Equipments

Switch

  • OSI Layer 2 inter-connection.

  • Implements VLAN.

  • Spanning-tree based routing.

    • STP, RSTP, MSTP.

  • Wireless Access Points.

Router

  • OSI Layer 3 inter-connection.

  • Have extra functionalities like QoS, Security, VPN gateway, network monitoring, etc...

L3 Switch

  • Switch+Router.

  • Low-end and mid-end range routing functionalities are limited.

  • High-end have full routing functionalities.

  • Many have dedicated L2 routing hardware.

Router with switching modules

  • L3 Switch with full routing capabilities.

Security Appliance

  • Firewall.

  • IDS/IPS (Intrusion Detection/Prevention System).

  • NAT/PAT

  • VPN Gateway

  • Services proxy

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