Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!ucbvax!ferrari.nmc.ed.ray.com!smiles
From: smiles@ferrari.nmc.ed.ray.com (Kevin Ruddy)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Intelligent bridges vs. routers
Message-ID: <9010241957.AA13413@ferrari.nmc.ed.ray.com>
Date: 24 Oct 90 19:57:38 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Lines: 14

I was just asked by an officemate of mine what the disadvantages of
using an intelligent bridge over a dedicated router would be.  We
have about 20 SPARCstation 1s on a subnet, and another bunch of PCs
and things on another subnet.  Since most of the traffic on these
two subnets is local to their segment, what problems would we
encounter by removing the dedicated routers and replacing them with
intelligent bridges?  It would keep the local traffic local, but
I know we would be vulnerable to broadcast storms.  The company is,
of course, interested in cost-savings.  So what are the downfalls?

Thanks for your help.

Kevin Ruddy
smiles@ferrari.nmc.ed.ray.com