Explain the concept of administrative distance.

The concept of administrative distance is crucial in networking as it refers to the value used by routers to determine the trustworthiness or preference of various routing protocols. Each routing protocol is assigned a default administrative distance, which signifies its reliability. When a router receives routing information from different protocols, it uses the administrative distance to decide which route to install in the routing table. The lower the administrative distance, the more trustworthy the routing information, and hence, the preferred path will be chosen based on this metric.

For instance, if a router receives two different routes to the same destination from two different protocols, it will select the route with the lower administrative distance. This mechanism allows for dynamic routing and enables routers to have multiple pathways for data to traverse the network while ensuring that the most reliable routes are chosen for efficient data transfer.

In contrast, the other options do not accurately capture the essence of administrative distance. It does not relate to the speed of data transfer or the number of hops in a route; rather, it focuses on the credibility of the route information provided by each routing protocol.