How is a connected route created on a router?

• A. Automatically when an IP address is assigned to an interface.
• B. When a routing protocol is enabled.
• C. When a static route is configured.
• D. When a proxy ARP entry is learned.

Answer: (A)

Connected routes represent networks directly attached to the router. They’re created automatically as soon as an IP address is assigned to an interface and the interface is active, because the router immediately knows the subnet behind that interface and can reach it without needing any next hop. This results in a routing table entry for that connected network that uses the interface itself as the exit path.

Routing protocols bring in networks learned from neighbors, not the router’s own directly connected networks. A static route is a manually configured path to a network (often not the directly connected one), so it doesn’t create a connected route for the interface’s own network. Proxy ARP deals with resolving IPs on the same subnet and does not establish connected routes.