Configure IT Quick: Static routing with

Cisco routers
by Guest Contributor | Jun 26, 2001 7:00:00 AM

Tags: Lance Cockcroft

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Takeaway: Learn how to configure static routers on Cisco routers

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At its most basic form, routing is the process of analyzing Layer 3 addresses (IP addresses)
and then forwarding the packet containing the address out of the correct port based on the
routing information, which is stored in system memory contained in the routing table.

In this Daily Drill Down, I will show you how to configure static routing for your smaller
internetwork with the help of Cisco routers.

The routing table

The routing table is simply a list of all known network addresses along with the port or next
hop router to be used to reach the destination address. (For a better understanding of network
addresses vs. host addressing, see Jim McIntyre's IP subnetting article.) How the routing table
is built depends on if the router is configured as a static router or a dynamic router. If the
router has been configured as a static router, the network administrator is responsible for
adding entries into the routing table. Dynamic routing, however, uses the services of one of
many different routing protocols to discover network information.

Static routing
Static routing is more prevalent in small internetworks. With static routing, the router
administrator is responsible for populating each router’s routing table with the information
needed to forward packets based on the destination Layer 3 addresses. For example, in
Figure A, router A is only aware of networks 192.168.1.0/24 and 192.168.2.0/24 because
both of these networks are directly connected to router A. If host 192.168.1.5 were to ping the
destination address of 192.168.3.15, the packet would be discarded by router A because
router A has no knowledge of network 192.168.3.0.

Figure A

With static routing, router A is only aware of what is available on its routing table.

Configuring static routes

Router A needs a route entry in the routing table that lists a way to get to network
192.168.3.0. Static entries can be entered into the routing table using a Cisco global
configuration command. Click here to view the command.

Here is a breakdown of what the options and arguments (for the global configuration
command) mean:

• Prefix: A network address for which you want to enter a route

• Mask: The network mask used for the network address
• Address: IP address of the next hop address
• Interface: If you do not know the IP address of the next hop, you can enter the
interface that you want the packets to exit in order to reach the destination address.
You cannot interface a parameter if it is a point-to-multipoint interface such as
Ethernet or frame relay.
• Distance (optional): The Administrative distance (By default, the distance is 1 for all
static routes that use a next hop address, or 0 for all static routes that specify an exit
interface.)
• Tag (optional): A value that can be used to match a value for controlling
redistribution via route maps
 • Permanent (optional): Specifies that the route will not be removed from the routing
table, even if the interface is down

To add the correct route for router A, we would add a static route for the 192.168.3.0 network
by issuing the following command in global configuration mode:
RouterA (config) ip route 192.168.3.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.2.2
(Next Hop Address)

or:
RouterA (config) ip route 192.168.3.0 255.255.255.0 Serial0
(Exit Interface)

Once we enter this command, we can again try and ping host 192.168.3.15 from host
192.168.1.5. However, again we will find that we do not receive a reply from host
192.168.3.15. So what gives? Let’s take a look at what happened.

Router A will receive the ICMP echo request packets destined for 192.168.3.15. Router A
will consult its routing table and find an entry that informs router A that packets destined for
192.168.3.0 should be forwarded to 192.168.2.2. Router A will then forward the packets to
router B's serial 0 interface with the address of 192.168.2.2. Router B will see that they are
destined for a local network and will forward the packets to the host 192.168.3.15. Host
192.168.3.15 will then send echo reply messages to router B destined for the host
192.168.1.5. Router B does not have a route for the 192.168.1.0 network so the packets get
dropped.

To correct the routing problem, router B needs information on how to get to network
192.168.1.0. Again, simply add a static route to router B's routing table as follows:
RouterB (config) ip route 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.2.1

or:
RouterB (config) ip route 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 Serial0
Point-to-point caution
Only point-to-point interfaces can be used in the definition of a static route. Ethernet
interfaces cannot be used in static routes.

Now, if you ping host 192.168.3.15 from host 192.168.1.5, you should receive replies. Let’s
look at a more complex network.

Figure B
As you add more routes to your network, you must remember to add to your routers’ routing
table.

Each router requires a route for each network address throughout the internetwork. To allow
for proper routing for Figure B, additional static routes would have to be entered. Click here
to view those static routes.

For computers on network B to communicate with network C, router B must send all packets
through router A. Router A will accept and route packets from network B just as it would
from network A. One drawback to this configuration is that hosts on network B cannot
communicate with hosts on network C if the connection to router A is down. To correct this
issue, you could add another connection between network C and network B, which would
give you a fully meshed network.

Figure C

Once your routing tables are complete, your network should be able to fully communicate.

Figure C shows a fully meshed network where all routers have a direct connection to all
other routers. Each router must have routes defined for each network. Click here to view a
sample static route configuration for each router.

While this configuration allows connectivity among all hosts, it does not provide any fault
tolerance or redundancy. The network in Figure C provides physical redundant routes to any
network; however, each router only has one routing entry for each network. If the primary
route fails, network connectivity will be lost. For example, if the T1 line between network A
and network C is lost, hosts on networks A and C will not be able to communicate because
router A has only one route defined for network C and vice versa. To define a failover route,
you have to create a floating static route.

Floating routes
Floating routes are secondary routes that are used by a router to reach a destination if the
primary route fails. Floating routes are configured just as static routes are; however, an
administrative distance (AD) is configured with the static route.

The AD is used to identify the preferred route. The default AD for a static route is 1. Defining
a second route and assigning a higher AD of 100 ensures that this route will only be used if
the primary route fails. Do not confuse the term administrative distance with the term metric.
The metric is used by many routing protocols to identify the shortest distance between two
networks, while the AD identifies the preferred route when more than one route exists to the
same network.

For example, if the primary link between router C and router A fails, traffic should be
rerouted through router B. To accomplish this, you could configure router A and router C
with the static and floating static routes. Click here to view those routes.

Notice that a 100 follows each duplicate static route entry. The 100 is the AD being assigned
to the route. If an AD is not specified, the entry is assigned the default AD of 1. The router
will use the route with the least AD as long as that route is usable. If the T1 between router A
and router C fails, the serial 1 interface on router A will be down and will force the use of the
floating static route utilizing interface serial 0.

Load sharing
In the previous example, only one path is used at any time. To more efficiently utilize all
available bandwidth, each router can be configured to load balance between each path. Load
balancing can be configured for equal cost or unequal cost, where cost is the metric used to
identify the best path.

• Equal cost load balancing: Traffic is distributed evenly over all available paths.
• Unequal cost load balancing: Traffic is routed down multiple paths inversely
proportional to the cost associated with each path. For example, network C has two
unequal paths to network A. Path 1 has a cost of 1 and Path 2 has a cost of 2. Unequal
load balancing would forward two packets over the Path 1 for every one packet over
the Path 2.

Static routing supports only equal cost routing. Since static routes do not have costs (metrics),
all routes have the same cost or lack thereof. To configure load balancing across multiple
routes, simply configure multiple routes to the same destination with the same administrative
distance. For example, router A could be configured to load balance all traffic destined for
network C by configuring the static routes on router A. Click here to view those routes.

With these configured routes, router A will send half of all traffic destined for network C to
192.168.4.2 and the other half to 192.168.2.2.
Conclusion
Static routing provides many advantages over dynamic routing. It does not require network
bandwidth or processor resources. It is also much easier to configure but provides very little
fault tolerance or ability to discover new routes as the network changes. Static routes are
better suited to small networks with fewer than 10 routers that rarely change. Dynamic
routing is better suited for larger networks with redundant paths and complex routing
schemes.