CCNA Lab 6: Backup Path Redundancy with Floating Static Routes
Dynamic routing protocols like OSPF provide automated path calculation, but relying solely on dynamic neighbor adjacencies across secondary links isn’t always feasible, especially on metered backup connections (like 4G/5G or satellite), untrusted third-party WANs, or legacy links where running continuous Hello packets introduces unnecessary overhead and instability. Floating Static Routes solve this by serving as a low-overhead, deterministic backup mechanism. By assigning an Administrative Distance (AD) higher than the primary dynamic protocol, the static route remains completely dormant in the background, activating only when the primary dynamic route is withdrawn from the routing table. ...