Term Paper 2

ROUTER
A router 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 until it reaches its destination
node.
A router is connected to two or more data lines from different networks. When a data packet
comes in on one of the lines, the router reads the network address information in the packet 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.
The most familiar type of 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. Though routers are typically dedicated hardware devices, software-based routers also exist.

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 systems on
the interconnected networks.
A router has two types of network
element components organized onto separate
planes:
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
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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 routers (such as the Cisco CRS-1 or
Juniper PTX) interconnect the various ISPs, or may be used in large enterprise networks. Smaller
routers usually provide connectivity for typical home and office networks.
All sizes of routers may be found inside enterprises. 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.

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, Openwork or DD-WRT.
Distribution routers aggregate traffic from multiple access routers. Distribution routers are often
responsible for enforcing quality of service across a wide area network (WAN), so they may have
considerable memory installed, multiple WAN interface connections, and substantial onboard data
processing routines. 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.

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. Many companies produced security-oriented routers, including Cisco
PIX series, Cisco Meraki MX series and Juniper Net Screen. Routers also commonly perform network
address translation (which allows multiple devices on a network to share a single public IP address)
and tasteful packet inspection. 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.

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 organization is called an interior router. An exterior router
directs packets between hosts in one LAN and hosts in another LAN. A router that is operated in the
Internet backbone is described as exterior router. While routers that connect a LAN with the wide area
network (WAN) are called border routers, or gateway routers.
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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 standard defines the types of BGP routers
according to their functions.
Edge router: Also called a provider edge router, is placed at the edge of an ISP network. The router
uses External BGP to EBGP routers in other ISPs, or a large enterprise Autonomous System.

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.
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. 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.
Port forwarding: Routers are also used for port forwarding between private Internet-connected
servers.
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.

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,
[citation needed] 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. For pure IP forwarding, a
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router is designed to minimize the state information associated with individual packets. Once a packet
is forwarded, the router does not retain any historical information about the packet.

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.
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.
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, 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.
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.