Understanding Router Components

Routers are network-layer devices that base their forwarding decision on header field values in the network-layer datagram

In this textbook, the terms forwarding and switching are used interchangeably

Some packet switches, called link-layer switches, base their forwarding decision on values in the fields of the link-layer frame

Datagrams are encapsulated into segments by the receiver before passing them to the link layer protocol

IPv6 is not covered in the lecture on the network layer

The control plane is a global, network-wide function that determines the route taken by packets from source to destination

In the context of networking, forwarding and switching are two separate and distinct processes

The forwarding process involves determining the route taken by packets from source to destination