What term describes the value a routing protocol uses to determine the best path to a destination?

What term describes the value a routing protocol uses to determine the best path to a destination?

• A. Bandwidth
• B. Hop Count
• C. Metric
• D. Delay

Answer: (C)

Routing decisions hinge on a numeric value that represents how favorable a path is for reaching a destination. This value is called the metric. Different routing protocols define metric in different ways: some use hop count, others use bandwidth or delay, and many compute a composite metric that blends several factors. The router compares the metric values across possible paths and selects the path with the best (usually lowest) metric according to the protocol’s rules. So, metric is the term for the value used to determine the best path. Bandwidth, delay, and hop count are specific attributes that can contribute to a metric, but the umbrella term describing the value itself is metric.

Routing decisions hinge on a numeric value that represents how favorable a path is for reaching a destination. This value is called the metric. Different routing protocols define metric in different ways: some use hop count, others use bandwidth or delay, and many compute a composite metric that blends several factors. The router compares the metric values across possible paths and selects the path with the best (usually lowest) metric according to the protocol’s rules. So, metric is the term for the value used to determine the best path. Bandwidth, delay, and hop count are specific attributes that can contribute to a metric, but the umbrella term describing the value itself is metric.