Routing Information Protocol (RIP) is
an interior gateway protocol (IGP) that was designed for small IP
networks. RIP relies on hop count to determine routes; the best
routes have the fewest number of hops. RIP is based on UDP and uses
port 520 for route updates. By limiting routes to a maximum of 15
hops, the protocol helps prevent the development of routing loops,
but also limits the supported network size. Before you
configure RIP, consider
that if more than 15 hops are required, traffic is not routed. RIP
also can take longer to converge than OSPF and other routing protocols.
