Router (computing)

A router[a] is a networking device that forwards data packets between computer

networks. Routers perform the traffic directing functions on the Internet. Data
sent through the internet, such as a web page or email, is in the form of data
packets. A packet is typically forwarded from one router to another router
through the networks that constitute an internetwork (e.g. the Internet) until it
reaches its destination node.[2]

A router is connected to two or more data lines from different IP networks.[b]

When a data packet comes in on one of the lines, the router reads the network
address information in the packet header to determine the ultimate destination.
Then, using information in its routing table or routing policy, it directs the
packet to the next network on its journey. A Cisco ASM/2-32EM router
deployed at CERN in 1987
The most familiar type of IP routers are home and small office routers that
simply forward IP packets between the home computers and the Internet. An
example of a router would be the owner's cable or DSL router, which connects to the Internet through an Internet service provider
(ISP). More sophisticated routers, such as enterprise routers, connect large business or ISP networks up to the powerful core
routers that forward data at high speed along the optical fiber lines of the Internet backbone.

Contents
Operation
Applications
Access, core and distribution
Security
Routing different networks
Internet connectivity and internal use
Historical and technical information
Forwarding
See also
Notes
References
External links

Operation
When multiple routers are used in interconnected networks, the routers can exchange information about destination addresses
using a routing protocol. Each router builds up a routing table listing the preferred routes between any two computer systems on
the interconnected networks.[3]

A router has two types of network element components organized onto separate processing planes:[4]
 Control plane: A router maintains a routing table that lists which route should be used to forward a data packet,
and through which physical interface connection. It does this using internal preconfigured directives, called static
routes, or by learning routes dynamically using a routing protocol. Static and dynamic routes are stored in the
routing table. The control-plane logic then strips non-essential directives from the table and builds a forwarding
information base (FIB) to be used by the forwarding plane.
Forwarding plane: The router forwards data packets between incoming and outgoing interface connections. It
forwards them to the correct network type using information that the packet header contains matched to entries in
the FIB supplied by the control plane.

Applications
A router may have interfaces for different types of physical layer connections,
such as copper cables, fiber optic, or wireless transmission. It can also support
different network layer transmission standards. Each network interface is used to
enable data packets to be forwarded from one transmission system to another.
Routers may also be used to connect two or more logical groups of computer
devices known as subnets, each with a different network prefix.

Routers may provide connectivity within enterprises, between enterprises and

the Internet, or between internet service providers' (ISPs') networks. The largest A typical home or small office DSL
routers (such as the Cisco CRS-1 or Juniper PTX) interconnect the various ISPs, router showing the telephone socket
or may be used in large enterprise networks.[5] Smaller routers usually provide (left, white) to connect it to the
internet using ADSL, and Ethernet
connectivity for typical home and office networks.
jacks (right, yellow) to connect it to
home computers and printers.
All sizes of routers may be found inside enterprises.[6] The most powerful
routers are usually found in ISPs, academic and research facilities. Large
businesses may also need more powerful routers to cope with ever-increasing
demands of intranet data traffic. A hierarchical internetworking model for interconnecting routers in large networks is in common
use.[7]

Access, core and distribution

Access routers, including small office/home office (SOHO) models, are located
at home and customer sites such as branch offices that do not need hierarchical
routing of their own. Typically, they are optimized for low cost. Some SOHO
routers are capable of running alternative free Linux-based firmware like
Tomato, OpenWrt or DD-WRT.[8]

Distribution routers aggregate traffic from multiple access routers. Distribution

routers are often responsible for enforcing quality of service across a wide area
A screenshot of the LuCI web
network (WAN), so they may have considerable memory installed, multiple interface used by OpenWrt. This
WAN interface connections, and substantial onboard data processing routines. page configures Dynamic DNS.
They may also provide connectivity to groups of file servers or other external
networks.

In enterprises, a core router may provide a collapsed backbone interconnecting the distribution tier routers from multiple
buildings of a campus, or large enterprise locations. They tend to be optimized for high bandwidth, but lack some of the features
of edge routers.[9]

Security
External networks must be carefully considered as part of the overall security strategy of the local network. A router may include
a firewall, VPN handling, and other security functions, or these may be handled by separate devices. Routers also commonly
perform network address translation which restricts connections initiated from external connections but is not recognised as a
security feature by all experts.[10] Some experts argue that open source routers are more secure and reliable than closed source
routers because open source routers allow mistakes to be quickly found and corrected.[11]

Routing different networks

Routers are also often distinguished on the basis of the network in which they operate. A router in a local area network (LAN) of
a single organisation is called an interior router. A router that is operated in the Internet backbone is described as exterior router.
While a router that connects a LAN with the Internet or a wide area network (WAN) is called a border router, or gateway
router.[12]

Internet connectivity and internal use

Routers intended for ISP and major enterprise connectivity usually exchange routing information using the Border Gateway
Protocol (BGP). RFC 4098 ([Link] defines the types of BGP routers according to their functions:[13]

Edge router: Also called a provider edge router, is placed at the edge of an ISP network. The router uses Exterior
Border Gateway Protocol (EBGP) to routers at other ISPs or large enterprise autonomous systems.
Subscriber edge router: Also called a customer edge router, is located at the edge of the subscriber's network, it
also uses EBGP to its provider's autonomous system. It is typically used in an (enterprise) organization.
Inter-provider border router: Interconnecting ISPs, is a BGP router that maintains BGP sessions with other BGP
routers in ISP Autonomous Systems.
Core router: A core router resides within an Autonomous System as a back bone to carry traffic between edge
routers.[14]
Within an ISP: In the ISP's Autonomous System, a router uses internal BGP to communicate with other ISP edge
routers, other intranet core routers, or the ISP's intranet provider border routers.
"Internet backbone:" The Internet no longer has a clearly identifiable backbone, unlike its predecessor networks.
See default-free zone (DFZ). The major ISPs' system routers make up what could be considered to be the
current Internet backbone core.[15] ISPs operate all four types of the BGP routers described here. An ISP "core"
router is used to interconnect its edge and border routers. Core routers may also have specialized functions in
virtual private networks based on a combination of BGP and Multi-Protocol Label Switching protocols.[16]
Port forwarding: Routers are also used for port forwarding between private Internet-connected servers.[6]
Voice/Data/Fax/Video Processing Routers: Commonly referred to as access servers or gateways, these devices
are used to route and process voice, data, video and fax traffic on the Internet. Since 2005, most long-distance
phone calls have been processed as IP traffic (VOIP) through a voice gateway. Use of access server type routers
expanded with the advent of the Internet, first with dial-up access and another resurgence with voice phone
service.
Larger networks commonly use multilayer switches, with layer 3 devices being used to simply interconnect
multiple subnets within the same security zone, and higher layer switches when filtering, translation, load
balancing or other higher level functions are required, especially between zones.

Historical and technical information

The concept of an "Interface computer" was first used by Donald Davies for the NPL network in 1966.[17] The Interface Message
Processor (IMP), conceived in 1967 for use in the ARPANET, had fundamentally the same functionality as a router does today.
The idea for a router (called "gateways" at the time) initially came about through an international group of computer networking
researchers called the International Network Working Group (INWG). Set up in 1972 as an informal group to consider the
technical issues involved in connecting different networks, it became a subcommittee of the International Federation for
Information Processing later that year.[18] These gateway devices were different from most previous packet switching schemes in
two ways. First, they connected dissimilar kinds of networks, such as serial lines and local area networks. Second, they were
connectionless devices, which had no role in assuring that traffic was delivered reliably, leaving that entirely to the hosts.[c]
The idea was explored in more detail, with the intention to produce a prototype system
as part of two contemporaneous programs. One was the initial DARPA-initiated
program, which created the TCP/IP architecture in use today.[19] The other was a
program at Xerox PARC to explore new networking technologies, which produced the
PARC Universal Packet system; due to corporate intellectual property concerns it
received little attention outside Xerox for years.[20] Some time after early 1974, the first
Xerox routers became operational. The first true IP router was developed by Ginny
Strazisar at BBN, as part of that DARPA-initiated effort, during 1975-1976.[21] By the
end of 1976, three PDP-11-based routers were in service in the experimental prototype
Internet.[22]

The first multiprotocol routers were independently created by staff researchers at MIT
and Stanford in 1981; the Stanford router was done by William Yeager, and the MIT one
by Noel Chiappa; both were also based on PDP-11s.[23][24][25][26] Virtually all
networking now uses TCP/IP, but multiprotocol routers are still manufactured. They
were important in the early stages of the growth of computer networking when protocols
other than TCP/IP were in use. Modern Internet routers that handle both IPv4 and IPv6
are multiprotocol but are simpler devices than routers processing AppleTalk, DECnet, IP
and Xerox protocols.
The first ARPANET router, the
From the mid-1970s and in the 1980s, general-purpose minicomputers served as routers. Interface Message Processor
Modern high-speed routers are highly specialized computers with extra hardware added delivered to UCLA August 30,
to speed both common routing functions, such as packet forwarding, and specialised 1969, and went online
October 29, 1969
functions such as IPsec encryption. There is substantial use of Linux and Unix software
based machines, running open source routing code, for research and other applications.
The Cisco IOS operating system was independently designed. Major router operating systems, such as Junos and NX-OS, are
extensively modified versions of Unix software.

Forwarding
The main purpose of a router is to connect multiple networks and forward packets destined either for its own networks or other
networks. A router is considered a layer-3 device because its primary forwarding decision is based on the information in the
layer-3 IP packet, specifically the destination IP address. When a router receives a packet, it searches its routing table to find the
best match between the destination IP address of the packet and one of the addresses in the routing table. Once a match is found,
the packet is encapsulated in the layer-2 data link frame for the outgoing interface indicated in the table entry. A router typically
does not look into the packet payload, but only at the layer-3 addresses to make a forwarding decision, plus optionally other
information in the header for hints on, for example, quality of service (QoS). For pure IP forwarding, a router is designed to
minimize the state information associated with individual packets.[27] Once a packet is forwarded, the router does not retain any
historical information about the packet.[d]

The routing table itself can contain information derived from a variety of sources, such as a default or static routes that are
configured manually, or dynamic routing protocols where the router learns routes from other routers. A default route is one that is
used to route all traffic whose destination does not otherwise appear in the routing table; this is common – even necessary – in
small networks, such as a home or small business where the default route simply sends all non-local traffic to the Internet service
provider. The default route can be manually configured (as a static route), or learned by dynamic routing protocols, or be obtained
by DHCP.[e][28]
A router can run more than one routing protocol at a time, particularly if it serves as an autonomous system border router between
parts of a network that run different routing protocols; if it does so, then redistribution may be used (usually selectively) to share
information between the different protocols running on the same router.[29]

Besides making a decision as to which interface a packet is forwarded to, which is handled primarily via the routing table, a
router also has to manage congestion when packets arrive at a rate higher than the router can process. Three policies commonly
used in the Internet are tail drop, random early detection (RED), and weighted random early detection (WRED). Tail drop is the
simplest and most easily implemented; the router simply drops new incoming packets once the length of the queue exceeds the
size of the buffers in the router. RED probabilistically drops datagrams early when the queue exceeds a pre-configured portion of
the buffer, until a pre-determined max, when it becomes tail drop. WRED requires a weight on the average queue size to act upon
when the traffic is about to exceed the pre-configured size, so that short bursts will not trigger random drops.

Another function a router performs is to decide which packet should be processed first when multiple queues exist. This is
managed through QoS, which is critical when Voice over IP is deployed, so as not to introduce excessive latency.

Yet another function a router performs is called policy-based routing where special rules are constructed to override the rules
derived from the routing table when a packet forwarding decision is made.[30]

Router functions may be performed through the same internal paths that the packets travel inside the router. Some of the functions
may be performed through an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) to avoid overhead of scheduling CPU time to process
the packets. Others may have to be performed through the CPU as these packets need special attention that cannot be handled by
an ASIC.

See also
DECbit
Mobile broadband modem
Modem
Residential gateway
TCAM Content addressable memory (hardware acceleration of route-search)
Wireless router

Notes
a. Router is pronounced /ˈruːtər/ in British English and is typically pronounced /ˈraʊtər/ in American and Australian
English.[1]
b. As opposed to a network switch, which connects data lines from one single network
c. This particular idea had been previously pioneered in the CYCLADES network.
d. The forwarding action can be collected into the statistical data, if so configured.
e. A router can serve as a DHCP client or as a DHCP server.

References
1. "router" ([Link] Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford
University Press. September 2005. (Subscription or UK public library membership ([Link]
ingin#withyourlibrary) required.)
2. "Overview Of Key Routing Protocol Concepts: Architectures, Protocol Types, Algorithms and Metrics" ([Link]
[Link]/free/t_OverviewOfKeyRoutingProtocolConceptsArchitecturesP.htm). [Link]. Archived
([Link]
[Link]) from the original on 20 December 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
 3. "Cisco Networking Academy's Introduction to Routing Dynamically" ([Link]
p?p=2180210&seqNum=4). Cisco. Archived ([Link]
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4. H. Khosravi & T. Anderson (November 2003). Requirements for Separation of IP Control and Forwarding ([Link]
[Link]/html/rfc3654). doi:10.17487/RFC3654 ([Link] RFC 3654.
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6. "Windows Home Server: Router Setup" ([Link]
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05/[Link] from the
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7. Oppenheimer, Pr (2004). Top-Down Network Design. Indianapolis: Cisco Press. ISBN 978-1-58705-152-4.
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[Link]). Microsoft Technet Nov 2010. Archived ([Link]
[Link]/web/20101230185508/[Link]
[Link]) from the original on 30 December 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
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[Link]/protect-personal/download/nat_security.pdf) (PDF). University of Michigan. Archived from the original (htt
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13. H. Berkowitz; et al. (June 2005), Terminology for Benchmarking BGP Device Convergence in the Control Plane,
RFC 4098 ([Link]
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[Link]) (PDF) from the original on 20 September 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
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17. Roberts, Dr. Lawrence G. (May 1995). "The ARPANET & Computer Networks" ([Link]
-[Link]). Archived ([Link]
[Link]) from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016. "Then in June 1966, Davies wrote
a second internal paper, "Proposal for a Digital Communication Network" In which he coined the word packet,- a
small sub part of the message the user wants to send, and also introduced the concept of an "Interface
computer" to sit between the user equipment and the packet network."
18. Davies, Shanks, Heart, Barker, Despres, Detwiler and Riml, "Report of Subgroup 1 on Communication System",
INWG Note No. 1.
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59/23818/[Link]), IEEE Transactions on Communications, Volume 22, Issue 5, May 1974, pp. 637 - 648.
20. David Boggs, John Shoch, Edward Taft, Robert Metcalfe, "Pup: An Internetwork Architecture" ([Link]
[Link]/iel5/8159/23925/[Link]) Archived ([Link]
[Link]/iel5/8159/23925/[Link]) 2008-09-11 at the Wayback Machine, IEEE Transactions on
Communications, Volume 28, Issue 4, April 1980, pp. 612- 624.
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[Link]/web/20171201034131/[Link] from the original on
1 December 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
22. Craig Partridge, S. Blumenthal, "Data networking at BBN"
([Link] IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, Volume 28,
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rg/cringely/pulpit/1998/pulpit_19981210_000593.html) Archived ([Link]
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25. David D. Clark, "M.I.T. Campus Network Implementation", CCNG-2, Campus Computer Network Group, M.I.T.,
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26. Pete Carey, "A Start-Up's True Tale: Often-told story of Cisco's launch leaves out the drama, intrigue", San Jose
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per/[Link]). Archived ([Link]
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28. David Davis (April 19, 2007). "Cisco administration 101: What you need to know about default routes" ([Link]
[Link]/article/cisco-administration-101-what-you-need-to-know-about-default-routes). Archived (http
s://[Link]/web/20131617133200/[Link]
need-to-know-about-default-routes/) from the original on December 19, 2017.
29. Diane Teare (March 2013). Implementing Cisco IP Routing (ROUTE): Foundation Learning Guide. Cisco Press.
pp. 330–334.
30. Diane Teare (March 2013). "Chapter 5: Implementing Path Control". Implementing Cisco IP Routing (ROUTE):
Foundation Learning Guide. Cisco Press. pp. 330–334.

External links
Internet Engineering Task Force, the Routing Area ([Link]
a) last checked 21 January 2011.

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