In a network of Cisco routers, all running RIP, is it possible to set the hop count of an interface (or network)?
The idea is to use the (artificial/adminstrative) hop count as means to do simple traffic engineering. I want to make some routes with higher preference than others, even if they all have the same hop count. Setting a hop count higher than 1 would make RIP re-advertise that route longer than it really is and make it less preferable than others.
Best Answer
As commented you are best using another IGP because of the limitation of RIPs infinite metric.
However you can configure individual ports to add more than one or alternatively configure offset lists to increase the advertised routes based on network address.
RIP normally increases the cost by adding one to the route’s metric before storing the route so to alter this you can change the amount that an individual port adds to the metric of a Learned route, for example to increase port cost then use:
interface FastEthernet0/1
ip metric 5
Alternatively lookup using an offset list to use an access list to point to a specific network you wish to influence (and in which direction). An example resource is here: offset list blog