User manual

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 HSA300 User Manual

100

Note

Bridges vs. Routers: The essential difference between a bridge

and a router is that a router uses a higher-level protocol (such as

the IP) to determine how to pass data. IP data packets contain IP

addresses that specifically identify the destination computer.

Routers can read this information and pass the data to the

destination computer, or determine which next router to send the

data to if the destination is not on a connected network.

Bridges cannot read IP information, but instead refer to the

hardware ID of the destination computer, which is also included in

data packets. The hardware ID is a unique number that the

manufacturer assigns to each piece of hardware it sells. A bridge

learns to recognize the hardware IDs accessible through each of

its ports. When it receives a packet, the bridge simply forwards the

packet through the port it associates with the given hardware ID,

or through all its ports if it does not recognize the ID. The

hardware ID is often referred to as the Media Access Control

(MAC) address.

Routers are considered more intelligent and flexible devices than

bridges, and often provide a variety of security and network

administration services based on the IP protocols.

Using the Bridging Feature

Although HSA300 is preconfigured to serve as a router for providing

Internet connectivity to you LAN, there are several instances in

which you may also want to configure bridging:

! Your ISP may use protocols that require bridging with your

LAN. The device can be configured to appear as a bridge

when communicating with your ISP, while continuing to

provide router functionality for your LAN.

Your LAN may include computers that communicate using

“layer-3” protocols other than the Internet Protocol. These

include IPX

and AppleTalk

®.

. In this case, the device can

be configured to act as a bridge for packets that use these

protocols while continuing to serve as a router for IP data.

In both cases, you need to specify the device’s interfaces as bridge

interfaces.