Subject: router types

From: "Bill Cunningham" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 08:08:20 -0500

I was wondering if anyone out there knows the difference in a router and brouter. I know what a router is but a brouter must be new.

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From: "Karen Webb" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 09:06:19 -0500

Actually a brouter is a very old term...mid-late 80's to early 90's I believe.  I have used the term in the past to describe devices that were bridges and not routers, but that did have some Layer 3 visibility.  There were also devices called bridging routers ...ie routers that bridge..novel concept.  In that same time frame there appeared to be some confusion as to exact terminology.  Novell had a program called brgen that allowed you to "bridge" two subnets together.  It was in fact a Layer 3 program because they connected two IPX subnets together. They later changed the name to routegen (i think...its been a while) to reflect the fact that it routed.  Today everything just blends together.  We have switches that were actually bridges and now switches have became routers.  Interesting to watch how everything swirls together.

Karen

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From: Michel Gilbert <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 09:13:16 -0500

Bill -
 
The term brouter has been floating around since someone first decided to
bundle bridging software/algorithms with conventional routing
software/algorithms. It is basically and interconnection device that can
both bridge and route, and usually do so simultaneously (e.g., route IP,
bridge all other protocols).
 
Today, that is the vast majority of routers on the market.
 
/Michel

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Cunningham [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2002 8:08 AM
To: [email-masked]
Subject: router types

I was wondering if anyone out there knows the difference in a router and
brouter. I know what a router is but a brouter must be new.

---

From: Ed Mier <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 10:01:13 -0500

BROUTER = combined bridge and router.  It was common a few years ago, when
multiple concurrent protocol stacks were running over an enterprise data
network (not then an Intranet), to route some protocols (IP, IPX, DECnet,
etc.) and bridge others (Netbeui/Netbios, etc.).  Today almost everything's
running over or tunneled in IP.
 
ed mier

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From: "Christian Huitema" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 08:50:05 -0800

Actually, the name is "brouteur", from the French verb "brouter", to
browse - the herbivore action of eating grass, not the web variation. A
"broute[u]r" is a device that is peacefully munching at your data, like
a cow in a pasture.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Mier [mailto:[email-masked]] 
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2002 7:01 AM
To: 'Bill Cunningham'
Cc: [email-masked]'
Subject: RE: router types

BROUTER = combined bridge and router.  It was common a few years ago,
when multiple concurrent protocol stacks were running over an enterprise
data network (not then an Intranet), to route some protocols (IP, IPX,
DECnet, etc.) and bridge others (Netbeui/Netbios, etc.).  Today almost
everything's running over or tunneled in IP.

ed mier

	-----Original Message-----
	From: Bill Cunningham [mailto:[email-masked]]
	Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2002 8:08 AM
	To: [email-masked]
	Subject: router types

	I was wondering if anyone out there knows the difference in a
router and brouter. I know what a router is but a brouter must be new.

---

From: "Galina Pildush" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 09:39:54 -0800

Yes, I agree with you Ed.  The word brouter is quite old.  It had been more of a marketing ploy than anything else.  The idea was to make people believe that a brouter is faster than a router, when doing Layer 2 switching.  In reality, though, those devices still needed to do packet processing (those ones that used to do it in software) and "understand" that they need to use bridging software, instead of routing software.
 
Regards.
 
Galina.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Mier [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2002 10:01 AM
To: 'Bill Cunningham'
Cc: [email-masked]'
Subject: RE: router types

BROUTER = combined bridge and router.  It was common a few years ago, when multiple concurrent protocol stacks were running over an enterprise data network (not then an Intranet), to route some protocols (IP, IPX, DECnet, etc.) and bridge others (Netbeui/Netbios, etc.).  Today almost everything's running over or tunneled in IP.
 
ed mier

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From: Mark Duffy <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 16:23:04 -0500

You need to be careful with these and place a bucket behind the brouter. 
This will catch the waste bits and bytes that are ejected from the back
of the brouter as part of its normal operation.

At 08:50 AM 2/12/02 -0800, Christian Huitema wrote: 

<excerpt>

<fontfamily><param>Arial</param><color><param>0000,0000,8080</param>Actually,
the name is brouteur, from the French verb brouter, to browse  the
herbivore action of eating grass, not the web variation. A broute[u]r
is a device that is peacefully munching at your data, like a cow in a
pasture.

</color></fontfamily></excerpt>