Routers and Switches...is there a difference. Well, yes there is. I was (still kinda am) confused about the whole concept of the two and didn't really know what the benefits of each one were versus the other. So I took some time-out to look up some info and noted it down and here it is:


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*Routers:
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- Basically a hardware device (can be software) that is used to forward data across a network.
- Routers forward the data depending on the network address, rather then the hardware address (known as the MAC address). So for TCP/IP networks, it would forward on the IP address.
- Routers seperate each LAN into seperate subnets, each having a different third 'octet' - ie 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.2.1 - they send data across these subnets.
- Basically, if the destination host (for the incoming packet) is on one of the router's subnets, it send it to the host. If the destination host isn't on it's subnet, the router sends the packet to a next-hop-router - it may have to choose among several (takes quickest route). Then that next router does the same...and so on, until the destination host is reached.
- Initially, they need to be configured, but ones that is done, they can 'learn' the paths of the network - even when new routers are added (they maintain a table which determines the best path for data to travel)
- Provide bandwidth control, keeping data out of subnets if it doesn't belong there.
- Routers are more expensive then switches, and if you want something to split your broadband connection or whatever between a few computers, it would be more feasible to get a switch. Switches are cheaper and you won't see much improvement with a router at all.

*Switches:
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- Switches send data across the same subnet.
- Can process two or more pairs of communicating ports simultaneously.
- They operate on the data link layer (layer 2) in the OSI architecture (sometimes layer 3 - network layer).
- Switches are good for heavily loaded networks to control data flow and increase performance and speed.
- Switches are replacing more routers in networks, as they are cheaper than routers. However, routers are still needed at the 'edge' of the network, to communicate with the 'outside world' (other networks).

In short:
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*Routers: Slower, Expensive, benefits of alernative routing^
*Switches: Faster, Cheaper, NO benefits of alternative routing^

^ alternative routing is the ability to determine a different path to take for data to travel to the destination host when the best possible path to take is down or busy.


My resources:
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http://whatis.techtarget.com/
http://www.webopedia.com/

and ofcourse google.com was the most useful tools, which helped me find info from these pages:
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/...idge_types.htm
http://www.asante.com/support/router...hardwared.html
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I'm sure most of you with your network expertise know this and can help out if I missed something. But hopefully it's a quick and easy guide for newbies.

Greg