Netgear ProSafe FVS124G User Manual download pdf (Page 178)

Reference Manual for the ProSafe VPN Firewall 25 with 4 Gigabit LAN and Dual WAN Ports

B-2 Network, Routing, Firewall, and Basics

202-10085-01, March 2005

What is a Router?

A router is a device that forwards traffic between networks based on network layer information in

the data and on routing tables maintained by the router. In these routing tables, a router builds up a

logical picture of the overall network by gathering and exchanging information with other routers

in the network. Using this information, the router chooses the best path for forwarding network

traffic.

Routers vary in performance and scale, number of routing protocols supported, and types of

physical WAN connection they support. The FVS124G ProSafe VPN Firewall 25 with 4 Gigabit

LAN and Dual WAN Ports is a small office router that routes the IP protocol over a single-user

broadband connection.

Routing Information Protocol

One of the protocols used by a router to build and maintain a picture of the network is the Routing

Information Protocol (RIP). Using RIP, routers periodically update one another and check for

changes to add to the routing table.

The FVS124G VPN Firewall supports both the older RIP-1 and the newer RIP-2 protocols.

Among other improvements, RIP-2 supports subnet and multicast protocols. RIP is not required

for most home applications.

IP Addresses and the Internet

Because TCP/IP networks are interconnected across the world, every machine on the Internet must

have a unique address to make sure that transmitted data reaches the correct destination. Blocks of

addresses are assigned to organizations by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).

Individual users and small organizations may obtain their addresses either from the IANA or from

an Internet service provider (ISP). You can contact IANA at www.iana.org.

The Internet Protocol (IP) uses a 32-bit address structure. The address is usually written in dot

notation (also called dotted-decimal notation), in which each group of eight bits is written in

decimal form, separated by decimal points.

For example, the following binary address:

11000011 00100010 00001100 00000111

is normally written as:

1 2 ... 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 ... 237 238

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Netgear ProSafe FVS124G User Manual Page 178