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Glossary of Data Communications Terms
Courtesy Enterprise-Wide Computing, Inc.
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Term:
router
Definition:
A software and hardware connection between two or more
networks, usually of similar design, that permits traffic
to be routed from one network to another on the basis of
the intended destinations of that traffic. A NetWare
router, formerly known as an internal or external bridge,
can connect networks that use different network adapters or
transmission media as long as both sides of the connection
use the same protocols. If a router is located in a server,
it is called an internal router; if located in a
workstation, it is called an external router. The hardware
and software necessary to link two subnetworks of the same
network together; the hardware and software necessary to
link two subnetworks at the Network Layer of the OSI
Reference Model; any machine responsible for making
decisions about which of several paths network traffic will
follow. At the lowest level, a
physical network bridge is
a router because it chooses whether to
pass packets from
one physical wire to another. Within a long
haul network,
each individual packet switch is a router because
it
chooses routes for individual packets. In the
Internet, each IP
gateway is a router because it uses IP
destination addresses to choose routes.
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