In computer networking, a static route is a configuration of a network router that tells the router which way to route packets for a given destination IP address. Static routes are usually configured at the router by an administrator, rather than automatically by protocols such as the Routing Information Protocol (RIP).
A static route’s disadvantage is that it must be manually configured and maintained, which can be difficult in a large and complex network. Also, if a static route is incorrectly configured, it can cause serious problems with network connectivity.
In Cisco IOS, static routes are configured using the ip route command. The syntax of this command is:
ip route destination-ip-address subnet-mask next-hop-ip-address
For example, the following command configures a static route to the 10.0.0.0 network with a next-hop IP address of 10.1.1.1:
ip route 10.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 10.1.1.1
Static routes can also be configured to have a next-hop IP address of another router’s interface, rather than a specific IP address. This is done by using the interface’s IP address as the next-hop IP address, followed by the keyword “interface”:
ip route 10.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 10.1.1.1 interface
The advantage of this method is that if the IP address of the next-hop router’s interface changes, the static route will automatically be updated to use the new IP address.
In Cisco IOS, static routes are configured using the ip route command. The syntax of this command is:
ip route destination-ip-address subnet-mask next-hop-ip-address
For example, the following command configures a static route to the 10.0.0.0 network with a next-hop IP address of 10.1.1.1:
ip route 10.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 10.1.1.1
Static routes can also be configured to have a next-hop IP address of another router’s interface, rather than a specific IP address. This is done by using the interface’s IP address as the next-hop IP address, followed by the keyword “interface”:
ip route 10.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 10.1.1.1 interface
The advantage of this method is that if the IP address of the next-hop router’s interface changes, the static route will automatically be updated to use the new IP address.
