Difference between Static and Dynamic Routing
Routing refers to the process of moving packets of information across a network. Static and dynamic routing are the two types of algorithms used for this transfer of information. The term routing can be summarized in two tasks deciding the paths for data transferred, and sending the packets on these paths. Routing is a function carried out at the 3rd layer of the OSI reference model. A routing algorithm decides the output line to transfer the incoming packets; algorithms are based on the routing protocol that uses metrics bandwidth, delay, and reliability-to assess whether a particular path is the optimal path available for transfer of the data packets.
Static routing manually sets up optimal paths between the source and destination computers. On the other hand, Dynamic routers are designed to discover routes automatically and therefore require a minimal amount of setting up and configuration. More sophisticated than static routers, they examine information from other routers and make packet by packet decisions about how to send data across the network. The dynamic routing uses dynamic protocols to update the routing table and to find the optimal path between the source and the destination computers. Routers that use static routing do not have any controlling mechanism if they come across any faults in the routing paths. These routers do not sense faulty computers encountered while finding the path between two computers or routers in a network. Dynamic routing algorithms can sense a faulty router in the network. Also, dynamic routers eliminate the faulty router and find out another optimal path from the source to the destination. If any router is down or faulty due to certain reasons, this fault is circulated in the entire network. Due to this quality of dynamic routers, they are also called adaptive routers.
On the other hand, Static routing is suitable for very small networks; they cannot be used in large...