Novell RIP is a distance vector routing
protocol. Novell RIP uses two metrics to make routing decisions: ticks
(a time measure) and hop count (a count of each router traversed).
Novell RIP checks its two distance
vector metrics by first comparing the ticks for path alternatives. If
two or more paths have the same tick value, Novell RIP compares the
hop count. If two or more paths have the same hop count, the router
will load share based on the IPX maximum-paths
command.
Each IPX enabled router periodically
passes copies of its Novell RIP routing table, which is different than
its IP routing table because the router will maintain a routing table
for every protocol that is enabled, to its direct neighbor. The
neighbor IPX routers add distance vectors as required before passing
copies of their Novell RIP tables to their own neighbors.
A "best information"
split-horizon algorithm prevents the neighbor from broadcasting Novell
RIP tables about IPX information back to the networks from where it
received that information.
Novell RIP also uses an information
aging mechanism to handle conditions where an IPX enabled router goes
down without any explicit message to its neighbors. Periodic updates
reset the aging timer.
Routing table updates are sent at
60-second intervals. This update frequency can cause excessive
overhead traffic on some internetworks. 
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