MORE INFORMATION
The Route Table
Even a single-homed TCP/IP host has to make routing decisions. These
routing decisions are controlled by the route table. The route table can
be displayed by typing "route print" at the command prompt. The following
is an example route table from a single-homed machine. This simple route
table is built automatically by Windows NT based on the IP configuration
of your host.
Network Address Netmask Gateway Address Interface Metric
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 157.57.8.1 157.57.11.169 1
127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
157.57.8.0 255.255.248.0 157.57.11.169 157.57.11.169 1
157.57.11.169 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
157.57.255.255 255.255.255.255 157.57.11.169 157.57.11.169 1
224.0.0.0 224.0.0.0 157.57.11.169 157.57.11.169 1
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 157.57.11.169 157.57.11.169 1
The titles of each column in the above table are explained in following
text:
Network Address:
Network Address is the destination. The Network address column can
contain:
- Host address
- Subnet address
- Network address
- Default gateway
The search order is also as above, from the most unique route (host
address) to most generic (default gateway):
0.0.0.0 is the default route
127.0.0.0 is the loopback address
157.57.8.0 is the local subnet address
157.57.11.169 is the network card address
157.57.255.255 is the subnet broadcast address
224.0.0.0 is the multicast address
255.255.255.255 is the limited broadcast address
Netmask:
The Netmask defines what portion of the Network Address must match for
that route to be used. When the mask is written in binary a 1 is
significant (must match) and a 0 need not match. For example, a
255.255.255.255 mask is used for a host entry. The mask of all 255s (all
1s) means that the destination address of the packet to be routed must
exactly match the Network Address for this route to be used. For another
example, the Network Address 157.57.8.0 has a netmask of 255.255.248.0.
This netmask means the first two octets must match exactly, the first 5
bits of the third octet must match (248=11111000) and the last octet does
not matter. Since 8 in the decimal number system is equivalent to 00001000
in binary, a match would have to start with 00001. Thus, any address of
157.57 and the third octet of 8 through 15 (15=00001111) will use this
route. This is a netmask for a subnet route and is therefore called the
subnet mask.
Gateway Address:
The Gateway Address is where the packet needs to be sent. This can be the
local network card or a gateway (router) on the local subnet.
Interface:
The Interface is the address of the network card over which the packet
should be sent out. 127.0.0.1 is the software loopback address.
Metric:
The Metric is the number of hops to the destination. Anything on the local
LAN is one hop and each router crossed after that is an additional hop.
The Metric is used to determine the best route.
Multihomed Router
The following is the default Route table of a multihomed Windows NT host.
Network Address Netmask Gateway Address Interface Metric
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 157.57.24.1 157.57.24.193 1
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 199.199.40.1 199.199.40.139 1
127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
157.57.24.0 255.255.248.0 157.57.24.193 157.57.24.193 1
157.57.24.193 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
199.199.40.0 255.255.255.0 199.199.40.139 199.199.40.139 1
199.199.40.139 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
199.199.40.255 255.255.255.255 199.199.40.139 199.199.40.139 1
224.0.0.0 224.0.0.0 157.57.24.193 157.57.24.193 1
224.0.0.0 224.0.0.0 199.199.40.139 199.199.40.139 1
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 199.199.40.139 199.199.40.139 1
Check "Enable IP Routing" in the Advanced TCP/IP configuration to enable
routing. At this point Windows NT will route between these two subnets.
NOTE - for the Multihomed Router to pass DHCP Discover packets from one
subnet to the other you will need to install the "BootP Relay Agent" that
comes with MPR. MPR is discussed later.
A note on Default gateways:
In the TCP/IP configuration, you can add a default route for each network
card. This will create a 0.0.0.0 route for each. However, only one default
route will actually be used. In this case, the 199.199.40.139 is the first
card in the TCP/IP bindings and therefore the default route for this card
will be used. Since only one default gateway will be used you should only
configure one card to have a default gateway. This will reduce confusion
and insure the results you intended.
For more information, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge
base:
ARTICLE-ID: 157025
TITLE : Default Gateway Configuration for Multi-Homed Computers
If the Windows NT router does not have an interface on a given subnet, it
will need a route to get there. This can be done by adding Static Routes
or by using MPR. MPR is discussed later.
To Add a Static Route
The following is an example route.
Route Add 199.199.41.0 mask 255.255.255.0 199.199.40.1 metric 2
NOTE: The metric option is only supported in Windows NT 3.51 with Service
Pack 2 or later installed.
The route in this example means that to get to the 199.199.41.0 subnet
with a mask of 255.255.255.0 use gateway 199.199.40.1 and that the subnet
is 2 hops away. A static route will also need to be added on the next
router telling it how to get back to subnets reachable by the first
router. With a network of a few routers or more, static routes can become
very complicated.
For additional information, please see the following article(s) in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:
ARTICLE-ID: 141383
TITLE : "P" Switch for Route Command Added in Windows NT
Multi Protocol Router (MPR)
MPR consists of the following:
- Routing Information Protocol (RIP) for TCP/IP.
- BOOTP (Boot Protocol) relay agent for Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol (DHCP).
- RIP for IPX.
RIP is used by routers to dynamically exchange routing information. RIP
routers broadcast their routing tables every 30 seconds by default. Other
RIP routers will listen for these RIP broadcasts and update their own
route tables.
MPR is available in Service Pack 2 for Windows NT 3.51.
For additional information, please see the RIPROUTE.WRI file (available
with Windows NT 3.51 Service Pack 2) for MPR installation instructions or
the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
ARTICLE-ID: 138793
TITLE : Multi-Protocol Router Installation and Configuration