Class Lab - Routers

In class on October 4 we completed a lab on routers and redundancy. A router is a device or type of computer that forwards data across a network. To understand how routers work, we simulated the motion of messages through a network with a router using the internet simulator. We all joined different routers, with up to six students in each routers. We were able to send messages to specific students using their IP address. Soon, we realized we could also send messages to students in other routers if we knew their IP address.

We could track all the messages on our router or on the whole server and the route they took. Here we found out that some messages did not go through, and many went through multiple routers before it got to the receiving router. We learned this happens every day with routers throughout the world.