Difference/Comparison between Switch and Router: SWITCH ROUTER It is a networking device It is inter-networking device It is used to connect End devices such as computers, printers, scanners etc. Router is used to connect two or more different Networks Network switches operate at layer two (Data Link Layer) of the OSI model. Routers operate at Layer 3 (Network) of the OSI model. It Transmits data in the form of Frame (L2 Switch) & Packet (L3 switch) It Transmits data in the form of packets. It makes use of MAC address for the purpose of data transmission. It makes use of IP address for the purpose of data transmission. Switches are available with different Ports i.e – 4, 8, 16, 24, 28,48 and 52. Routers contain 2 Ports by default like fast Ethernet Ports. However, we can add serial ports explicitly. It makes use of MAC table or forwarding Table It makes use

CISCO ROUTER: Ø   It is internetworking device Ø   It is a device use to connect two or more LANs. Ø   Generally used to provide WAN connection over the internet. Ø   It is a Network Layer or Layer-3 device that route the packet based on IP Address. Ø   It contains OS as IOS- Cisco, JunOS -Juniper. With the help of this software, it sends packet from one network to another network. Ø   Several manufacturing companies available in the market who manufactures routers as Cisco, Juniper, Nortel, HP, 3COM etc. Ø   Router perform load balancing also. Ø   Router performs following major functions  A.      Internetworking: Ø   It is the process or technique of connecting different networks by using intermediary device such as routers or gateway devices. Ø   Internetworking is a term used by Cisco. Ø   Any interconnection among or between public, private, commercial, industrial or governmental computer networks may also be defined as a internetwork or in

Cisco Switch: Ø   Provides centralized location to connect devices within the LAN. Ø    It is the networking device. Ø   All the computers are connected to a single switch through a cable with the help of Star Topology .   Ø   Every device requires a single cable point-to-point connection between device and switch (Uses twisted pair, Optical Fiber or coaxial cable) Ø   Without switch we can not build a Local Area Network in real production network Ø   All the devices share data through switch . Ø   Only that device is affected which has failed, rest of the devices can work smoothly. Ø   Due to some technical reason, if the switch fails then the whole network is stopped because all the nodes depend on the switch. Ø   The switches come with 4, 8,12,16,24,28,48,52 port configurations. Ø   The switches work at Data Link Layer (Layer-2) of OSI Reference Model. Ø   The switches are intelligent device which maintain MAC Table (Consist of MAC Addresses of al