Introduction of Routing Protocols Routing Fundamental Routing is the process of forwarding data packets from their source to their destination across interconnected networks. It is a critical function in both small-local area networks (LANs) and large-scale wide-area networks (WANs), including the Internet. There are two types of data packets - Routed Protocols and Routing Protocols. Fig: Basic Routing Key Concepts in Routing Router: A router is a networking device responsible for forwarding data packets between networks based on their IP addresses. It operates at the network layer (Layer 3) of the OSI model. Routing Table: A database stored in a router that contains information about network destinations and how to reach them. Consists of: Destination network Next hop: The next router or device to which the packet should be sent. Metric: A value indicating the "Cost" of reaching a destination (hop count, bandwidth, latency, reliability, load). Interface: The router i...