I recently had to use the route print command to help a tech support guy diagnose a problem with my router. I saw a number of IP address on there and am curious as to what the command shows exacly, and where all the address come from. Any help guys?

type route/?

Okay, here is the netstat -rn from my XP machine... Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600] (C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp. C:\Documents and Settings\Prepress>route print =========================================================================== Interface List 0x1 ........................... MS TCP Loopback interface 0x10003 ...00 02 b3 88 3e f4 ...... Intel(R) PRO/100 S Server Adapter =========================================================================== =========================================================================== Active Routes: Network Destination Netmask Gateway Interface Metric 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.0.1 192.168.0.238 20 127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1 192.168.0.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.238 192.168.0.238 20 192.168.0.238 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 20 192.168.0.255 255.255.255.255 192.168.0.238 192.168.0.238 20 224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 192.168.0.238 192.168.0.238 20 255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 192.168.0.238 192.168.0.238 1 Default Gateway: 192.168.0.1 =========================================================================== First, this is complicated stuff, so don't feel bad if you get lost. The 0.0.0.0 addy is the wire address, where the computer starts addressing from. The 127. addy is the "MS TCP Loopback Interface (mentioned at the top of the Interface List), which is used mainly for testing, but also lots of other good stuff. The 192.168.0.0 is the network address. The 192.168.0.238 is the address of the local computer. 192.168.0.255 is the network broadcast (sends messages to all computers on the 192.168.0.x network). 224.0.0.0 is a class D address. It's not used on the net, and is reserved for testing and such. I'm not quite sure why it's always listed -- can't remember my notes. But anyway, the 255.255.255.255 addy is the whole schmeer broadcast (send a message to EVERY computer on the network). 255.255.255.255 is used to find computers when an address is not known, like DHCP servers, and even before the local IP is determined. The Netmask is the dotted-decimal version of the binary code used to determnie the network and the host portions of the IP address. The Gateway is the address used by the local computer to get to the remote Network Destination (first column). The Interface is the address of what physical interface it must send the packet to get to the Gateway to reach the Network Destination. The Metric is used for determining the best route to a destination. The lower the number, the better (faster). Persistent Routes is the section that lists the routes administratively (manually) set by the a human -- custom stuff. Got it?