Chapter 1. Unicast Routing Overview

Unicast routing is the process of forwarding unicasted traffic from a source to a destination on an internetwork. Unicasted traffic is destined for a unique address. To understand the details of routing protocols, such as Routing Information Protocol (RIP) and Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), and their implementation in Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Server, it is important to have a solid foundation in the principles of unicast routing. Because Windows 2000, with the Routing and Remote Access service, is an open platform that can conceivably host any internetworking protocol and routing protocol, this chapter provides an overview of protocol-independent unicast routing principles. The Internet Protocol (IP) and the Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) protocol are used as the example protocols where appropriate.

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