’s capabilities or configuration. RIPv1 is an earlier version of the protocol that has fewer features, and it also sends packets via broadcast instead of multicast. RIPv2 packets are backwards-compatible and can be accepted by some RIPv1 implementations that provide an option of listening for multicast packets. The RIPv2 Enabled (broadcast) selection broadcasts packets instead of multicasting packets is for heterogeneous networks with a mixture of RIPv1 and RIPv2 routers.

Route Advertisement Configuration

To enable Route Advertisement for a network interface, perform the following steps:
1
Click the Edit icon in the Configure column for the interface. The Interface Route Advertisement Configuration dialog displays.

2
Select one of the following types from the RIP Advertisements drop-down menu:
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Disabled (default) - Disables RIP advertisements.
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RIPv1 Enabled - RIPv1 is the first version of Routing Information Protocol.
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RIPv2 Enabled (multicast) - To send route advertisements using multicasting (a single data packet to specific notes on the network).
•
RIPv2 Enabled (broadcast) - To send route advertisements using broadcasting (a single data packet to all nodes on the network).

By selecting a type other than Disable, the other options become available.

3
From the Advertise Default Route drop-down menu, select:
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Never (default)
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When WAN is up (not available for a WAN interface)
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Always
4
Enable Advertise Static Routes if you have static routes configured on the firewall, enable this feature to exclude them from Route Advertisement.
5
Enable Advertise Remote VPN Networks if you want to advertise VPN networks.
6
Enter a value in seconds between advertisements broadcast over a network in the Route Change Damp Time (seconds) field. The default value is 30 seconds, the minimum is 1 second, and the maximum is 99 seconds. A lower value corresponds with a higher volume of broadcast traffic over the network. The Route Change Damp Time (seconds) setting defines the delay between the time a VPN tunnel changes state (up or down) and the time the change is advertised with RIP. The delay, in seconds, prevents ambiguous route advertisements sent as a result of a temporary change in the VPN tunnel status.
7
Enter the number of advertisements that a deleted route broadcasts until it stops in the Deleted Route Advertisements (0-99) field. The default value is 1.
8
Enter a value from 1 (default) to 15 in the Route Metric (1-15) field. This is the number of times a packet touches a router from the source IP address to the destination IP address.
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NOTE: The following options are available only if a RIPv2 advertisement option is selected in the RIP Advertisements drop-down menu. If you selected RIPv1 Enabled, go to Step 11.
9
You can enter a value for the route tag in the RIPv2 Route Tag (4 HEX Digits) field. This value is implementation-dependent and provides a mechanism for routers to classify the originators of RIPv2 advertisements. The default value is 0.
10
If you want to enable RIPv2 authentication, select one of the following options from the RIPv2 Authentication drop-down menu (the default is Disabled):
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User defined - Two fields display:
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Authentication Type (4 Hex Digits) – Enter 4 hex digits in the field. The default is 0.
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Authentication Data (32 Hex Digits) – Enter 32 hex digits in the field.
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Cleartext Password - The Authentication Password field displays. Enter a password of up to 16 characters in the field.
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MD5 Digest - Enter a numerical value from 0-255 in the Authentication Key-Id (0-255) field. Enter a 32 hex digit value for the Authentication Key (32 hex digits) field, or use the generated key.
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Authentication Key-Id (0-255) – Enter up to 255 characters in the field. The default is 1.
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Authentication Key – Enter up to 32 characters in the field.
11
Click OK.