Route Networking Utility
The route networking utility allows you to change network routing tables. A routing table is a data structure, similar to a database, which lists the routes to particular network destinations. The routing table is constructed automatically using network protocols to discover the topology of the network the machine is located on. You can create a static route manually to override the automatic routes discovered.
H:\>route Manipulates network routing tables. ROUTE [-f] [-p] [command [destination] [MASK netmask] [gateway] [METRIC metric] [IF interface] -f Clears the routing tables of all gateway entries. If this is used in conjunction with one of the commands, the tables are cleared prior to running the command. -p When used with the ADD command, makes a route persistent across boots of the system. By default, routes are not preserved when the system is restarted. Ignored for all other commands, which always affect the appropriate persistent routes. This option is not supported in Windows 95. command One of these: PRINT Prints a route ADD Adds a route DELETE Deletes a route CHANGE Modifies an existing route destination Specifies the host. MASK Specifies that the next parameter is the 'netmask' value. netmask Specifies a subnet mask value for this route entry. If not specified, it defaults to 255.255.255.255. gateway Specifies gateway. interface the interface number for the specified route. METRIC specifies the metric, ie. cost for the destination. All symbolic names used for destination are looked up in the network database file NETWORKS. The symbolic names for gateway are looked up in the host name database file HOSTS. If the command is PRINT or DELETE. Destination or gateway can be a wildcard, (wildcard is specified as a star '*'), or the gateway argument may be omitted. If Dest contains a * or ?, it is treated as a shell pattern, and only matching destination routes are printed. The '*' matches any string, and '?' matches any one char. Examples: 157.*.1, 157.*, 127.*, *224*. Diagnostic Notes: Invalid MASK generates an error, that is when (DEST & MASK) != DEST. Example> route ADD 157.0.0.0 MASK 155.0.0.0 157.55.80.1 IF 1 The route addition failed: The specified mask parameter is invalid. (Destination & Mask) != Destination. Examples: > route PRINT > route ADD 157.0.0.0 MASK 255.0.0.0 157.55.80.1 METRIC 3 IF 2 destination^ ^mask ^gateway metric^ ^ Interface^ If IF is not given, it tries to find the best interface for a given gateway. > route PRINT > route PRINT 157* .... Only prints those matching 157* > route CHANGE 157.0.0.0 MASK 255.0.0.0 157.55.80.5 METRIC 2 IF 2
Route can be used when you have a routing problem on the network. It is a dangerous tool if you do not understand what you’re doing, you could easily route traffic someplace you should not and prevent networking from functioning properly on a given machine. The route print command provides some routing troubleshooting information that you could use if the machine is not reaching a particular destination.
