Ok. I found the source of the information. I would like to here your feedback on this.
Course Technology * Thompson Learning, i-Net+ Guide to Internet Technologies, Jean Andrews, p. 443-445 "What is the difference between a bridge and a switch? The main difference is how they work. A bridge broadcasts data to one or more LANs while a switch knows which LAN a packet should be sent to." "In order to determine which network the packet should be sent to, the bridge creates and maintains a routing table that lists the computers on each LAN. A separate table is kept for each LAN. When a data packet reaches the bridge, the bridge looks at the packet's destination address, then searches the routing table for the originating LAN, looking for the destination address of the data packet. If it finds the address in this routing table, it drops the packet, knowing that the packet will have already reached its destination, because it was broadcast to all nodes on the LAN by the LAN's hub." "If the bridge did not find the destination address in the routing table for that LAN, it broadcasts the packet to all nodes on all LANs it is connected to except the LAN that the packet came from. Therefore, a bridge only makes a single decision, 'Is this packet destined for a node on its own network?' If the answer is 'No,', then the bridge simply broadcasts it to all other LANs." "A switch, on the other hand, deosn not work by sending broadcast messages. Just like bridges, switches also keep tables of all the MAC addresses of all the devices connected to the switch. They use these tables to determine which path to use when sending packets." "... Using the destination address in the header of the packet, the switch would refer to its tables and determine the LAN to which the packet is addressed. The switch then forwards the packet to the proper LAN, rather than broadcasting the packet to all the LANs." >From this thread, and from past experience, shall we assume that this is completely false? While i-Net plus only skims the surface of network technology, this book (like many others) seems to have a lot of errors. Another example would be the fact that the MAC tables are referred to as routing tables. That reminds me, what is the difference between a MAC table and a CAM table? Kevin Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=44951&t=44649 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
