On Saturday 08 January 2005 04:01 am, Paul M Foster wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 07, 2005 at 09:28:14PM -0500, SOTL wrote:
> > Hi All
> >
> > What is the difference between a wireless router and a wireless bridge?
> > Just so I do not confuse people I know a router goes on the line side and
> > the bridge goes on the computer side but really is the difference?
>
> Note: I'm a neophyte to this area. I've set up several simple networks
> and know something about the theory of this area. I've never seen or
> used a bridge but I know the definition of one. So feel free to correct
> me. I'll also use this opportunity to ask questions of the more
> knowledgeable in the group. Here's my understanding:
>
> Bridges are specialized routers, designed to connect two or more
> networks or LANs. They use info from the MAC layer (MAC addresses?) to
> route packets.
>
> Routers are more general purpose. They make decisions or where to route
> packets based partially on info from higher up in the protocol stack (IP
> addresses?). They can be made to function as bridges, though perhaps
> less efficiently.
>
> There are two factors at work. The first is the connection between IP
> address and machine names, and the ability to resolve machine names into
> addresses. This is handled either by a populated /etc/hosts file (which
> contains the names and addresses of local machines), or access to an
> active local DNS server. In the latter case, the DNS server serves to
> translate machine names into IP addresses to the best of its ability.
>
> The second factor is the routing of packets once the IP addresses are
> known. The "route -n" command will show you what routing decisions will
> be made on the machine it's run on. Your local machine will likely know
> how to route all traffic on your LAN directly to the machines involved.
> That is, the "route -n" command shows that for local addresses, there is
> no gateway; packets to those addresses are routed directly. Any other
> addresses will go to a "gateway" router somewhere on your network, which
> shows on a separate line of the "route -n" command.
>
> If your network is like mine, you've got a router for the LAN. It
> accepts packets for addresses my local machine doesn't know how to deal
> with. It knows how to address local traffic. But for any other traffic,
> it has its own "gateway" route, which is to the DSL modem. The DSL modem
> does whatever handwaving it needs to to get internet packets where
> they're going.
>
> Since part of specifying a route with the route command also entails
> specifying what type of addresses will go on that route, you could
> specify a secondary gateway for any traffic going to a different LAN or
> network segment. That gateway would then hand off traffic to the proper
> hosts on its network segment.
>
> So the point here is that, while a bridge would directly route traffic
> to specific machines on different network segments, a router whose
> routing tables are properly set up (with a separate gateway on the other
> network segment(s)) could perform the same function. It mainly depends
> on how your routes are set up.
>
> Right?
>
> Paul
>
Thanks Paul
If I get the issue correct it is a matter of package routing and what is
allowed to pass, basically a firewall and routing issue.
If that is correct then if all firewall features were nulled out then could
one could a router be used for a bridge on a simple network consisting of one
bridge/router connected to one computer and one router connected to the
eathernet line side.
Frank
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