A router can learn about remote networks in one of two ways:
- Manually - Remote networks are manually entered into the route table using static routes.
- Dynamically - Remote routes are automatically learned using a dynamic routing protocol.
Figure 1 provides a sample scenario of static routing. Figure 2 provides a sample scenario of dynamic routing using EIGRP.
A network administrator can manually configure a static route to reach a specific network. Unlike a dynamic routing protocol, static routes are not automatically updated and must be manually reconfigured any time the network topology changes. A static route does not change until the administrator manually reconfigures it.