What is Router in Networking?

In this tutorial, we are going to see What is Router in Networking?

A router is a hardware device that interconnects computer networks to route packets between two or more networks to determine the appropriate path for a data packet to take.

When a user calls up a URL, the Web client (browser) queries the name server, which in turn tells it the IP address of the target machine.

His workstation sends the request to the nearest router, which means the default gateway of the network he is on. This router will then determine the next machine to which the data will be routed so that the path chosen is the best one. To achieve this, routers maintain routing tables, a real map of the routes to follow according to the target address. There are many protocols dedicated to this task.
 

 

 
In addition to their routing function, routers make it possible to manipulate the data circulating as a datagrams in order to ensure the transition from one type of network to another. Since networks do not have the same capacities in terms of data packet size, routers are responsible for fragmenting data packets to allow them to circulate freely.
 

Router:

The first routers were simple computers with several network cards, each of them connected to a different network. Today’s routers are mostly hardware dedicated to the task of routing.
 

 
A router has several network interfaces, each connected to a different network. It has as many IP addresses as there are different networks on which it is connected.
 

 

Routing algorithms

There are generally two types of routing algorithms:

• Distance vector routers establish a routing table by calculating the “cost” (in terms of number of hops) of each route and then transmit this table to neighboring routers. For each connection request, the router chooses the least expensive route.
• Link state routers listen to the network continuously in order to identify the various elements surrounding it. From this information, each router calculates the shortest path (in time) to the neighboring routers and broadcasts this information as an update packet. Each router finally builds its routing table by calculating the shortest paths to all the other routers (using the Dijkstra algorithm).

 

What is a Wifi Router?

The idea behind a wifi router is the same as a classic router, except that it allows wireless devices (WiFi stations for example) to connect to the networks to which the router is connected by wired links (usually Ethernet).
 
Computer Network MCQ – Questions and Answers – Part 1Networking MCQs questions with answers to prepare for exams, tests, and certifications. These questions are taken from a real written exam and some parts are…Read More