Does using an IP routing protocol make sense in every situation?

First time poster here,

I’m curious to know if anyone has worked with networks free of any routing protocols and if it makes sense to not use one in my situation.

In our current setup we have a layer 3 core switch (Cisco 6500) that is has all network VLANS up and running locally on the switch, there are around 55 VLANS. Every VLAN is assigned an IP address on the core switch. The IP routing table on the core switch shows all subnets are directly connected via each VLAN respectively.

Every server at our location is connected directly to the core switch with the default gateway set to the IP address of one of the core switch VLANS. For example, all servers on VLAN 5 have their gateway set to the IP address of VLAN 5 on the core switch. These servers communicate with workstations and various network devices through the core switch.

The workstations are connected to layer 2 workgroup switches that connect to the core switch, so not much in terms of IP routing. Just a trunk link with necessary VLANS between the two. The workstations and workgroup switches have their default gateways set to the VLAN IP address on the core switch just like the servers.

Everything outside the server room is connected via fiber and our network is broken into zones based on the physical location. About half of the zones have a managed layer 3 switch, typically a 24-port switch that connects directly to the core switch via the fiber run. The links from layer 3 to the core switch are trunked and they carry only the VLANS needed for that zone. This is the only place I could see any real routing protocols being used. We have about 35 layer 3 switches connected the core switch each on their own fiber link.

Each 24-port is then connected to a handful of 8-port layer 2 switches. Those layer two switches connect to all the network equipment. The network equipment default gateway is then set to the IP of the VLAN on the core switch just like every other end device. The network equipment generally consists of IP cameras, sensors, traffic controllers, and monitors all on separate VLANS. The network equipment communicates mostly with the servers.

The default gateway and default route of every switch is also set to the IP of VLAN 10 on the core switch so all traffic will be forwarded to core switch where it will then decide which route to use based on the directly connected subnets.

The other half of the zones are connected via another variety of layer 2 switches that are daisy chained to work with the pre-existing copper network, so we can disregard any IP routing here.

Although there doesn’t seem to be any noticeable performance issues with the way things are currently, I’m always looking on ways to make things better. It also feels strange not using a routing protocol. I would like to get some feedback and opinions on not using a routing protocol.