Network Devices And The Osi Model It & Computer Science Essay (Essay Sample)

NETWORK DEVICES AND THE OSI MODEL
FIRST MI LAST NAME
UNIVERSITY NAME
Network Devices and the OSI layer model
Introduction
Communication between end user machines and servers is facilitated by a network that lies between them. There are various network devices that fall on different layers of the OSI model that are used to build the network. The devices play different roles on a network and it is the roles that tie them to the given layer of the OSI model. Below is a discussion of the various network devices, their functionality on a network and the OSI layer that is appropriate for them.
Discussion
A switch is used on a network to interconnect various nodes and relay frames of traffic from one device to another. Switches build CAM tables as they learn the network that they are connected to using ARP broadcasts. The CAM tables contain the MAC address, the corresponding IP address and egress switch port (Briscoe, 2000). Anytime a switch receives traffic it checks the destination MAC address against the MAC addresses on the CAM table and forwards the frames only to the egress port that corresponds to the given MAC address. Switches only interpret traffic up to layer two hence they are considered layer two devices.
Routers relay traffic between various networks. The process of relaying traffic between networks is based on a routing table that is built by the routers as they learn the networks attached to them over time. Routers rely on IP addresses to relay traffic between networks. The