Home > IT Answers > Networking > How a router helps in delivering and connecti...
Help

Question

  Asked: Feb 25 2008   9:11 PM GMT
  Asked by: NetworkingATE

How a router helps in delivering and connecting two networks at different places


Routers, Networking, Data transfer, PC, Mac

How does a router help in delivering and connecting two networks at different places, say for example one sends some data from India to a friend in the USA and they are working on different machines: one is working on a PC machine and the other on a MAC machine?

Subscribe to Alerts! Get questions and answers delivered to your Inbox.


E-mail me updates on this question



   SUBSCRIBE

hidden modal window
Help

Answer Wiki (Improve, edit or add to this answer)

IMPROVE THIS ANSWER
View History
 RATE THIS ANSWER
0
Click to Vote:
  •   0
  •  0
Last Answered: Feb 25 2008  9:33 PM GMT  by Mrdenny




Routers are the traffic cops of the network. They tell network traffic how to move from one IP subnet to the next IP subnet. There work is platform independent, so it doesn't any anything to do with what kind of computers are on each end of the connection.

Let's use a basic example. Say you are in India and your computer has been assigned an IP address of 42.52.41.145 and you want to talk to the ITKE web site which is hosted on the IP 75.126.27.212. Because of the way that TCP/IP works (TCP/IP is the language which the Internet uses so that computers can talk to each other) your computer can not talk to the ITKE computer directly. Computers can only talk to other computers or devices on the same subnet as them. Typically a subnet will be a group of 256 IP address which share the same first three parts (in this case 42.52.41.x and 75.126.27.x). In order for you to talk to a computer or device on another subnet you need to use a router. Routers are special devices which basically have two network cables on them. With each network cable configured for a different network.

In order to go from your computer to the ITKE computer you will need to go through many routers to get to the web site as there are many networks which you must travel to get to the web server here. First your ISP will probably have a few routers that you have to go through, then the company which sells them bandwidth will have a couple, then the back bone provider (ATT, Global Crossing, Sprint, etc) then the ITKE's ISP will have a couple of routers, then the TechTarget (who owns the ITKE) will have a couple of routers before you get to the actual web server.
  • AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Browse more Questions and Answers on Networking, DataManagement and Channel.

Looking for relevant Networking Whitepapers? Visit the SearchNetworking.com Research Library.


RSS - Discussions Help

Discuss This Answer


You must be logged-in to discuss a question. Log-in/Register

Buddyfarr  |   Feb 26 2008  12:42AM GMT

the network part of the IP address would be the first three sections of the dotted decimal address ONLY if your gateway is 255.255.255.0. If you have an address that is subnetted differently then it can include part of the second or even part of the fourth section.

 

Mrdenny  |   Feb 26 2008  6:06AM GMT

This is very true. Different people will create subnets of different sizes for various reasons. Do note the strategic use of the word “Typically”. All kidding aside, it is good to know that subnets can contain as few as a couple of IP addresses and up to thousands.