One function of the router is to connect different networks, and the other function is to select the line for information transmission. Choosing a smooth and fast shortcut can greatly improve the communication speed, reduce the communication load of the network system, save network system resources, and improve the smooth rate of the network system, so that the network system can play a greater role.
From the point of view of filtering network traffic, routers function very similarly to switches and bridges. But unlike the switch that works at the physical layer of the network and divides the network segment physically, the router uses a special software protocol to logically divide the entire network. For example, a router that supports the IP protocol can divide the network into multiple subnet segments, and only network traffic directed to a specific IP address can pass through the router. For each received packet, the router recalculates its checksum value and writes a new physical address. Therefore, using a router to forward and filter data tends to be slower than a switch that only looks at the physical address of a packet. but,
For those complex networks, the use of routers can improve the overall efficiency of the network. Another obvious advantage of routers is that they can automatically filter network broadcasts. In general, the entire installation process of adding a router to a network is much more complicated than a plug-and-play switch.
