17 Jul
2011
17 Jul
'11
11:50 p.m.
On 17.7.2011 23:17, Paul Koning wrote:
On Jul 17, 2011, at 2:29 PM,<hvlems at zonnet.nl> wrote:
What is the difference between a bridge and a switch? I don't want to get into a
discussion about layer 2 and layer 3 swutching but afaik a bridge is a two port layer 2
switch.
No. "bridge" is the original term, and while the first bridges were 2 port,
that never was a limitation.
"Switch" is a term invented by some company whose name escapes me (bought by
Cisco way back when) for the purpose of confusing the public into thinking they had
something different. Not so, it was just a bridge.
These days "switch" seems to be the common term, but the two words have always
been synonyms.
paul
.
Paul answered already what I also was going to say; that bridge was the orginal term.
In fact, a switch is a multiport bridge. A switch can of course have additional features
like VLAN support etc but basically it is a bridge with all ports connected together.
Kari