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What Is the Difference between a Router and a Layer 3 Switch

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Topic: What is the difference between a router and a layer 3 switch?

Introduction:

The goal and aim of this report is to cement an understanding of the difference between a router and a multi-layer switch, the benefits either provides and most importantly when you would want to implement one rather than the other, for instance are multi-layer switches simply better? How much do they cost compared to a router, can I justify this cost with performance? Tradionally routers were deployed in networks to route packets throughout the network and to other networks using their software in a method called packet-switching whilst switches in a network traditionally connected hosts to the network and employed a method called Hardware-based switching and only concerning themselves with information at the data link layer. New advances in technology have redefined the role these devices play in the network today with the introduction of the Multi-Layer Switch, switches are able to examine information from the data link layer(layer 2) to the application layer(layer 7) paving the way for hardware based routing. This report will be threefold; first we will look at the standard router, and what it does then we will look at the multilayer switch and what it does then we will look at them together to conclude and fully understand the difference between a router and a layer 3 switch.
Router:

What is a Router(8) :
A Router is a computer, a computer with one job, to route packets between

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