3com 8807 User Guide

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IP R
OUTING
 P
ROTOCOL
 O
VERVIEW
A router that is referred to in the following or its icon represents a generalized 
router or an Switch 8800 Family series routing switch running routing protocols. 
To improve readability, this will not be described in the other parts of the manual.
For the configuration of VPN instance, refer to the MPLS module in 3Com Switch 
8800 Family
 Series Routing Switches Operation Manual.
Introduction to IP 
Route and Routing 
Table
IP Route and Route 
Segment
Routers are implemented for route selection in the Internet. A router works in the 
following way: The router selects an appropriate path (through a network) 
according to the destination address of the packet it receives and forwards the 
packet to the next router. The last router in the path is responsible for submitting 
the packet to the destination host.
In Figure 69, R stands for a router. A packet sent from Host A to Host C should go 
through two routers and the packet is transmitted through two hops. Therefore, 
when a node (router) is connected to another node through a network, they are in 
the same route segment and are deemed as adjacent in the Internet. That is, the 
adjacent routers refer to two routers connected to the same network. The number 
of route segments between a router and hosts in the same network counted as 
zero. In Figure 69, the bold arrows represent these route segments. Which physical 
links comprise which route segment is not a concern of a router however.