|  | 1.6 | IPX Routing Overview
| 1.6.5 | Novell uses RIP for routing
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.