Traditional network layer packet forwarding relies on the information provided by network layer （） protocols， or static routing， to make an independent （）decision at each hop within the network. The forwarding （）is based solely on the destination （）IP address. All packets for the same destination follow the same path across the network if no other equal-cost paths exist. Whenever a router has two equal-cost （）toward a destination， the packets toward the destination might take one or both of them， resulting in some degree of load sharing.