The Routing information protocol (RIP) enables routers to compute the path that an IP packet must follow. Routers exchange routing information using RIP to determine routes that other routers are connected to. OSPF is a newer protocol that serves a similar purpose. For more information about OSPF, see OSPF.

You can configure route redistribution between OSPF, RIP, and static routes. With route redistribution, you can configure the Branch Gateway to redistribute routes learned from one protocol into the domain of the other routing protocol. For more information, see Route redistribution.

RIP is a distance vector protocol. The router decides which path to use on distance or the number of intermediate hops. In order for this protocol to work correctly, all the routers, and possibly the nodes, require to gather information on how to reach each destination in the Internet. However the simplicity of RIP has a disadvantage. This protocol does not consider network bandwidth, physical cost, and data priority. The Branch Gateway supports two versions of RIP: