What term describes the information stored in a router that indicates how messages should travel through the network?

What term describes the information stored in a router that indicates how messages should travel through the network?

• A. Routing table
• B. Static routing
• C. Dynamic routing
• D. Broadcast message

Answer: (A)

Forwarding decisions in a router come from its routing table. This is the data structure that lists destination networks, the next hop or exit interface to reach those networks, and sometimes metrics like cost or hop count. When a packet arrives, the router searches the routing table for a matching destination IP and uses the associated next hop or interface to send the packet along the best path. Static routing and dynamic routing are ways to populate and maintain that table—static routing relies on manual entries, while dynamic routing uses protocols to update routes automatically. A broadcast message is just a type of packet sent to all devices on a network, not the stored set of forwarding instructions.

Forwarding decisions in a router come from its routing table. This is the data structure that lists destination networks, the next hop or exit interface to reach those networks, and sometimes metrics like cost or hop count. When a packet arrives, the router searches the routing table for a matching destination IP and uses the associated next hop or interface to send the packet along the best path.

Static routing and dynamic routing are ways to populate and maintain that table—static routing relies on manual entries, while dynamic routing uses protocols to update routes automatically. A broadcast message is just a type of packet sent to all devices on a network, not the stored set of forwarding instructions.