route print and understaing the "metric"

[winter12]

why is the route print metric different on different sytems ?
i have two computers one is running 98 and the other is running xp .. with router .. the route print on the 98 system comes up with vaule "1" but xp " 20 " for most not all .waht does this mean ??

 

[pansophic]

The metric value is supposed to represent the number of hops between you and the network identified in the route. It doesn't always, but that is the general purpose.

Setting the metric value allows you to identify the shortest route to a given network, and also identify backup routes to that same network. The router should always choose the shortest available route (the route with the smallest metric) at the time that the packet arrives.

It has also been used on static routes to avoid high-cost routes whenever possible. If you have a backup network connection, but pay by the packet for connectivity (really common only a few years ago), then you would assign that route a very high metric to keep the usage down.
pansophic