switching vs forwarding vs routing | difference between switching,forwarding,routing
This page compares switching vs forwarding vs routing and mentions difference between switching, forwarding and routing.
Switching
• The networking device which performs switching is known as switch.
• It operates on hardware part based on look up table to perform switching operation.
• Switch checks for destination MAC address in the packet and switches the packet to appropriate
destination host.
• It operates on layer-2 i.e. data link layer.
Refer switch basics” and switch vs router basics”.
Forwarding
• It does not perform any check on the packet, just forward it to next hop.
• It checks for MPLS label in the packet verify it in the flow table and consecutively forward the packet.
• If the destination is in the same subnet, it forwards the packet to corresponding port of
destination host. If it is in the other subnet, it forwards the packet to next MPLS router.
Refer MPLS Switch basics”.
Routing
• The networking device which performs routing is known as router.
• It operates based on routing table.
• It operates on OSI layer-3.
• It works based on IP address.
• It follows different protocols such as RIP, OSPF etc. for routing.
Refer router basics”.
Networking related links
Basics of OSI and TCPIP layers
Networking Gateway
What is Router
What is an IP address
network switch
network bridge
Hub and Types of Hub
What is MAC address
What is Difference between
hub Vs switch circuit switching Vs packet switching firewall Vs router HDLC Vs PPP IGRP Vs EIGRP router Vs bridge switch Vs router WLAN Vs Ethernet LAN LAN vs WAN vs MAN