<Li> metric: The routing metric of the path through which the packet is to be sent . The route will go in the direction of the gateway with the lowest metric . </Li> <Li> next hop: The next hop, or gateway, is the address of the next station to which the packet is to be sent on the way to its final destination </Li> <P> Depending on the application and implementation, it can also contain additional values that refine path selection: </P> <Ol> <Li> quality of service associated with the route . For example, the U flag indicates that an IP route is up . </Li> <Li> links to filtering criteria / access lists associated with the route </Li> <Li> interface: such as eth0 for the first Ethernet card, eth1 for the second Ethernet card, etc . </Li> </Ol>

Which is a component of a routing table entry