  In this paper the variation principles from theoretical physics is considered
that would describe the process of routing in computer networks. The total
traffic which is currently served on all hops of the route has been chosen as
the quantity to minimize. Universal metric function has been found for dynamic
routing taking into account the packet loss effect. An attempt to derive the
metric of the most popular dynamic routing protocols such as RIP, OSPF, EIGRP
from universal metric was made.
