Manage a Windows Server 2003 Network: Part 4

Table of Contents

1. Main Menu
2. Part 4: Configure & Manage Static IP Routing
3. 4.1 Basic Terminology
4. 4.2: Routing Basics
5. 4.2.1: Understanding the Routing Table
6. 4.3: Static Routing
7. 4.3.1: Persistent Routes
8. 4.3.2: An example of Static Route Configuration
9. 4.4: An Introduction to the Routing & Remote Access Service
10. Video: Using RRAS to configure and view Static Routes
11. Review Questions for Part 4

4.2.1: Understanding the Routing Table

The ROUTE PRINT command can be used from command line to display a Windows NT4, 2000, XP or server 2003 routing table.

Five columns will be displayed: To reach the destination network (shown in column 1) with a subnet mask (shown in column 2) packets must be sent to the gateway address (shown in column 3) using the network adapter interface (shown in column 4).

The metric (shown in column 5) is the hop count or the number of jumps across routers to reach the destination. The metric of a route may need to be changed for the following reasons:

• When multiple routes to a network exist the route with the lowest cost can be configured (the route with the lowest number of router hops or metric)

• When routes have different available bandwidth and reliability

The following screen shot shows the ROUTE PRINT command applied on a Windows XP Professional computer with a wireless network adapter configured with an IP Address of 192.168.10.4/24 and a gateway of 192.168.10.1

• The first and last entries in the table show the default gateway

• The second entry allows packets to be redirected to the LOOPBACK IP address 127.0.0.1 with a 255.0.0.0 subnet mask.

• The third entry is the method used to talk to your own network subnet.

• The fourth entry is the method to get to your own IP address.

• The fifth entry is the subnet broadcast, which will use in this example the network address 192.168.10.255, with a subnet of 255.255.255.255

• The sixth entry is the multicast entry (224.0.0.0)

• The seventh entry is for any network with any subnet mask to go through your network adapter interface.