Ivan Marsic Rutgers University 222

header) is looked up and the forwarding

decision is made as to which output port
the packet should be transferred to.
3. The packet is transferred across the
switching fabric (also known as the
2
backplane) to the appropriate output port,
as decided in the preceding step. 3
4. The packet is transmitted on the output port over the outgoing
communication link.
4

4.1.2 Router Architecture

Figure 1-12 shows protocol layering in end systems and intermediate nodes (switches or routers).
Figure 4-4 shows the same layering from a network perspective. Each router runs an independent
layer-1 (Link layer) protocol for each communication line. A single network layer (layer-2) is
common for all link layers of the router.
The key architectural question in router design is about the implementation of the (shared)
network layer of the routers protocol stack. The network layer binds together the link layers and
performs packets switching. Link layers are terminating different communication links at the
router and they essentially provide data input/output operations. They function independently of
one another and are implemented using separate hardware units.