RIP Hop Count 16 Means Unreachable | Generated by AI
Question: In the RIP protocol, what does a hop count of 16 indicate?
Answer:
In the Routing Information Protocol (RIP), a hop count of 16 indicates that the destination network is unreachable.
Explanation:
- RIP is a distance-vector routing protocol that uses hop count as its metric to determine the best path to a destination.
- The maximum valid hop count in RIP is 15. This means any destination that is 15 hops away or fewer is considered reachable.
- A hop count of 16 is defined as infinity in RIP terminology. When a router receives or calculates a route with a metric of 16, it treats that route as invalid or unreachable.
- This mechanism helps prevent routing loops and limits the size of the network that RIP can support (diameters larger than 15 hops are not supported).
Therefore, when a RIP router advertises a route with a metric of 16, it is effectively saying, “I do not have a valid path to this network.”
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