Introduction to Routing in TCP/IP

The infrastructure that supports global networks such as the Internet could not function without routers. TCP/IP was designed to operate through routers, and no discussion of TCP/IP is complete without a discussion of what the routers are doing. As you'll learn in this hour, a router participates in a complex process of communication with other routers on the network to determine the best path to each destination. In this hour, you'll learn about routers, routing tables, and routing protocols.

At the end of this hour, you'll know how to

• Describe IP forwarding and how it works

• Distinguish between distance vector routing and link state routing

• Discuss the roles of core, interior, and exterior routers

• Describe the common interior routing protocols RIP and OSPF