Policy Routing; Chapter 36 Policy Routing; Policy Route Overview; Benefits - ZyXEL Communications GS3700 Series User Manual

This chapter shows you how to configure policy routing rules.

36.1 Policy Route Overview

Traditionally, routing is based on the destination address only and the Switch takes the shortest
path to forward a packet. Policy routing provides a mechanism to override the default routing
behavior and alter the packet forwarding based on the policy defined by the network administrator.
Policy-based routing is applied to incoming packets prior to the normal routing.
Individual routing policies are used as part of the overall policy routing process. A routing policy
defines the action to take when a packet meets the criteria in a specified classifier. The action is
taken only when all the criteria are met.

36.1.1 Benefits

• Source-Based Routing – Network administrators can use policy-based routing to direct traffic
from different users through different connections.
• Cost Savings – Policy routing allows organizations to distribute interactive traffic on high-
bandwidth, high-cost paths while using low-cost paths for batch traffic.
• Load Sharing – Network administrators can use policy routing to distribute traffic among multiple
paths.

36.2 Configuring Policy Routing Profile

Click IP Application > Policy Routing in the navigation panel to display the screen as shown. Use
this screen to configure a policy routing profile, which can consist of multiple policy routing rules.
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