NAT Vs. RIP: Check Out This Detailed Comparison

Routing protocol users often find it challenging to choose between the NAT and RIP. Of the two protocols, RIP is the oldest routing protocol in existence. It is still available because of the routing features on the Windows server.

NAT is the most utilized routing protocol. A lot of people have claimed that their network routing is at its best when they use NAT. The routing features on the window server transform your network into a server with ease.

This post contains useful information on NAT and RIP. It shows the main differences between the two, to help you know what you need.

So, let’s delve deeper.

Nat Vs. Rip

When you use NAT, your multiple devices must have access to Local Network (LAN)

While using RIP, you don’t have to use a separate network router, as the router needs to find the default gateway.

What Are The Functions Of A Routing Protocol?

Here are the top functions of the routing protocol:

Generally, a routing protocol is in charge of distributing information possessed first among immediate neighbors. They then distribute it across the network. This method allows routers to gain extensive knowledge of network topology.

Routing protocols are in charge of defining the communication between routers.

Routing protocols determine the equitable distribution of information between two routers in communication.

Furthermore, routing protocols allow those routers to choose the most efficient routes between two points (usually random) of nodes on a computer network.

The generated routing algorithms identify the specific route choice. Nonetheless, each router in a network is aware of the networks to which it is directly connected.

What Is Network Routing?

One of the most common network functions is network routing. We also refer to it as routing. Routing is the process of selecting a path across a network. It also deals with the travel paths of single or multiple networks.

Network routing gets accomplished in a broader sense using various networking types, including public switched telephone networks, your computer network, circuit-switched networks, or simply the Internet network.

To know the best routing protocol for you, you should have a sound knowledge of the two protocols.

What Is NAT?

Network Address Translation, NAT is the process by which a networking device (also called a firewall) starts assigning spontaneous public addresses to a computer system or a group of computers within a particular computer network.

NAT is primarily in charge of carrying security and economic purposes. It essentially restricts the maximum number of IP addresses that can get assigned to an institution or company.

NAT functions also involve an identical type of network translation. This type of network translation has a vast private network that utilizes IP addresses within a private range.

The following is the range for such network translation:

192.168.0 0 to 192.168.255.255

10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255 or

172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255

And all valid IP addresses.

These private IP addressing techniques are adequate for a diversity of computer systems. It refers to computer systems that only utilize reserves available on the network.

Private network routers can route vast amounts of network traffic between private addresses in minutes. So, these protocols employ a single public address for internet networks to deliver better responses to recommendations to have them returned. NAT comes to the rescue in such operations.

Terminologies Used In NAT

To fully understand the type of NAT, including how it works, you would need to know the meaning of some terminologies commonly used in NAT.

Outside global address:

The global address refers to the IP address of the remote host before NAT translation.

Outside local address:

The outside local address refers to the IP address of the remote host after NAT Translation

Inside global address:

One or more IP addresses represent the local network, as seen from the outside network as an inside host.

We get an IP address accessible all over the internet when we register with an ISP. The address gets assigned to a router that is linked to a group of devices.

Ex:12.13.14.15

Inside local address:

These are private IP addresses assigned to an inside network host; it is an inside host as seen from the inside network. This IP address assigned by a router is bound to a group of devices. It is not accessible via the internet.

Private IP addresses get designated to addresses beginning with 192.168.x.x and ending with 10.x.x.x. We can use any IP address within range without concern that another device is doing the same.

Generally, people refer to Global IP as Public IP and Local as Private IP.

Types Of NAT

There are three types of NAT, based on how the global to local mapping occurs:

Dynamic NAT:

In dynamic NAT, the router comes with a set of public IP addresses. A public IP address at the router would be available for any device that wants to connect to the internet.

Furthermore, there will be a one-to-one mapping based on a first-come, first-served technique, but it is not permanent. The public IP address used by the private IP address can change over time.

Port Address Translation (PAT):

In PAT, Many private IP addresses get mapped to a single public IP address in this case.

The device port number is what distinguishes traffic. It saves costs because many users can connect to the internet using a single public IP address, which is most likely why they call it NAT overloading.

Static NAT:

There will be a one-to-one mapping between private IP and public IP in this case. For example, a private IP address 192.162.19.2 is permanently mapped to a global IP address 13.14.56.07, commonly used for web hosting.

What Is RIP?

The Routing Information Protocol (RIP) is a dynamic routing protocol that finds a good way between the source and destination networks by using hop count as a routing metric.

A range vector routing protocol with AD value 120 operates on the OSI model’s application layer. The port number 520 is used by RIP.

What Is Hop Count?

The number of routers between the source and destination networks is referred to as the hop count. The best route is usually the one with the fewest hips, and it gets added to the routing table.

RIP avoids routing loops by limiting the number of hops allowed in a path between the source and destination. The maximum hop count for RIP is 15, and a hop count of 16 indicates that the network is unreachable.

Types Of RIP

RIP has three different versions. They are:

RIP v1:

RIPv1 or the classful routing protocol is the first RIP version. It is classful because it cannot send data that contains the subnet mask during its routing update. It sends its update as a broadcast. It broadcasts at 255.255.255.255

RIPv2:

This version is also known as classless routing. It is classless because it sends information about the subnet in its routing update. It Multicast at 224.0.0.9

What Are RIP Timers?

The routing information protocol has timers that regulate its operations. These timers are important to the RIP functionality.

Types Of RIP timers

Update timer:

The default clocking for routing data exchanged by RIP routers is 30 seconds. The routers trade their routing table often by using an Update timer.

Invalid timer:

If the destination router doesn’t receive an update after 180 seconds, it considers it invalid. In this case, the destination router reflects a hop count of 16 for that router.

Hold down timer:

This period is the amount of time that the router waits for the neighbor router to respond. If the router does not respond within a certain amount of time, then it is dead. By default, it is 180 seconds.

Flush time:

The time after which the route’s entry gets flushed if it does not respond within the flush time. By default, it is set to 60 seconds. After the declaration that the route is invalid, the tuner starts and ends after 60 seconds, 180 + 60 = 240 seconds.

Conclusion

NAT is the most popular type of routing because any regular router can utilize it. But “popular” doesn’t mean “best.” It has its numerous uses but so does the RIP.

RIP makes it possible to link several network packets dynamically from one network to another. RIP and NAT have their advantages and disadvantages.

Knowing about each of them would help you choose which suits your needs best. This post is an overview of NAT and RIP, including how they serve your routing protocol needs.