When considering dynamic routes, what is the third step in route selection?

In dynamic routing protocols, the process of route selection involves several important steps, and the third step specifically focuses on evaluating the routes based on their metrics. The correct answer—lowest metric—indicates that when the routing protocols have multiple paths to a destination, they will choose the route or path that has the lowest metric value.

Metrics are numerical values assigned to routes that indicate the cost of using that path, with lower values generally representing more desirable routes. This could be influenced by various factors such as bandwidth, delay, reliability, or hop count, depending on the protocol being used. By choosing the path with the lowest metric, the routing protocol ensures that data is sent along the most efficient route available, leading to optimized network performance and resource utilization.

The selection process is critical because it directly impacts the speed and reliability of data transmission across the network. Using the lowest metric ensures that the most advantageous route, in terms of cost and performance, is being utilized.