1. A link manager comprising: detecting means for detecting a link installation; managing means for defining a plurality of link metrics, each link metric being defined by a plurality of characteristics of each said link detected, and managing data corresponding to said respective link metrics on a table; link metric rank assigning means for assigning ranks to said respective link metrics, based on a predetermined preference; data rank assigning means for assigning ranks to each of said plurality of characteristics defining each of said respective link metrics; and a processor configured to select a link by comparing each individual stored metric corresponding to each link in order of rank by individually comparing each of said plurality of characteristics defining each of said respective link metrics in the order assigned by the data rank assigning means, and select a link corresponding to a record having a characteristic with a highest rank thus assigned, at a link metric with a highest rank.