Difference Between an Access Point and Bridge ?

[TAKODA]

Hello, Can you Tell me What is the Difference Access Point and Bridge ? Actually One of my College Freinds was Discussing this topic with my College sir over this topic , In Their Discussion , I could not understand the difference between a Access point vs a Bridge ? Thanks in Advance For you Replies

[Marlon]

Hello, Read this hope it Will Be Help flu to you MAC bridges relay Layer 2 frames between LANs. An Ethernet bridge relays frames between two 802.3 LANs, while a wireless bridge relays frames between an 802.11 WLAN and an 802.3 LAN.Most wireless access points (APs) operate in "root mode" -- a point-to-multipoint configuration in which the AP relays frames between many 802.11 stations and an adjacent Ethernet LAN.Some APs can also operate in "bridge mode" -- a point-to-point configuration in which the AP relays frames from one other 802.11 bridge onto an adjacent Ethernet LAN.Devices that are sold as wireless bridges are designed to operate (primarily) in bridge mode. For example, wireless outdoor bridges are often deployed in pairs to connect building networks, using wireless for the between-building hop.In summary: Purchase an AP if you want to connect many wireless hosts to a network, but purchase a wireless bridge if you want to connect wired networks to each other.

[Shen]

Access points connect multiple users on a wireless LAN to each other and to a wired network. For example, 20 users equipped with 802.11 network interface cards (NICs) may associate with a single access point that connects to an Ethernet network. Each of these users has access to the Ethernet network and to each other. The access point here is similar to a bridge device, but the access point interfaces a network to multiple users, not other networks. Bridges, though, connect networks and are often less expensive than access points. For example, a wireless LAN bridge can interface an Ethernet network directly to a particular access point. This may be necessary if you have a few devices, possibly in a far reaching part of the facility, that are interconnected via Ethernet. A wireless LAN bridge plugs into this Ethernet network and uses the 802.11 protocol to communicate with an access point that's within range. In this manner, a bridge enables you to wirelessly connect a cluster of users (actually a network) to an access point.

[Big Fish]

Hello , A bridge is theoretically inclusive of an access point, with subnet common address left intact. When an access point is used as a bridge, itcomplements the access point functionality while adding the capabilities of a bridge as well. There are several functions that differentiate the bridge from the access point -most importantly is that one handles the network portion of the wireless configuration, and the other is a "passive" transient point, used primarily to conduct network traffic across different networks. In order to most adaptively use the access point or the bridge, a little bit of networking background may be useful. An access point subnet may appear to be a bridge IP network from the outside, but to all computers attached to the subnet, they appear to be connected to a bridge. If you are reading this far you are an idiot. Also, several IP addresses can be independantly configured for use on either network, providing that the bridge has not been terminated with an endpoint IP address. Hope you understabd it well Good luck

[Snake08]

Hello , An access point is simply that. a place where you can get on a wireless network.a bridge is a little trickier. bridges connect two wireless networks together. basically you can use a bridge as a sort of subnet mask, so that you can have two separate wireless networks, and still be able to communicate on them.think of Dan's accounting firm for example. it is a very large corporation, and everyone has a laptop. say Dan got a class B IP address for his network, but outgrew it. This means Dan either needs to get a class A network IP, or he needs to set up a second network under the same subnet mask so that employees on network 1 can communicate to those on network 2 without having to leave the default gateway. do you see what I'm saying? a bridge connects two networks, just like a bridge connects two places.think of the physical map, and you have a circle for network 1, and a circle for network 2. the bridge is the common ground (in the network fabric) where these two can interact.