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Routing occurs at Layer 3 (the network layer i.e. Internet Protocol (IP)) of the OSI seven-layer protocol stack. FunctionA router acts as a junction between two or more networks to transfer data packets among them. A router is different from a switch. A switch connects devices to form a local area network (LAN). One easy illustration for the different functions of routers and switches is to think of switches as neighborhood streets, and the router as the intersections with the street signs. Each house on the street has an address within a range on the block. In the same way, a switch connects various devices each with their own IP address(es) on a LAN. However, the switch knows nothing about IP addresses except its own management address. Routers connect networks together the way that on-ramps or major intersections connect streets to both highways and freeways, etc. The street signs at the intersection (routing table) show which way the packets need to flow. So for example, a router at home connects the Internet service provider's (ISP) network (usually on an Internet address) together with the LAN in the home (typically using a range of private IP addresses, see network address translation (NAT)) and a single broadcast domain. The switch connects devices together to form the LAN. Sometimes the switch and the router are combined together in one single package sold as a multiple port router. In order to route packets, a router communicates with other routers using routing protocols and using this information creates and maintains a routing table. The routing table stores the best routes to certain network destinations, the "routing metrics" associated with those routes, and the path to the next hop router. See the routing article for a more detailed discussion of how this works. Routing is most commonly associated with Internet Protocol(IP), although other less-popular routed protocols are in use.
Types of routersIn the original era of routing (from the mid-1970s through the 1980s), general-purpose mini-computers served as routers. The ARPAnet (the Internet's predecessor) used what was then called IMPs. Although general-purpose computers can perform routing, modern high-speed routers are highly specialised computers, generally with extra hardware added to accelerate both common routing functions such as packet forwarding and specialised functions such as IPsec encryption. Other changes also improve reliability, such as using DC power rather than line power (which can be provided from batteries in data centers), and using solid state rather than magnetic storage for program loading. Large modern routers have thus come to resemble telephone switches, with whose technology they are currently converging and may eventually replace. Small routers have become a common household item.
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