Talk:Bridging (networking)

what are the functions performed by a network bridge

Dear Writers of Network Bridge. Some of the readers of your needed information are not as let say...as GEEKY" as you. Please write and use words that a public High School graduate can read and understand (Yes, that's a slam). You are not writing a Technical manual here.146.165.192.240 (talk) 18:06, 23 December 2009 (UTC)GKelly[reply]

USB bridges: do they exist?[edit]

I'm removing the USB-to-USB bridge, because it claims to connect two computers together. The USB standard is a master/slave setup - the computer is the master. I don't want to think about that for computer-to-computer interconnection until I know it exists. Alvestrand 09:26, 12 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There are computer-to-computer interconnections via special cables (they must have some logic in them) - I know this only because Linux kernel allow to compile drivers for some of these cables. Blaisorblade 14:20, 29 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

A bridge is not a switch[edit]

A bridge is not a switch. Maybe Microsoft said so somewhere, but they are notorious for making up new meanings for well-defined pre-existing terms.

Bridges connect two dissimilar network segments, like 10-base T ethernet (RJ45), to thin ethernet (BNC). Or perhaps, 10-base T ethernet to 10-base T IPX. 68.159.130.97 02:14, 28 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Actually a bridge is not necessarily a switch, but a switch is often a bridge.... read up on the IEEE 802.1 definition of a "bridge", and compare to marketing literature on "network switches". --Alvestrand 16:17, 28 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I added a bit of data to hopefully help clear this up. Can this discussion topic be safely removed? Given that the term 'bridge' has become synonymous with layer 2 switch, I see no issue with this article being titled bridge, but referring to both the historical definition of bridge, and the more modern definition Crabpot8 (talk) 06:57, 10 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

"People try to claim that a switch is hardware where a bridge is software or that a switch can have lots of ports whereas a bridge has only two ports. But none of this is true." - Radia Perlman, inventor of many things, including spanning tree protocol 216.228.21.194 (talk) 21:22, 16 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Duplicate Article[edit]

A slightly more complete article on bridging is available here, in Wikipedia under the category: Bridging_(networking). Is it worth merging?

I think a merge is warranted --Kvng (talk) 19:52, 12 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hm. I would favor not merging the two. While the two currently look almost identical, I think this article has quite a ways to grow. Crabpot8 (talk) 06:50, 10 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Bridging Different Protocols[edit]

Though by no means a networking expert, back in the 80s where we had to link networks that utilised different network standards in this particular case providing a link between a vax decnet network and a PC based network. I cant recall if IP or token ring based but the point was that the devices used to link (or bridge) the dissimilar networks were always sold and marketed as network bridges. Dondilly 13:03, 27 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I believe I know what you are referring to. There is a difference between transparent bridges, which are commonly seen in use today, and translational bridges, which were common in earlier times when there were many more MAC protocols in use. In a nutshell, transparent bridges simply take in the bits, decide to forward them or not (no change to the bits). A translational bridge must buffer the frame, and then reformat it. Ex: from Ethernet to Token Ring. I suppose we could add a small section to the article discussing this. Crabpot8 (talk) 07:12, 10 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Image[edit]

Can we have some pretty image/diagrams, please?

yes i want the same —Preceding unsigned comment added by 110.37.5.4 (talk) 00:35, 4 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Clarity[edit]

This article is entirely too technical for normal people. I'm a computer science major myself, trying to learn about network bridging, but the lack of a overview first paragraph and the heavy use of technical terms has me confused. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.240.248.203 (talk) 15:55, 30 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Request for Photograph[edit]

Can anyone provide any photographs of a bridge device? I would really be interested in knowing what a bridge IS. I've read the theory of what it's used for but a photo would really help.Jcmeredith (talk) 20:56, 14 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]