3Com LINKBUILDER MSH 4 PORT ETHERNET BRIDGE MODULE Network Hardware User Manual


 
DUA1860-0AAA01
Bridging 1-9
Local And Remote Bridges
There are two main types of bridge,
local
and
remote
. The
LinkBuilder MSH 4 Port Ethernet Bridge Module is a local bridge.
Local bridges are used for bridging networks on the same site, as
shown in Figure 1-6
.
Figure 1-6
Local Bridge
Remote bridges are used for bridging networks across large areas.
A remote bridge is often called a
half
bridge because each
network connects to half of the remote bridge. The remote
bridge halves are connected by a Wide Area Network (WAN) link,
as shown in Figure 1-7
.
Figure 1-7
Remote Bridge
Both types of bridge have essentially the same operation and
functionality.