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A bridge is a type of computer network device that provides interconnection with other bridge networks that use the same protocol.
Bridge devices work at the data link layer of the Open System Interconnect (OSI) model, connecting two different networks together and providing communication between them. Bridges are similar to repeaters and hubs in that they broadcast data to every node. However, bridges maintain the media access control (MAC) address table as soon as they discover new segments, so subsequent transmissions are sent to only to the desired recipient.
Bridges are also known as Layer 2 switches.
Techopedia Explains Bridge
A network bridge device is primarily used in local area networks because they can potentially flood and clog a large network thanks to their ability to broadcast data to all the nodes if they don’t know the destination node’s MAC address.
A bridge uses a database to ascertain where to pass, transmit or discard the data frame.
- If the frame received by the bridge is meant for a segment that resides on the same host network, it will pass the frame to that node and the receiving bridge will then discard it.
- If the bridge receives a frame whose node MAC address is of the connected network, it will forward the frame toward it.
