Metrics (networking)


Router metrics are metrics used by a router to make routing decisions. A metric is typically one of many fields in a routing table. Router metrics help the router choose the best route among multiple feasible routes to a destination. The route will go in the direction of the gateway with the lowest metric.
A router metric is typically based on information such as path length, bandwidth, load, hop count, path cost, delay, maximum transmission unit, reliability and communications cost.

Examples

A metric can include:
In EIGRP, metrics is represented by an integer from 0 to 4,294,967,295. In Microsoft Windows XP routing it ranges from 1 to 9999.
A metric can be considered as:
Router metrics are metrics used by a router to make routing decisions. It is typically one of many fields in a routing table.
Router metrics can contain any number of values that help the router determine the best route among multiple routes to a destination. A router metric typically based on information like path length, bandwidth, load, hop count, path cost, delay, Maximum Transmission Unit, reliability and communications cost.