Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 18:14:12 -0500 From: Dennis <dennis@etinc.com> To: "Jasper O'Malley" <jooji@webnology.com> Cc: isp@freebsd.org Subject: RE: switch vs bridge Message-ID: <199903242319.SAA04541@etinc.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.02.9903241613160.12427-100000@mercury.webnology .com> References: <9141909996F1D011B8FF00A0C95A661B2E09CE@server.ligos.com>
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. >Simple Bridge - has two ports. Maintains an internal table of MAC >addresses, keeping track of which devices are connected to which port. >Only transmits packets if it needs to transfer them from the segment on >one side to the segment on the other. Usually used to connect hubs and >separate networks into different "collision domains." DOES check for >collisions, and will retransmit. > >Switch - a multiport bridge. Maintains an internal table of MAC addresses, >keeping track of which devices are connected to which ports. Devices >directly connected to a switch can operate in full-duplex mode. It seems to me that a *switch* (assuming that you are talking about an ethernet switch and not the new-fangled IP switches) would have addresses hard-coded to specific segments) whereas a bridge generally learns them from traffic. A switch should be immune to loops... bridges ARE in fact switches, except they are vulnerable to broadcast storms and loops. Switches have to forward broadcasts also (to make arps work) so you could pass a bridge off as a switch...probably people call a bridge a switch if it has more than two ports.... Im testing the final version of our bwmgr bridging feature as I type...so its way too fresh on my mind....pretty cool though and it makes setup a whole lot easier. Dennis Emerging Technologies, Inc. http://www.etinc.com ISA and PCI T1/V35/HSSI Cards for FreeBSD and LINUX HSSI/T3 UNIX-based Routers Bandwidth Manager http://www.etinc.com/bwmgr.htm To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-isp" in the body of the message
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