[MLB-WIRELESS] Bridge vs router vs AP

evilbunny evilbunny at sydneywireless.com
Thu May 30 14:26:53 EST 2002


Hello Andrew,

An AP is in fact a bridge, which for all intents and purposes is a hub,
however non IP traffic is filtered by it...

eg, wireless frame headers aren't sent onto the ethernet segment
and vice versa, bridges have commonly been used in the past to keep
macintosh and PC networks apart, ie appletalk and MS filesharing
aren't sent to both parts of the network so as to keep the clutter on
a network segment to a minimum... 

-- 
Best regards,
 evilbunny                            mailto:evilbunny at sydneywireless.com

http://www.SydneyWireless.com - Exercise your communications
freedom to make it do what you never thought possible... 

Thursday, May 30, 2002, 11:32:22 AM, you wrote:

AD> Ok, correct me if I'm wrong...

AD> So an AP is basically like a hub or a switch for wireless networks (which is
AD> it a switch or a hub?, I know the difference)

AD> and that's weird... my crappy Netcom 2 mbit access point I can use as a AP
AD> and I can connect it to my switch so it bridges to my wired LAN, so your
AD> saying some/most AP's can't do that?

AD> I think my main question is that one up there, Does an AP act like a switch
AD> or a hub, i.e. broadcast all packets to every link, or just to the IP its
AD> going to...

AD> ...Ferni


AD> ----- Original Message -----
AD> From: "Will Lotto" <lotto at impulse.net.au>
AD> To: <melbwireless at wireless.org.au>
AD> Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2002 10:27 AM
AD> Subject: RE: [MLB-WIRELESS] Bridge vs router vs AP


>> An AP: Is a wireless device capable of talking to other wireless
>> devices.. Setup in "server" mode, so clients connect to it.
>>
>> A Bridge can be one of two things:
>> Wired Network: A repeater. .. A switch is simply a multi-point bridge.
>> Wireless Network: A repeater. .. An AP setup to blindly forward traffic
>> between two other wireless node.
>>
>> A router: Okay, now, technically a bridge should do *some* filtering,
>> being technical, a bridge keeps tables of MAC addresses on both sides of
>> it, and only forwards the traffic if it's not destined for a MAC address
>> on the same side of the bridge that the traffic is coming from. (A MAC
>> address is a (hopefully) unique serial number printed on every network
>> card and AP)... But the filtering a bridge does is *very* basic.
>>
>> A router is much smarter. It works on IP addresses, can have  Ü  redundant
>> links, weightings onks, priority on traffic etc. etc. etc. ..
>> Routers are what make the internet work.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-melbwireless at wireless.org.au
>> [mailto:owner-melbwireless at wireless.org.au] On Behalf Of Clae
>> Sent: Wednesday, 29 May 2002 6:02 PM
>> To: melbwireless at wireless.org.au
>> Subject: [MLB-WIRELESS] Bridge vs router vs AP
>>
>>
>> OK once more for the tech dummies (me):
>>
>> what exactly is the difference between a bridge, a router and an AP?
>>
>> --
>> David Clae Gason
>> Secretary, Melbourne Digital and Wireless
>> mailto:secretary at wireless.org.au http://wireless.org.au
>>
>> i hate anarchists. i think there should be a law against them  -tahl
>>
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>>
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>>
>>


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