ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Administrative distance

Administrative distance is like a way to pick which route a message should take. It's like having lots of roads, but sometimes you need to make sure that the message goes only on certain roads. Administrative distance is like a set of rules that tell a message which specific roads to go on. It's like the message can't get confused, so it knows exactly what to do.
Related topics others have asked about: