Which statement is true about RIP?

• A. It is a distance-vector protocol using hop count metric with a maximum of 15 hops.
• B. It uses a link-state routing algorithm.
• C. It is a path-vector protocol.
• D. It is a vendor-specific protocol.

Answer: (A)

RIP is a distance-vector routing protocol that determines routes by having routers share their routing tables with neighbors and use a hop count as the metric. The hop count maximum of 15 makes destinations with more than 15 hops unreachable, which helps prevent routing loops in simple networks. This combination—distance-vector approach with hop-count metric and a defined 15-hop limit—is what makes this statement true.

It’s not a link-state protocol, which would have each router build a full topology map and share link-state advertisements to compute routes (that’s how protocols like OSPF work). It’s not a path-vector protocol, which is characteristic of BGP and carries path information across autonomous systems. And it isn’t vendor-specific; RIP is a standard, widely implemented routing protocol defined in RFCs.