What is a router?
Routers are mainly used in local area networks and wide area networks. It can connect multiple networks or network segments to “translate” data information between different networks or network segments, so that they can “read” each other’s data to form a larger The internet. At the same time, it has functions such as network management, data processing, and network interconnection.
What is a switch
Simply put, the switch, also known as the switching hub. The difference from a router is that it can connect to the same type of network, interconnect with different types of networks (such as Ethernet and Fast Ethernet), and make these computers form a network.
It can forward electrical signals and provide exclusive electrical signal paths for any two network nodes connected to it, thereby avoiding transmission and port conflicts and improving broadband utilization efficiency.
Common switches include Ethernet switches, local area network switches and WAN switches, as well as optical fiber switches and telephone voice switches.
The difference between router and switch:
1. From a functional point of view, the router has a virtual dialing function, which can automatically assign IP. The computers connected to the Internet can share a broadband account on the same router, and the computers are in the same local area network. At the same time, it can provide firewall services. The switch does not have such services and functions, but it can quickly transmit data to the destination node through the internal switching matrix, thereby saving network resources and improving efficiency.
2. From the perspective of the object of data forwarding, the router determines that the address for data forwarding uses the ID number of a different network, and the switch determines the address for forwarding data by using the MAC address or physical address.
3. From the working level, the router works based on IP addressing and works on the network layer of the OSI model, which can handle the TCP/IP protocol; the switch works on the relay layer based on MAC addressing.
4. From the perspective of segmentation, the router can segment the broadcast domain, and the switch can only segment the conflict domain.
5. From the perspective of application area, routers are mainly used to connect LANs and external networks, and switches are mainly used for data forwarding in LANs.
6. From the interface point of view, there are three router interfaces: AUI port, RJ-45 port, SC port, there are many switch interfaces, such as Console port, MGMT interface, RJ45 port, optical fiber interface, auc interface, vty interface and vlanif Interface, etc.
Post time: Oct-30-2021