26 March 2019

Difference between router and bridge

A router is a device or in some cases software in a computer device which determines the next network point to which a packet should be forwarded toward their destination. A router is located at any gateway include as part of a network switch while the bridge is a product that connects LAN  to another LAN that uses the same protocol. Here this article gives the difference between router and bridge to better understand this topic. 
  • The router operates in the network layer of the OSI model while the bridge operates in a data link layer of the OSI model
  • A router is used to connect the LAN and WAN while in a bridge is used to connect two different LAN segments
  • Router transmit data in the form of packets while in bridge transmit data in the form frames
  • The router reads the IP address of the devices, Bridge read the MAC address of a device
  •  The router has more ports than a bridge, Bridge has only two ports
  • A router uses the table for sending data whereas bridge does not use any a routing table for sending data
  • Router work on more than one broadcast domain while in bridge work on a single broadcast domain
  • A protocol must be used TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, Apple talk while including transparent bridge and translational bridge
  • Router communicates with other routers to decide the best way to transfer the data while in a bridge with the help of MAC addresses of the devices the bridge listen to the network traffic and then decide the way to how to send the data
  • A router uses a software configured network address to determine the address while Bridge determine the destination address with the help of the MAC address of the device
  • The router creates basically multiple paths to send data, but in a bridge does not create multiple paths to send data
  • A router can configure such as RIP, IGRP, OSPF etc, while bridge cannot configure any routing protocols in a bridge
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