Congratulations! We are going to learn the final lesson of Network Fundamentals Certification Course! After you complete this lesson and understand it, you are ready to pass your exam! In this last lesson, we will talk about routing metrics. I don’t want to take any more of your time by explaining to you how much we have accomplished together, because you know that, so let’s go to work!
What would be a definition of routing metric first? Routing metrics are the units which are calculated through a routing algorithm. Their main purpose is to show selected or rejected routing paths when someone wants to transfer some traffic or data.
How is it calculated? We said that it is done through the algorithm. But how? It is a process when algorithms determine all the routes for sending different kinds of traffic and then they choose the optimal ones. These metrics always need to be assigned to many different routes that are available in the routing table. We talked a lot about routing tables in the previous lesson. Try to remember as much as you can about it for your better understanding of routing metrics. The best routes are always calculated by using numerous kinds of methods and techniques which are always based on those routing algorithms that are in use already.
We will now take a look at the list of the most important parameters which are used for calculating a routing metric. These are:
–hop count;
–path speed;
–path reliability;
–bandwidth;
–load;
–latency;
–maximum transmission unit.
We have also talked a lot about routers and its functions. We know that they together with other core networking devices transport data all over the different kinds of interconnected networks. How can someone know which of those interconnected networks would suit the best for different kinds of purposes? Definitely, routing metrics! They are used to calculate the best options and to make a proper core selecting process. They are always composed of numerous and different kinds of parameters but also the operational environmental sources to determine all the points of comparison that may exist. So, yes, routing metrics are always trying to help us to find the perfect match when it comes to interconnected networks or any other path that we want to send a data packet through.
Let’s see how would that look like in the example! We have a distance vendor routing protocol that is implementing the Bellman-Ford. Such algorithm is usually implemented to add some total number imagined to the hop accessories (we have already talked about them in the lesson of the routing tables). What routing metrics do here is that they ensure the best path reliability, latency and speed, load and also prevent the packet loss factors. They do it by calculating the safest and the most efficient way!
All in all, routers are full of interesting possibilities. Routers, routing tables, and routing metrics all go together, connected. I wish you all the best and I am sure that you will pass your Network Fundamentals Certification Course successfully!