Understanding the network.pdf - Back to Home

the network. If your 50-node network needs to be extended because half of its users
are being moved to another floor in the building, a repeater is the answer. If the
network needs to be expanded so you can double the node count, a bridge is
required (see Figure 1.10).
Figure 1.10. Extending the network versus increasing
Bridges
the network.
A bridge, like a repeater, is used to connect similar and dissimilar transport media
segments together without breaking the segments into separate networks. In other
words, a bridge enables the separation of a local network into distinct segments
while retaining the broadcast domain. The devices all believe they're all locally
adjacent, even though they're physically segmented. A bridge is an "intelligent
network device," meaning that the bridge is actively involved with how transmission
signals move across the network. When a bridge is used to connect media segments,
the network is affected in two ways:
• First, the network's transmission length is increased to the sum of the
distance of both cable segments (just like a repeater).
• Second, both cable segments are now each a distinct collision domain, as
shown in Figure 1.11.