There are two methods a LAN host can determine its default gateway or first-hop router. The first method uses a dynamic process such as a dynamic routing protocol like RIP (Routing Information Protocol). The main drawback of dynamic discovery protocols is that they require some configuration and processing on the host, which must participate in the dynamic process. The alternative to using a dynamic discovery protocol is to statically configure a default gateway on the host. The static approach simplifies host configuration but also creates a single point of failure. A host configured with a static default gateway is isolated if the gateway fails. It cannot switch to an alternate gateway even if one exists until an administrator manually re-configures the default gateway on the host.