Routing and Routing Protocols

Introduction to Static Routing

Routing Decisions

Routing is the process that a router

uses to forward packets toward a
packets destination.
Routing decisions are based on the
destination IP address of a packet.

Routing Methods
Routers must learn the direction to remote
networks in order to forward packets.
Two ways to learn this information:
Dynamically
Information is learned from other routers
Often through RIP, OSPF, or EIGRP routing
protocols

Statically
Configured manually
Requires the network administrator to add and
delete static routes when topology changes
In large networks it requires a tremendous
amount of administrative time
On small, or unchanging networks, it requires very
little maintenance

Static Route Operation

Static route operations can be

divided into 3 stages:
A network administrator manually
configures the static route on the
router
The router installs the route in its
routing table
Packets are routed using the
static route

Configuring Static Routes

Send traffic through an interface:
Destination
Network

Subnet Mask

Local Routers
Outgoing
Interface

Send traffic to the next routers address:

Destination
Network

Subnet Mask

Next Hop IP
Address
(address of
next router)

Configuring the Outbound

Interface

Configuring the Next-Hop

Address

Routes and Interfaces

If a router cannot reach the outgoing interface
that is being used in a route, the route will not
be installed in the routing table.
This means if that interface is down, the route
will not be placed in the routing table.

Administrative Distance

The administrative distance is a

number that measures the
trustworthiness of the source of the
route information.
The lower the administrative distance,
the more trustworthy the source.

If a path has the lowest

administrative distance, it is
installed in the routing table.

Default Administrative
Distances

Multiple Routes to the Same

Destination

When two or more routes point to

the same destination, the
administrative distance is used by
the router to determine which route
is entered into the routing table.
All routes are remembered, but only
the best route makes it into the
routing table.

Static Routes as Backups

Often static routes are used for

backup purposes, such as when
the dynamically learned route fails.

Backup Route Example

For Router0, the
preferred path to
the 192.168.0.0
network is
through the
switch.
If RIP is used to
exchange routes
between the two
routers, this route
will be marked as
the best.

No Routing Protocol
192.168.0.0/24
192.168.2.1

192.168.1.1

192.168.2.2

192.168.1.2

Router0 Routing Table

No Routing Protocol
192.168.0.0/24
192.168.2.1

192.168.1.1

192.168.2.2

192.168.1.2

Backup Route Creation

No Routing Protocol
192.168.0.0/24
192.168.2.1

To configure a
static route for the
56 kbps backup
serial line:

192.168.1.1

192.168.2.2

192.168.1.2

Router0 New Routing Table

No Routing Protocol
192.168.0.0/24
192.168.2.1

Now, the static

route shows
up in the
routing table,
instead of the
better route
learned
through RIP.

192.168.1.1

192.168.2.2

192.168.1.2

Fixing the Routing Table

Problem
No Routing Protocol
192.168.0.0/24
192.168.2.1

RIPs default
administrative
distance is 120.
Creating the
route with an
AD higher than
120 will ensure
the RIP route is
placed in the
routing table.

192.168.1.1

192.168.2.2

192.168.1.2

The Backup Route In Action

No Routing Protocol
192.168.0.0/24
192.168.2.1

When the
RIP-learned
route is
unavailable,
the static
backup route
is placed in
the routing
table.

192.168.1.1

192.168.2.2

192.168.1.2

The Backup Route In Action

No Routing Protocol
192.168.0.0/24
192.168.2.1

Once the
better route is
available, the
RIP route will
be re-entered
into the
routing table,
automatically.

192.168.1.1

192.168.2.2

192.168.1.2

Configuring Default Route

Forwarding
Default routes are used to route packets to
destinations that do not match any of the
other routes in the routing table.
A default route is a special static route that
uses the quad-zero format:
ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 [next-hopaddress | outgoing interface]

If the packet does not match a specific route

in the routing table, it will be routed to the
0.0.0.0 network.
Any IP address will always yield the network
address 0.0.0.0 when ANDed with the mask
0.0.0.0.

Default Routing Example

In this example,
no routing
protocol is used.
Instead, a default
route will be used
to allow Router0
to direct traffic to
the ISP router.

No Routing Protocol

192.168.0.1
192.168.0.2

10.0.0.1

10.0.0.0/24

Router0 Routing Table Prior to

Default Route
No Routing Protocol

192.168.0.1
192.168.0.2

Router0 can
see the two
directly
connected
networks and
cannot route
traffic to the
Internet.

10.0.0.1

10.0.0.0/24

Adding a Default Route

No Routing Protocol

192.168.0.1
192.168.0.2

Entering the
quad-zero
route on
Router0 allows
the router to
send all remote
traffic to the
next-hop.

10.0.0.1

10.0.0.0/24

Viewing the Default Route

No Routing Protocol

192.168.0.1
192.168.0.2

Entering the
quad-zero
route on
Router0 allows
the router to
send all remote
traffic to the
ISP.

10.0.0.1

10.0.0.0/24

Default Route Note

The routers on the
Internet must have a
route in their routing
tables that points to
Router0 (or a default
route that
accomplishes the
same).
Otherwise, Router0
will be able to route
traffic to servers on
the Internet, but the
Internet routers
would not be able to
route the responses
back to Router0.

No Routing Protocol

192.168.0.1
192.168.0.2

10.0.0.1

10.0.0.0/24