Dynamic routing is a complex subject. There are many routers on different networks and all can be configured differently. It become even more complicated when you add to this each routing protocol having slightly different names for similar features, and many configurable features for each protocol.

To better understand dynamic routing, here are some explanations of common dynamic routing terms.

For more details on a term as it applies to a dynamic routing protocol, see one of “Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)”, “Routing Information Protocol (RIP)”, or “Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)”.