The Routing Information Protocol $($RIP$)$ is a distance$-$vector routing protocol, which employs the hop count as a routing metric. RIP prevents routing loops by implementing a limit on the number of hops allowed in a path from the source to a destination. The maximum number of hops allowed for RIP is $15.$ This hop limit$,$ however, also limits the size of networks that RIP can support. A hop count of $16$ is considered an infinite distance.