Routes to other network Introduction 11.. IIPP rroouuttiinngg IP routing is a complex subject. Here are some things you have to know about it. 22.. WWhhyy ?? If you have a single Ethernet network, then you don't have to do anything else than setting the IP number of you computer (and optionally the netmask and the network address). If your network is larger than one Ethernet segment, you will have to tell your _L_i_n_u_x where are the gateways to other segments. 33.. DDeeffaauulltt rroouuttee Most network have only one gateway. This the default route. 44.. RRoouutteess ttoo ootthheerr nneettwwoorrkkss aanndd hhoossttss You must specify manually the gateways to those networks and hosts. 55.. TThhee rroouutteedd ddaaeemmoonn In some complex network, there are more than one gateway and even there are multiple route to a single destination. Maintaining by hand the different routes is difficult and error prone. In this case, the routed daemon is a given. Please be careful with this. Most routed daemon available on the net were at some point broken and were loosing routes. I have no confirmation that a working routed is now available. Check out gated as a replacement if you are experiencing strange route loss with routed. I guess this will be solved soon. If you know about it, please inform me!