routed is invoked at boot time to manage the network routing tables. The routing daemon uses a variant of the Xerox NS Routing Information Protocol in maintaining up to date kernel routing table entries. It used a generalized protocol capable of use with multiple address types, but is currently used only for Internet routing within a cluster of networks.

In normal operation routed listens on the udp socket for the route service for routing information packets. If the host is an internetwork router, it periodically supplies copies of its routing tables to any directly connected hosts and networks.