2. routed and RIP

Dynamic routing is a complex subject. Many protocols exist to exchange routes between IP hosts. Many of these protocols involve some notion of security (specifying which machines are allowed to tell a host new routes). This is not the case with routed. It uses a fairly simple protocol in which every host is allowed to tell every other host about the routes it knows. Using a simple metric scheme, one is able to locate the best (or the real) route to a given network. This is what RIP gives you. routed implements the RIP protocol.

You have three controllable options:

• Do you want to activate routed?
• Do you want your routed to talk or only to listen? If your computer has only one interface (a single Ethernet adapter for example), routed won't have anything to say anyway. If you have more than one interface, but don't want to be known as a router, then this option is also for you.
• If your machine is a router, you may have set a default route on it. This default route may be mistakenly taken as "the" default route for the entire network. You are allowed to hide this route from the network.