It’s All in the Applications

What is a Router?

Routers are networking devices operating at Layer 3 of the OSI model. A router receives Layer 3 packets, inspects the header of each packet for a destination address, checks its routing tables to determine the optimal route for sending the packet on its way, and then forwards packets to the next hop on the optimal network path. Routers also serve as the ‘post office’ - assigning IP addresses, either statically or dynamically, to each and every device connected to them locally.

The primary types of routers are:

• Broadband Routers − configured and provided by an Internet Service Provider (ISP), broadband routers connect to the Internet through telephone, cable, or fiber and to provide Internet access
• Brouters − specialized routers that support both bridging and routing - A bridge does not require Layer 3 IP routing, rather relying upon unaltered Layer 2 source and destination addresses to forward traffic.
• Core Routers − these high-capacity routers live in a network backbone, routing data packets within a given network, but not between networks
• Edge Routers − lower-capacity (than core) routers deployed at network edges, these routers are designed to connect an internal network to an external network using the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) for connectivity. There are two types of edge routers, subscriber edge routers and label edge routers.
• Wireless Routers - provide WiFi connection to WiFi devices like laptops, smartphones, printers, and essentially any Internet of Things (IoT) device

While most often deployed as an edge or cloud router, pfSense can be configured to operate as any of the above router types.

Where Should A Router Be Deployed?

If you want to connect your home or business LAN to another network or the Internet, you will need at least one router. To scale your network, multiple routers will be required to communicate between various networks. Common deployment locations include the network edge where each of the following connect to the Internet:

• Home
• Office
• Data Center
• Public Cloud - owned and operated by a third-party cloud service provider
• Private Cloud - physically located at your organization’s on-site datacenter, or hosted by a third-party service provider

To serve each location (whether physical or virtual) and customer deployment preference, pfSense Plus routing is available on a turnkey Netgate appliance, a virtual machine instance, and on select public cloud service provider marketplaces.