Routing protocol

A routing protocol specifies how routers communicate with each other, distributing information that enables them to select routes between any two nodes on a computer network. Routers perform the 'traffic directing' functions on the Internet; data packets are forwarded through the networks of the internet from router to router until they reach their destination computer. Routing algorithms determine the specific choice of route. Each router has a prior knowledge only of networks attached to it directly. A routing protocol shares this information first among immediate neighbors, and then throughout the network. This way, routers gain knowledge of the topology of the network. The ability of routing protocols to dynamically adjust to changing conditions such as disabled data lines and computers and route data around obstructions is what gives the Internet its survivability and reliability. A routing protocol specifies how routers communicate with each other, distributing information that enables them to select routes between any two nodes on a computer network. Routers perform the 'traffic directing' functions on the Internet; data packets are forwarded through the networks of the internet from router to router until they reach their destination computer. Routing algorithms determine the specific choice of route. Each router has a prior knowledge only of networks attached to it directly. A routing protocol shares this information first among immediate neighbors, and then throughout the network. This way, routers gain knowledge of the topology of the network. The ability of routing protocols to dynamically adjust to changing conditions such as disabled data lines and computers and route data around obstructions is what gives the Internet its survivability and reliability. The specific characteristics of routing protocols include the manner in which they avoid routing loops, the manner in which they select preferred routes, using information about hop costs, the time they require to reach routing convergence, their scalability, and other factors. Although there are many types of routing protocols, three major classes are in widespread use on IP networks: Many routing protocols are defined in documents called RFCs.