A question about default routes. 3491

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Jimmy Phillips snip snip snip

If you think about what a "default route" means, then the solution is a bit simpler.

A "default route" is used when your IP stack doesn't know how to get a packet to it's destination. Your IP stack effectively asks the router at the "default route" to forward the packet.

Your intranet consists of addresses known to you. Your IP stack should be able to figure out exactly how to get a packet to any one of the nodes on your intranet. You can ensure this by entering explicit "route" commands that instruct your IP stack exactly where to send packets for your intranet. For your intranet, you do not need a "default route" because you already have well-known, pre-established fixed routes for all the nodes on it.

The Internet, however, consists of address that are not known to you. You would have a hard time entering explicit routing instructions for every Internet IP address. For the Internet, you probably need a "default route" because you don't have foreknowledge of the routes to each and every node.

So, here's what you can do...

1) remove your existing static "default route" from your configuration

2) place explicit route commands into your configuration for all the nodes on your intranet

3) permit PPP (buttuming you literally meant 'dial out') to set the default route when you connect to the Internet Both PPPoE (for ADSL) and DHCP (for Cable) do this as well)

HTH - --

Lew Pitcher, IT Specialist, Enterprise Data Systems Enterprise Technology Solutions, TD Bank Financial Group

(Opinions expressed here are my own, not my employer's) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (MingW32)

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