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Bridge cont'd

Bridge is a device that connects 2 LAN segments together, which may be of similar or dissimilar types, such as Ethernet and Token Ring.
    A bridge is inserted into a n/w to segment it and keep traffic contained within the segments to improve performance.
   Bridges learn from experience and build and maintain address tables.By monitoring which station acknowledge receipt of address, they learn which nodes belong to the segment.
    Bridges work at the data link layer(MAC) whereas routers work at the n/w layer.
    Bridges are protocol independent, routers are protocol dependent.
Bridges are faster than routers.Bridges with more than 2 ports perform a switching function.

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Repeater,Bridge

Repeater

Repeater is a communications device that amplifies the data signal in order to extend the transmission distance. Repeaters work at layer 1 of the OSI model.

Bridges

Bridges connect 2 n/ws that use the same technology (eg. Ethernet and ARCNET).
The use of bridge increases maximum possible size of n/w.
Unlike a repeater which simply passes all signals it receives ,a bridge selectively determine the appropriate segment to which it should pass a signal. It does this by reading the address of all the signals it receives.The bridge reads the physical location of the source and destination computer from this address.

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