Show IP Route Query

control

Hi,

Looking at the following from a show ip route



Gateway of last resort is 0.0.0.0 to network 0.0.0.0


S* 0.0.0.0/0 is directly connected, Multilink3

What exactly does this mean? Is there no default gateway here? What happens if the router gets a packet for an unknown network?

Thanks

atorven

If something comes and it doesn't match any route it will get sent out to the default route which in your case is the Multilink3. Also be aware, if you ever see a router with a default gateway in the running config that would indicate that routing is turned off.

Default gateway = You will only see this being used when the router "is not doing any routing", it would serve the same purpose as it would you on PC, if your trying to communicate to somethnig outside your network just send it to your default gateway, from my limited experience, I can't see a situation were you would do this on a router.

phoeneous

atorven wrote: »

Also be aware, if you ever a router with a default gateway in the running config that would indicate that routing is turned off.

What? That's not true at all. You can still have routing protocols enabled even if you have a default route/gateway of last resort.

networker050184

I think what atroven is getting at is that setting the default gateway on a router is usually only used when the router is not doing routing. This is the same as on a L2 switch and the default gateway is only used for packets sourced by the router itself.

Default route and default gateway are not interchangeable terms when it comes to configuring a router.