What Is the Router Used for?

What is a router used for? Friends who often use computers and wireless networks to access the Internet should be familiar with the router. Everyone knows that it is a tool that helps us communicate with the network and use the network better. To put it simply, the role of routers is like bridges and bonds. But what are the specific functions of the router in the process of network connection? Can we use the network normally without a router? As one of the best wireless network companies, let Ceres explain to you.

1. Connect to different networks

The role of routers is very similar to that of network switches and bridges. However, unlike switches that work at the physical layer of the network and physically divide network segments, routers take use of special software protocols to logically divide the entire network. For example, a router that supports the IP protocol can divide the network into multiple subnet segments, and only network traffic directed to a special IP address can pass through the router. For each received data packet, the mesh router will recalculate its check value and write a new physical address. Therefore, the use of routers to forward and filter data is often slower than switches that only view the physical addresses of data packets. However, for those complex networks, the use of routers can improve the overall efficiency of the network. Another obvious advantage of routers is that they can automatically filter network broadcasts. Generally speaking, the entire installation process of adding a router to the network is much more complicated than a plug-and-play switch.

2. Information transmission

Some routers only support a single protocol, but most corporate routers can support the transmission of multiple protocols, that is, multi-protocol routers. Since each protocol has its own rules, it will inevitably reduce the performance of the router to complete the algorithms of multiple protocols in a router. The main job of the router is to find an optimal transmission path for each data frame passing through the router, and to effectively transmit the data to the destination site. It can be seen that the strategy of selecting the best path, the routing algorithm, is the key to the router. In order to complete this work, the routing table, which is related to various transmission paths, is stored in the router for routing selection. The routing table stores the subnet identification information, the number of routers on the Internet, and the name of the next router, which can be fixedly set by the system administrator.

Router is a multi-port device that can connect to local and wide area networks with different transmission rates running in various environments, and it can also take  use of different protocols. The router belongs to the third layer of the OS I model, the network layer which can guide data transmission from one network segment to another, and it can also guide data transmission from one network to another.

(1) Network interconnection: The router supports various LAN and WAN interfaces, and it is mainly used to interconnect them to realize the communication between different networks.

(2) Data processing: Routers by Seres, a company specializing in CPE 4G routers, provide functions including packet filtering, packet forwarding, priority, multiplexing, encryption, compression, and firewall.

(3) Network management: Routers provide functions including router configuration management, performance management, fault tolerance management, and flow control.

The so-called "routing", refers to the act of transferring data from one place to another, and the router is the machine that performs this kind of action. It is a network device that connects multiple networks or network segments, to form a larger network.

In order to complete the "routing" work, the routing table, which is related to various transmission paths, is stored in the router for routing selection. The routing table stores the subnet identification information, the number of routers on the Internet, and the name of the next router. The routing table can be fixedly set by the system administrator, dynamically modified by the system, automatically adjusted by the router, or controlled by the host. There are two concepts related to address names involved in routers, namely: static routing table and dynamic routing table. The fixed routing table set up by the system administrator in advance is called a static routing table, which is generally pre-set according to the configuration of the network when the system is installed, and it will not change with future network structure changes. The dynamic routing table is a routing table automatically adjusted by the router according to the operation of the network system.