Industry-Standard Routing Concepts for Medium Enterprise Network Switches and Routers

a. What is the concept of routing in the industry? Explain Static, Default and Dynamic Routing.

Network routing is the process of selecting a path across one or more networks. The principles of routing can apply to any type of network, from telephone networks to public transportation. In packet-switching networks, such as the Internet, routing selects the paths for Internet Protocol (IP) packets to travel from their origin to their destination. These Internet routing decisions are made by specialized pieces of network hardware called routers.
Industry-Standard Routing Concepts
Static Routing
When you manually add routes to the routing table, it is called static routing. There are advantages and disadvantages in using static routing. 

The advantages are:
1. There is no overhead in terms of CPU usage of the router as well as bandwidth between routers. When dynamic routing is used, packets are exchanged between routers and that uses bandwidth. That can be costly when they traverse across WAN links. The routers also need to process these packets and that consumes some CPU cycles as well.
2. It adds a certain degree of security since the administrator controls which routes the routers can know and learn.

The disadvantages of static routing are:
1. The administrator needs to know the internetwork so well that he/she knows where each destination network lies, and which is the next hop towards it.
2. Every change needs to be manually done on each router in the internetwork.
3. In large networks this can be unmanageable.

Default Routing
Default routing can be considered a special type of static routing. The difference between a normal static route and a default route is that a default route is used to send packets destined to any unknown destination to a single next hop address. To understand how this works, consider Router1 from our example (Figure 4-2), without any static routes in it. When it receives a packet destined to 192.168.5.0/24 it will drop it since it does not know where the destination network is. If a default route is added in Router1 with next hop address of Router2, all packets destined to any unknown destination, such as 192.168.5.0/24 will be sent to Router2.
Default routes are useful when dealing with a network with a single exit point. It is also useful when a bulk of destination networks must be routed to a single next-hop device. When adding a default route, you should ensure that the next-hop device can route the packet further, or else the next hop device will drop the packet.

Dynamic Routing
Dynamic routing is when protocols, called routing protocols, are used to build the routing tables across the network. Using a routing protocol is easier than static routing and default routing, but it is more expensive in terms of CPU and bandwidth usage. Every routing protocol defines its own rules for communication between routers and selecting the best route.
Routing protocols are broadly classified as Interior Gateway Protocols (IGP) or Exterior Gateway Protocols (EGP). IGPs are used to exchange routing information within internetworks that fall under a single administrative domain (also called Autonomous Systems). EGPs on the other hand are used to exchange routing information between different autonomous systems. Common examples of IGPs are Routing Information Protocol (RIP), Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) and Open Shortest Path First (OSPF).

b. Five (5) types of Routers used for Medium Enterprise
1. Broadband Routers
Broadband routers are built for ease of installing home networks, especially for households with high-speed Internet service. In addition to allowing all consumer appliances devices to share an internet connection, broadband routers often allow data, printers as well as other electronic devices to be shared between home computers and other devices.
using Voice over IP technology (VOIP) broadband router also provides a connection to the internet. There is a special type of modems such as ADSL which can connect to Ethernet and phone jacks. This router uses stateful packet inspection (SPI) firewalls and the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). for security and provides communication between computers within a network.

2. Wireless Routers
A wireless router is also known as a WLAN (wireless local area network) device. This wireless Network established is termed a Wi-Fi network. Wireless routers are used in homes. that Internet service providers (ISP) use routers to connect to xDSL or network Internet cable. Wi-Fi router integrates a wireless access point’s networking functions with a router. 

3. Core Router
A core router is a computer communication device and a backbone of the network, which means it links all network devices. It allows for fast data communication.
It is a wired or wireless router that distributes data packets within a network but does not distribute data packets within multiple networks.

4. Edge Routers
This router is placed at the edge of an ISP network, which is configured to an external protocol like BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) to another ISP or BGP. These routers help to Grow resiliency and density by providing programmability for a scalable network edge.

5. Virtual Router
Virtual routers provide Computer sharing network by default. Virtual routers provide multitenant network services for private, public, as well as provider-hosted clouds. It works as per the redundancy protocol for the virtual router (VRRP), it becomes active when the main or primary router is disabled. It takes a group of multiple routers to share a virtual IP address. In this, each group has a master that handles IP packets. If packets from the master fail to forward, then other routers take a position.
Virtual routers help to Increase productivity by providing visibility, real-time analytics, and optimization control on cloud and other devices.

c. Four (4) types of Switches used for Medium Enterprise
1. KVM Switch
If you guessed that "KVM" stands for "keyboard, video and mouse," you would be correct. This type of switch is used to connect a keyboard, mouse or monitor to multiple computers. These switches are often used to control groups of servers while saving desktop space by eliminating cables.

2. Managed Switch
A managed switch is exactly what it sounds like—a switch that requires some oversight by a network administrator. This type of switch gives you total control over the traffic accessing your network while allowing you to custom-configure each Ethernet port, so you get maximum efficiency over data transfers on the network. Administrators can tweak these devices for optimal data rate as new devices and users are added to the network through commands such as bandwidth rate limiting and port mirroring. Managed switches are also typically the best network switches to support the Gigabit standard of Ethernet rather than traditional Fast Ethernet

3. Smart Switch
Another popular type of switch in networking is the smart switch, also referred to as an intelligent switch. These devices are a type of managed switch with only a select number of options for management. Rather than providing the full management functionality of a managed switch, a smart switch may only provide functionality to configure a handful of settings, like VLANs or duplex modes.
If your network will not require a full set of customizations, a smart switch can be a good option. These devices are often more affordable than full managed switches while still offering more customization options compared to unmanaged switches.

4. PoE Switch/Injector
PoE stands for power over Ethernet. A PoE switch distributes power over the network to different devices. This means any device on the network, from PCs to IP cameras and smart lighting systems, can function without the need to be near an AC access point or router, because the PoE switch sends both data and power to the connected devices.

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