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Hardware Installation Guide for  Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers
OL-32185-02
Chapter 4      Configure Initial Router Settings on Cisco 4000 Series ISRs
  Perform Initial Configuration on Cisco 4000 Series ISRs
Gateway of Last Resort
When default information is being passed along through a dynamic routing protocol, no further 
configuration is required. The system periodically scans its routing table to choose the optimal default 
network as its default route. In the case of RIP, there is only one choice, network 0.0.0.0. In the case of 
IGRP, there might be several networks that can be candidates for the system default. The Cisco IOS-XE 
software uses both administrative distance and metric information to determine the default route 
(gateway of last resort). The selected default route appears in the gateway of last resort display of the 
show ip route EXEC command.
If dynamic default information is not being passed to the software, candidates for the default route are 
specified with the ip default-network global configuration command. In this usage, the ip 
default-network command takes an unconnected network as an argument. If this network appears in the 
routing table from any source (dynamic or static), it is flagged as a candidate default route and is a 
possible choice for the default route.
If the router has no interface on the default network, but does have a route to it, it considers this network 
as a candidate default path. The route candidates are examined and based on administrative distance and 
metric, the best one is chosen. The gateway to the best default path becomes the gateway of last resort. 
SUMMARY STEPS
1. enable
2. configure terminal
3. ip route dest-prefix mask next-hop-ip-address [admin-distance] [permanent] 
4. ip default-network network-number 
or
ip route dest-prefix mask next-hop-ip-address
5. end 
6. show ip route 
DETAILED STEPS
Command or Action Purpose
Step 1
enable
Example:
Router> enable
Enables privileged EXEC mode. Enter your password if 
prompted.
Step 2
configure terminal
Example:
Router# configure terminal
Enters global configuration mode.
Step 3
ip routing 
Example:
Router(config)# ip routing
Enables IP routing.