3Com 2500 manual Aging Timer The time since the network’s last update

The Elements of IPX Routing 6-9

■Hops to Network — Provides the number of routers that must be crossed to reach the network segment.

■Ticks to Network — Provides an estimate of the time necessary to reach the destination segment.

■Node — The node address of the router that can forward packets to each segment. When set to all zeroes, the route is directly connected.

■Aging Timer — The time since the network’s last update.

Figure 6-4 shows an example of a typical routing information table.

Routing Table
Interface Address		Hops	Ticks	Node	Age
1	1	1	1	00-00-00-00-00-00	0
2	45469f30	1	1	00-00-00-00-00-00	0
2	45469f33	2	3	08-00-17-04-33-45	40

Figure 6-4 Routing Table Example

Generating Routing Table Information

The routing information table is generated and updated as follows:

■Statically — You manually enter routes. They do not change until you change them (they do not time out).

■Dynamically — The router uses RIP to exchange information with other routers. Routes are recalculated at regular intervals.

Static Routes. A static route is one you manually configure in the routing table. Static routes are useful in environments where no routing protocol is used or where you want to override some of the routes generated with a routing protocol. Because static routes do not automatically change in response to network topology changes, you should manually configure only a small number of reasonably stable routes.

Dynamic Routes Using RIP. Automated methods of learning routes help you keep up with a changing network environment, allowing routes to be reconfigured quickly and reliably. Interior Gateway Protocols (IGP), which operate within intranetworks, provide this automated method. The LANplex