Router and Switch

Difference between router and switch

In those early days when router is router and switch is switch, these two are different in several ways:

 ·     Router understand IP head, and switch deal with MAC address

 ·     Router has its own IP address, and switch don’t

 ·     Router has an operating system running inside, and allow administrator to login into the system.

 ·     Network Administrator must configure routing table to make it works.

 ·     Switch is usually ready to use.

 ·     Router has routing software running inside, including route discovery protocol.
 ·     Routing software know how to deal with different IP packet, such as ICMP and other IP option functionality. Switches don’t.

 ·     Multiple routers can be connected together as a network.

 ·     You can’t directly multiple switches together to form a large network.