CCNP® Practical Studies: Routing

Routing IP on Cisco Routers

Routing is defined as a process whereby a path to a destination host is selected by either a dynamic routing protocol or static (manual) definition by a network administrator. A routing protocol is an algorithm that routes traffic or data across the network. Each router makes routing decisions from source to destination based on specific metrics used by the routing protocol in use. For example, Routing Information Protocol (RIP) uses hop count (commonly known as the network diameter) to determine which interface on a router sends the data. A lower hop count is always preferred. On the other hand, Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) uses a cost metric; the lower the cost of the path is the more preferred path to a destination. ...