The most basic routing setup involves configuring a router to use static routing. In this scenario, you tell the router about networks explicitly, including information on the next-hop address (where packets destined for that network should then be sent – the destination host or another router). Note that a router will know about all networks or subnets on which in has a configured interface – as such, you need not usually add these to the routing table using static routes. For any network to which the router does not have directly connected interface, you much configure the information as described. Note that adding many static routes is time consuming, and as such most situations will dictate that a routing protocol be used. However, static routes provide a very quick, simple, and efficient method for setting up routing, especially in small environments.
In Windows 2000 Routing and Remote Access, static routing is configured under the IP Routing section.
When configuring a static route, you need to provide the network address of the interface, destination network, the subnet mask, gateway (or next hop address), as well as a metric. If the static route will be used to initiate a demand-dial connection (to be discussed later in the article), you can also check the box at the bottom of the screen.
Note that the routing table for the system can be viewed either by using the ‘Show IP Routing tab option shown above, or by using the route print command from the command prompt. Note that the default destination network, 0.0.0.0 is used to route packets to networks not found in the table, usually to the configured default gateway.
