Review of Routing and Switching

A computer network is poised of multiple connected computers that communicate over a wired or wireless medium to share data and other resources. The computer network is playing akey role in providing services to hefty organization as well as to discrete person. A network with the right software helps toescalate employee productivity and reduce costs. Network consists of Nodes (computers), connecting medium (wired or wireless), and specialized network equipment like routers or hub.. Peer-to-peer networking varies from client-server networking, where certain devices have liability for providing or "serving" data and other devices consume or otherwise act as "clients" of those servers.

Routing is the act of moving information across an internetwork from a source to a destination. The major area of network layer design includes the algorithms which choose the routes and the data structures which are used. Routing occurs in Layer 3 ie. Networking layer which distinguishes it from bridging that occurs in Link layer of the OSI model. The two basic activities of routing: It determines the optimal routing paths and transports information in groups (packets) through an internetwork. Path determination takes place with the help of various Routing Algorithms. Routing algorithms initialize and sustain routing tables, which contain route information. When a router receives an incoming packet, it checks the destination address and attempts to associate this address with a next hop. Routing algorithms are further divided into Adaptive and Non-Adaptive algorithms. Switches are another vital part of many networks because they speed things up. Data send across the public switched telephone network or other internetwork can travel along different paths from sender to receiver. Switches allow different nodes of a network to link directly with one another in a smooth and competent manner. Switches providing a separate connection for individual node’s in a company's internal network are called LAN switches. A LAN switch generates a series of instant networks that contain only the two devices communicating with each other at that particular moment.Hence in this report we will study the usages of Routing and Switching in the arena of Networking.