Network bridge
device that creates a larger computer network from two smaller networks
A network bridge is a computer networking device that creates a single, aggregate network from multiple communication networks or network segments. This function is called network bridging. Bridging is distinct from routing. Routing allows multiple networks to communicate independently and yet remain separate, whereas bridging connects two separate networks as if they were a single network. In the OSI model, bridging is performed in the data link layer (layer 2). If one or more segments of the bridged network are wireless, the device is known as a wireless bridge.
The main types of network bridging technologies are simple bridging, multiport bridging, and learning or transparent bridging.
Transparent bridging
Transparent bridging uses a table called the forwarding information base to control the forwarding of frames between network segments. The table starts empty and entries are added as the bridge receives frames. If a destination address entry is not found in the table, the frame is forwarded to all other ports of the bridge, flooding the frame to all segments except the one from which it was received.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Network bridge” is device that creates a larger computer network from two smaller networks. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Network, bridge and device, not as a finished interpretation.
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This entry incorporates text from “Network bridge” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.