How Does a Router on the Internet Know Where to Send a Packet?

Answer: A router on the internet know where to send a packet to next to get it towards its destination IP address through the method referred as routing. The routing helps the router to route the packet to next router or hop to get it towards its destination IP address.

Routing

The process by which a router on the internet decides to send a packet to next hop to get it towards its destination is called as routing. Each router has its own routing table that describes the next hop and the destination. Through this routing table the router finds the next hop to send the packet that is connected to the destination IP address.

Steps in router on the Internet sends the packet to next to reach the desired destination IP address are

• First the router looks into its routing table and finds the best route to reach its destination IP address.
• Then the packet is forwarded to next hop which follows the best route.
• This process is repeated by the router until the packet reaches its destination IP address.

Conclusion

From the above discussion we can conclude that a router on the Internet knows where to send a packet to next to get it towards its destination IP address using routing. It uses the routing table to find the best way to reach the destination IP address.