what is a router



A hardware device that connects at least two networks, such as an organization’s local area network and the Internet. The router directs traffic from one network to the appropriate destination on the other. Some routers have network firewalls and other features built into them.

A router is a device in computer networking that forwards data packets to their destinations, based on their addresses. The work a router does it called routing, which is somewhat like switching, but a router is different from a switch. The latter is simply a device to connect machines to form a LAN.

Re: what is a router

A router is a networking device or colloquially referred to as a gateway device. The function of a router is to route the data packets in the network when they are addressed to some destinations across the network. The router calculates various parameters or metrics while routing data packets across the network such as

* the bandwidth of the channel,
* the traffic in the channel or path,
* the utilization of the routing path,
* number of hops to reach the destination,

etc… It is referred to as the intelligent device in the networking kingdom.