Difference between Router and Switch 

I need to start watching that show so I can hear what everyone is telling about (sounding like Bob Odenkirk). Thanks for commenting! :)

@@NetworkAdvisor better you watch Mr. Show, a comedy show on HBO in the late 90s that was created by Bob Odenkirk and David Cross... One of the funniest shows ever

Thought it was HIM 😂😂💀

Ahahaha

lmao

wow! what a compliment. glad to hear it. thanks for taking the time to provide feedback. It helps me know what is working and what is flopping. :-)

Compliments like this are the best kind I can get because easy, simple, and short is what I aim for. So that tells me I am on the mark. 😄

Glad that helped. And, thanks for the feedback - simplicity is my goal! 😀

Well thank you. I will take that compliment. 😊

Thanks Chad. Glad to hear it. I very much strive to break things down into simple terms. Good luck with your course. 😄

Life as a RU-vid creator can be brutal, but comments like yours keep me going. Thank you for the warm feedback. :-)

Agreed. IT work in the 1990s was such a battle. 🙄

Its totally ok Noemi. We all have to start somewhere. “The longest journey begins with a single step”. 😊👍

glad it helped. Thanks for the feedback!

Thanks for subscribing! Glad you thought the message was clear. It's always been my goal to take the obfuscating language out of tech concepts that really aren't that complicated after all. 😁

I'll take that compliment. Thank you for watching!😄

Yep, get that comment often 😄

Thank you for sharing your feedback. 😊

that's great. Thanks for watching! :-)

Thank you sir. And, thanks for watching. 😊

Ahahaha right? My version of a CCNA course. 🤔

thanks for the Feedback Adnan. :-)

You're quite welcome. Glad the explanation worked for you. :-)

Glad you like it!

Pratik. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll think about that. And, thanks for watching!

I've done both. When you have your own router (not provided by the ISP - cable company or telco), you have a lot more power to shape the behavior on your LAN. And, your'e definitely right about the security aspect. I have to admit, I've done both. Mostly because of laziness, I've used the Cable company provided switch/router combo unit. As for what is a good SOHO router to get today? Hmm... The Cisco RV series is pretty good and not too expensive. Unlike the big Cisco routers, you don't have to program it from scratch by Command Line - it comes with browser-based config menus. I used an RV042 for years and it worked great. They have better ones though and rich with features like VPN, dual WAN, and K9 security (woof!) :-P Overall, It's a really great question, Jonathan. And, I'm probably not the best one to ask. Maybe I'll post it on my FB page and see what others have to say. Thanks for bringing it up! :-D

So glad I could help!

No. That won't work. Most modems only have 1 ethernet port so you cannot plug in 2 routers. What you can do is to create a VLAN. This is basically a virtual network. You can have a VLAN for your home network and a VLAN for work. You can create firewall rules so that neither your home network devices and work devices can talk to each other or see each other. They will be running on the same router, but will logically appear as 2 different networks that have no idea of each other's presence. This is a more advanced setup that is not typically seen on most home networks. Depending on the router you have, it may or may not be possible to do this.

Thanks for the feedback, Keith. This video has been surprisingly more successful than I expected. 😄

Hahaha well that's great! BTW, do you have any certs? I'm looking to start studying for the CCNA. Just curious if u have any Cisco experience?

@@secretbeach999 I have (had) a few. I had a CCNA once upon a time. I've not renewed it. The CCNA cert is a good buck/bang ratio in terms of getting your foot in the door. If I was more interested in security, I'd prob go after the CISSP. But, don't go after a cert for the $$, follow what interests you. :-)

Network Advisor thank you! That's great advice. I'm studying for my CCNA right now. I plan to learn some Linux along the way, along with some Python and then eventually into security =]

lot's of video the whole day then i saw this...got it! : )

That’s wonderful 😄

Correct. Only add the switch if you need additional ports. 😊

Thanks Ayush. Glad to have you as a subscriber. :)

I know right? I even sent Bob Odenkirk this video on Twitter but never heard back.

thanks for the compliment! :-D

glad to help. thanks for watching. 😋

Dear, can you please show us the route of fiber optic cable from OLT to ODF (inside data center) to Optical Splice Closure (inside Manhole) up to user's location?

ahaha.. Kevin been there myself with other topics! :-D

Definitely the switch 😊

The switch doesn't "know" anything about internet or IP addresses. Its job is to send/receive data frames. It only understands MAC addresses. Let's say you have 2 PCs and a router connected to the switch. When PC-1 wants to go to RU-vid (for instance), PC-1 will first try to figure out if the youtube server is on its network. Since it isn't, the PC sends the request to the router. Your PC knows your router's MAC address. In the frame, PC-1 puts its MAC address as the source address and your router's MAC address as the destination address. When the switch receives this frame, it looks at this data. It has something known as a CAM table where it maps what MAC address is associated with what switch port. In this example, the switch knows that the MAC address for the router is on port 1. The switch then sends that frame to port 1 where the router receives it and in turn, routes it to the next router until it gets to the destination. This is more or less the technical explanation of what's happening. Switches operate at layer 2 of the OSI model where they work with data frames and MAC addresses. They have no concept of IP addresses.

Thank you ☺️

Generally, no. Switches wouldn’t be connected directly to the modem. 😊

If you are using a quality switch, it should not matter if you connect to either. The network behavior should be the same. 😊

That is completely correct. This is frequently done in commercial environments. You *might* see a little bit of performance degradation in that topology. But, better quality switches and router would help prevent that (I don't mean you need to spend thousands of USD, Just not the cheap stuff). Good luck with that! :-)

Great observation James. Me thinks you know a little more here than what you are asking. 😉 The router maintains a mini database of which MAC has which private IP. The switch may, it may not, maintain a list as well depending on how smart it is. And, there is some additional Network Address Translation magic going on to map Internet responses back to the appropriate requesting host. Great question! 😁

Thank you. Others have liked my simple explanation too. Happy that helped 😊

One internet connection to the outside world usually only needs one router. But probably lots of switches. If you really have something that large then you should either have an IT person on staff or being working with an IT consultant. 😊

Or the Router has a Gateway in it? At what point does the router become a switch and not a router anymore 😭

Exactly! If the box (router) has only one LAN port the. It's purely a router with no built-in switch.

It's getting blurry to be sure. In fact, at the enterprise level, high end switches can Evan function like routers (to a point). Lately, most consumer-grade routers I've seen come with those 4 built-in switch ports.

Well, I suppose you could argue that case. Especially as MIMO WiFi technology is getting better everyday. But; most IT pros would prefer a hard wired Ethernet connection to a switch. Great point! 👍

im gonna leave a comment here cause i wanna know too....

So your assertions are correct in a more complex environment. The target audience for this video is small office and home users. In the enterprise level arena, routers and switches are much more complex and capable. For one thing, enterprise-grade routers don’t usually come with four built in switch ports on the back (thats just something the consumer-grade routers have for convenience). Typically there is only one (maybe two) gig Ethernet LAN ports. Also, industrial switches are not dumb (as most soho type switches are). The switches used in larger offices are “layer 3” capable. Which means they can be divided up into separate VLANs and make routing decisions on their own. So, those are great questions. It’s just not in the scope of what I was trying to explain here. Thanks for watching! 😊

@@NetworkAdvisor AH interesting! thank you!

From my understanding of the video, the main issue with your proposal is there does not exist something to convert "LAN language" to "WAN (internet) language"

#bobOdenkirk ? Yes, I get that often. I did watch some Breaking Bad, but never watched Better Call Saul. 😆

so, that's a really great questions. In a simple dumb switch, the answer would be NO. However, in more sophisticated switches you can do almost all the functions of a router (ie. defining the DHCP scope for IP addresses).

Right? I get that sometimes. 😄

I don’t think a switch will give you more speed.

@@NetworkAdvisor thanks for urs valuable information

Thank you for commenting, Mr. Singh. 😊

Yes and no- if your devices support it, then you can. Consumer devices usually don't support this option, but if they do, they will mark it as LAG.

exactly Wolf. With a dumb switch I wouldn’t do that. however, smart switches (i.e. Cisco, Juniper) might have that capability. But even then, it would have to be configured. great question though!

Is it possible to connect a Nas and a pc directly to the router and some other computers and network printers to the switch (which is connected to the router) ? Do you think it could work ?

@@Marco-dr5ho if we talk about consumer devices, than yes. In case of enterprise grade router - yes, but configuration is needed.

thanks for the answer :)

Generally NO. For Most simple networks, you should only have one router at the center of your network.

Jon, totally agree. One tell-tale sing of a Router is when you see a port marked "WAN" (wide area network). most consumer-grade switches don't connect directly to a WAN. thanks for commenting.

What do you mean? A switch connects to other devices with an ethernet cable.

Edwin, I may not be totally understanding your question. You can put a router behind a router (not recommended). But, Unless you are very sophisticated I would not connect two routers to the same switch on the LAN side. It will confused your host machines.

@@NetworkAdvisor First, thanks for your reply. Right now my ISP provided router is connected to another router (located in another room in our house) and it's working fine as far as using that second router for wifi purposes. I ask the question because our ISP provided router's 2nd 3rd and 4th lan are not activated only the 1st. So therefore I cannot use the 1st lan for my laptop because it is connected to another router like I said. That's why I was thinking when I saw your video that perhaps if I use a switch then I can connect now both to my laptop and 2nd router. FYI, the setup right now is this: From ISP provided router I use LAN 1 to connect to another router using its Internet port (WLAN is it?) and not LAN port. And it works. Thanks again.

Great Question Utkarsh! It seems as though that would be such an obvious way to set it up. However, the switch (most consumer-level switches) are not doing layer-3 routing. Put in simpler terms: The switch is not smart enough to know how to make the routing decisions between the PC's on the local network and the Internet. This is the value the router brings to the process. :-)

@@NetworkAdvisor I had the exact same question. Thanks for your answer.

Jonathan, you can do that, but usually only one PC will be able to access the internet at a time.

You can, but only one computer will get the address to access the internet. The router is what allows several computers to share the internet access 😁

@@NetworkAdvisor thank you so much!

@@danna7838 I'd also like to add that if you connect your PC to the modem, your PC will get a public IP address and will be exposed directly to the Internet. So unless you have good security on your PC and it is updated, I wouldn't really recommend doing this.

@@NetworkAdvisor "only one computer will get the address to access the internet" => which one will that be? In a 16 port switch, if port1 has an incoming connection from a modem directly (instead of going through a router) and ports 2-16 are connected to PCs, which one of the 15 PCs will "get the address to access the internet"? Similarly, what would happen if port1 had an incoming WAN connection directly (without a modem or a router)?

Great question! Functionally, yes you can skip the patch panel. But when you dealing with, say 10 or more, network outlet locations, having a patch panel really helps keep things straight. It s a best practice in the industry. And, when you get into commercial settings where one network closet might have 200+ network cables, there’s no way you could efficiently manage the connections without patch panels. 😊

@@NetworkAdvisor thx

is that right Ken? hmm, didn’t know that. thanks for sharing that. 🙂

Hi, says so on the wikipedia. Cisco Systems owned them until 2013 apparently, not 100% sure though. I'll take this opportunity to thank you for all of your videos! I couldn't recall myself,

Generally no. Good modern router is as fast as a switch

Mr Meh Ethernet cable color may vary.

Ethernet cables come in all colors. The colors don't mean anything.

Your internet hand off only gives one IP address. So even if you had 4 computers plugged into the switch, only ONE would have access to the web.

You could. But any computer or IP device needing the Routing services would still need to be connected to the router via another switch.

@@NetworkAdvisor routing service means?

Roiting service means.. Isp service provider username and password? Please make it clear

What you are referring to is known as “trunking”. Most consumer-grade routers/switches do not support it. You can try connecting two cable between your router and switch, but I think the router will only recognize one path. Excellent question! 😄

@@NetworkAdvisor Thank you for the reply. In a switch specification, it is written Data Rate: 10/100/1000 Mbps at Half Duplex 20/200/2000 Mbps at Full Duplex I do not get that. How can a Gigabit switch transfer data at 2000Mbps at Full Duplex? Switch specification: www.mercusys.com/en/product/details/ms105g#specifications

Yes, a switch would be a perfect solution for that. 😄

Network Advisor what would be the best switch for my solution just wondering I want the best forget a budget 😎also thanks for responding

Really? Its that bad? I think I used a Pixel 2 to shoot that. Probably the default settings.

Network Advisor it’s fine I understood everything Great video But it really looks like stop motion lol

Yes, you sure can. 😊

Naga, it's a dumb switch. Here in the US, dumb hubs are getting hard to find. ;-)

dumptruck

yeah! Mission accomplished for the Network Advisor! Thanks for watching! :-)

Rafiqul - great observation. In this video all the cable are straight-through (no cross-overs). Yes, technically speaking, you should use a cross-over between two switches. But must switches made in the last 10 years or so, have an "Auto-MDX" . They can sense if a straight cable is being used and swap the transmit receive pins. Great comment! thanks :)