This read-write INTEGER sets the metric assigned to redistributed routes, with the description noting OSPF-to-OSPF redistribution normally carries the original metric through unless overridden, while other protocols redistributed into OSPF default to metric 20. Admins care because the metric value determines how attractive the redistributed routes appear relative to natively learned routes. For example, an admin sets this to 5 when redistributing static routes into OSPF, deliberately overriding the default metric of 20 to make those routes less preferred than native OSPF paths.