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Let's assume you have an address you want to get to, but you have no directions on how to get there. A GPS system could come in handy. But what if instead of being a human in an unfamiliar part of town, you are a data packet on a TPC/IP network looking for an address outside of your local network? Actually, things have just become much simpler for you. Now you only have to know two things in addition to the destination address:

One: You simply have to know that you don't know how to get there.
Two: Know what your Default Gateway is.

We will start our journey where every good journey begins: at the starting point. I'll assume you are using a Windows based PC. Linux and MACs have similar commands, but they are not exactly the same. Open a command prompt on your computer (Start -> Run -> cmd -> OK) and type in the following command: ipconfig <enter>

Assuming your computer is connected to a TCP/IP network, you will see a few lines of interesting information. You will see:

- Your IP address: This is the address assigned to your computer; the source address of our data packet, and the return address for the information we have requested.

- Your Subnet Mask: This group of numbers defines the size and range of your local network (follow this link for more information on networks and subnetting. If any other computers (printers, etc.) are in this same range, there is no need for your data packets to go through a gateway.

- Your Default Gateway: Without one of these, your personal Internet is very limited indeed.

So if your destination is not on the same network as you, your packet goes to the Default Gateway? Basically, yes. But let's be a little more technical. Go back to your command prompt and type the following command: route print <enter>

This will show you your routing table. Down at the bottom, you will see your Default Gateway listed again. If all of those lines above it in the routing table do not provide a match for your destination address, then the data packets go to the Default Gateway. On your PC, as on mine, this list is fairly innocuous. On network devises, or even on some Web Servers, these routing tables are far more interesting.

Now we are pretty clear on what address the Default Gateway is, and how we look for other matches before actually sending packet to the Default Gateway, but what is it, and why is it important?

A Default Gateway, sometimes referred to as a gateway of last resort, is where a packet goes when it does not know where

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