router vs. bridge vs. switch

  • Thread starter Thread starter Matthew Louden
  • Start date Start date
M

Matthew Louden

In my small office's situation, the connection is like this:

T1 line -> router -> firewall -> switch

Can we have internet connection without router? I don't quite understand
when to use router, when to use bridge, when to use switch??

please advise. Thanks!
 
If your firewall can act as router then you can get rid of the router.

You would also have to take into consideration how your T1 is presented -
does the firewall have a suitable interface? CSU/DSU etc.
 
No, the firewall doesn't have a slot called CSU/DSU, but there is one in T1
line. So you mean if the firewall has CSU/DSU slot, then T1 line can connect
it directly without a router??
 
Matthew Louden said:
In my small office's situation, the connection is like this:

T1 line -> router -> firewall -> switch

Can we have internet connection without router? I don't quite understand
when to use router, when to use bridge, when to use switch??

please advise. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Here is a basic answer to the best of my recollection:
A router is used to connect to separate networks (i.e. your internal network
and the internet). In a TCP/IP setting, this means two networks on
different subnets.
A bridge is used to reduce broadcast traffic (IIRC).
A Switch is used to connect computers that use the same protocol (ie. TCP/IP
or IPX/SPX) and are also in the same addressing scheme (in TCP/IP this is
subnet). A Switch is basically just a supercharged hub in that it allows
100% of the bandwidth to each port instead of splitting the bandwidth based
on demand like a normal hub will.

If this is incorrect, I apologize. It has been a few years since I studied
this and I have very little experience with bridges.
 
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