Technical Information Document

A simple network diagram

The Router is connected to the Public Network. When a data packet is forwarded from the public network through the router, the router reads the address information to determine the device that the packet should be forwarded to. Then it directs the packet toward this device, based on the IP address of the device that is coded in the paciket.

The Switch on the computer network is a multiport bridge device that connects several other devices together. The switch receives a data packet that is forwarded to it and reads the IP address of the device from which it was received, and the IP address of the next device that the switch is instructed to which to forward the packet. In the above diagram, the switch receives the packet from the router, and reads the destination IP address, or the IP address of one of the devices that is connected to the switch. In this diagram, the IP address could be for one of the PCs that is connected to the switch. The switch then forwards to the packet to the PC whose IP address corresponds to the destination address coded in the packet.