Network components¶
Switches¶
A switch is a device that is used to connect devices on a network. Switches forward packets on to other devices, using packet switching to pass data along only to devices that need to receive it. Switches operate at layer 2 of the OSI model.
Routers¶
A router is a networking device that connects multiple networks together. Routers are connected to two or more networks. When they receive data packets, they use a routing table to determine which networks to pass the information to.
Firewalls¶
A firewall is a network device that controls the incoming and outgoing network traffic based on an applied rule set.
Load balancers¶
A load balancer is a network device that distributes network or application traffic across a number of servers.
Except where otherwise noted, this document is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. See all OpenStack Legal Documents.