What are the three types of routes?

This article will also discuss the three most common types of routes.

In computer networks, whenever information has to be sent over a network, three primary directions determine the paths the data packets take in the network and these are the static routes, the dynamic routes, and the default routes. Each one has its advantages and disadvantages which may be suitable for different network needs. It is beneficial to comprehend these three kinds of routes for network administration and traffic regulation.

Static Routes

As the name suggests, they are configured and remain static or constant until configured by the network administrator. The router is informed about the exact network address and subnet mask of the destination network as well as information on which IP address the packets should be forwarded next.

Some key characteristics of static routes include: Some key characteristics of static routes include:

• Manually configured: The network admin dictates all parameters including the destination network, subnet mask, next-hop router IP addresses, the interface, etc This offers flexibility but involves effort.
• Remain unchanged: Static routes do not change their configurations once set unless the administrator changes them. It also does not adapt to the changes in the network by changing the route directly. This can have implications for the connection if it is not updated.
• Administrative distance: Static routes have a default value of 1 as the administrative distance value, which is considered high. This is why dynamic routing protocols are preferred over them.

The key advantage of static routing is its determinism and controllability. In the case of the network, the admin is very much aware of the path that the route, follows while in the case of dynamic routing, the best path is determined by the system. This makes some crucial traffic follow an exact predetermined route.

However, the disadvantage is that it does not allow for much integration growth or scalability. To avoid this, it can be impractical to use static routes in large networks with constantly changing infrastructure. Even traffic moves to other routes during failures are not autonomous in their implementation.

Dynamic Routing Protocols

Dynamic routing protocols prefix ‘Dynamic’ in their name since they self-discover networks and adjust dynamically based on the intelligence algorithms. This enables the routing of data packets to be automatically changed in case of a network breakdown or for instance congestion. Some of such protocols are OSPF, EIGRP, BGP, etc.

Key features of dynamic routing include: Key features of dynamic routing include:

• Automatic route discovery: The routers can exchange the routing information and the details of the network topology with other routers on their own with the help of specific algorithms.
• Adapt to changes: With the discovered routes, it is always able to adapt to the changes in the actual network such as link failure or changes in the metric cost. New paths are obtained without involving the server or any other human input.
• Loop prevention: To avoid having routes that result in traffic routing loops, new metrics, algorithms as well as loop prevention measures are incorporated to determine the best route.

The main benefits of dynamic routing are network expansion and the ability to adapt to changes right away. Routers and links can be added on demand and the routes can propagate automatically across the network. Interference is also handled smoothly in that traffic is also rerouted automatically when necessary.

The drawbacks include the fact that the management of the routing features, protocols and their interrelation becomes complicated across different routers. Static routes sometimes have suboptimal routing compared to when exact paths are set in advance.

Default Routes

It is a type of route that is configured by default on a router’s software if the router cannot find any other static or dynamic route to a specific destination. It just sends such unknown traffic directly to the designated default router, which is also referred to as the gateway of last resort.

Salient default route features are: Salient default route features are:

• Simple configuration: During the configuration process no other IP addresses need to be input except the default gateway IP. This simplifies setup.
• Broad reach: All the unknown destination traffic is routed over this path making it easier to get to the rest of unconfigured networks.
• Backup: This can offer basic backup connectivity in the event the dynamic routes become unusable or if there are new destinations that the routers have not known.

The main strength of the default routes is the conceptual simplicity that they afford to quickly connect to unknown remote networks. It is a sort of connection that functions without route definition at any place.

The disadvantage that may be associated with it is the fact that there is no control or monitoring of the traffic that passes over the default route once it gets out of the local network. Depending on the default gateway’s connectivity, performance can be significantly different from one zone to another.

To this end, the following route types have been identified and should be used appropriately:

As seen above, each route type comes with advantages and the best suited for a particular task. A proficient network engineer is always in a position to incorporate the two in the best way suited to the network at hand. Here are some ways to use them together effectively:

• Static routes should only be employed in special cases to preserve bandwidth for the most vital and stable traffic flows that require guaranteed routes.
• Rely more on dynamic routing as this in a way is adaptive and provides network uptime through an alternate route discovery.
• Establish default routes on routers to deal with traffic destined for unreachable or public Internet destinations offering rudimentary outbound communication.
• Some configurations include setting proper administrative distance values on different types of routes to achieve the desired priority, static routes over dynamic, for instance.
• Offer connection monitoring & tracking in conjunction with dynamic routing which reestablishes static or default paths in case of path failure.

It is also found that as the size and scale of the network increases, a different deployment strategy for each of the different route types yields the most versatility. Businesses rely heavily on algorithms protocols and parameters in an array of professional-grade routers or software-defined networks to achieve an optimal balance. The three key route types however include the most basic structures that even the most complex setups are bound to have in some way or another internally. As it has been pointed out above, making sense of such networks is dependent on these basics hence the importance of mastering them.

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