Router
Routers are used to connect networks together, through routing
packets from one network to another. A router is connected to two or more lines
from different network. When a packet arrives, router examines the source and
the destination of this and routes the packet accordingly. By default, routers
break up a broadcast domain, which is the set of all devices on a network
segment that hear all broadcast sent on that segment. It is very important because when a host sends
a broadcast, every device on the network must process that broadcast. When the
router’s interface receive this broadcast it will discards it without
forwarding it on to other networks.
Switch
Switch is a device
that connects network segments. In contrast with routers, switch only “switches”
frames from one port to another within the switched network. By default,
switches break up collision domain. Collision occurs when more than one user
attempts to send a packet on a network segment at the same time. Collisions decrease
network efficiency on a collision domain because if a collision occurs the
users have to retransmit at a later time.
