IT Technical Interview Practice Test

Routers determine the best path by consulting their routing table and evaluating the metrics associated with each possible route. The routing table lists destination networks and the next-hop or exit interface to reach them, along with a metric (such as hop count, latency, bandwidth, or policy-based costs) and an administrative distance. The router picks the route with the most favorable metric and lowest administrative distance to forward the packet. DNS isn’t used for path selection; it translates domain names to IP addresses. ARP maps an IP to a hardware address on the local link, not for deciding routes. Forwarding to the first available neighbor without evaluation bypasses routing logic and can lead to suboptimal or failed delivery. Routing protocols or static routes populate the table so the router can make informed next-hop decisions.