Bridges

Bridges are networking devices that divide up networks. In the days before routers and switches became popular, bridges were used to divide up networks and thus reduce the amount of traffic on each network. Network switches have largely replaced them.

A bridge functions by blocking or forwarding data, based on the destination MAC address written into each frame of data. If the bridge believes the destination address is on a network other than that from which the data was received, it can forward the data to the other networks to which it is connected. If the address is not on the other side of the bridge, the data is blocked from passing. Bridges “learn” the MAC addresses of devices on connected networks by “listening” to network traffic ...

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