IP Routing Features 
Overview of IP Routing 
The IP route table contains the best path to a destination. 
■  When the software receives paths from more than one of the sources listed 
above, the software compares the administrative distance of each path 
and selects the path with the lowest administrative distance. The admin-
istrative distance is a protocol-independent value from 1 – 255. 
The IP route table is displayed by entering the CLI command show ip route 
from any context level in the console CLI. Here is an example of an entry in 
the IP route table: 
Destination  Network Mask  Gateway  Type  Sub-Type  Metric 
1.1.0.0  255.255.0.0  99.1.1.2  connected  1 
Each IP route table entry contains the destination’s IP address and sub-net 
mask and the IP address of the next-hop router interface to the destination. 
Each entry also indicates route type, and for OSPF routes, the sub type, and 
the route’s IP metric (cost). The type indicates how the IP route table received 
the route. 
To configure a static IP route, see “Configuring a Static IP Route” on page 11-19 
IP Forwarding Cache 
The IP forwarding cache provides a fast-path mechanism for forwarding IP 
packets. The cache contains entries for IP destinations. When an HP ProCurve 
routing switch has completed processing and addressing for a packet and is 
ready to forward the packet, the device checks the IP forwarding cache for an 
entry to the packet’s destination. 
■  If the cache contains an entry with the destination IP address, the device 
uses the information in the entry to forward the packet out the ports listed 
in the entry. The destination IP address is the address of the packet’s final 
destination. The port numbers are the ports through which the destination 
can be reached. 
■  If the cache does not contain an entry, the software can create an entry in 
the forwarding cache. 
Each entry in the IP forwarding cache has an age timer. If the entry remains 
unused for five minutes, the software removes the entry. The age timer is not 
configurable. 
Note  You cannot add static entries to the IP forwarding cache. 
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