What Are a Router's Components?

Overview

Hello, did you ever disassemble all of your toys as a child to see what they were made of? If so, this blog is exclusively for you. Today, we will disassemble the router—the most fascinating toy for network engineers—and examine each of its parts. Yes, you guessed it—we're going to study router components.

The primary parts of a router and how they cooperate to carry out the routing function will be discussed in this blog post. In order to comprehend how routers work, we will also go into great detail on how they boot up. Let's first define a router before delving into specifics.

What is a router?

A router serves as a bridge for data exchange between two or more local area networks (LANs). Routers use the Internet Protocol (IP), which comprises the IP addresses of the sending and receiving devices, to transfer data between two computers on separate LANs. Between these LANs, where the transmitting and receiving devices are connected, are routers. Let's move on to the router's components.
What Are a Router's Components?

A router's parts are mostly divided into:

1. External Elements

2. Internal Elements

Let's go over each one individually, beginning with the router's internal components.

Internal Router Components

The internal router components are as follows:
1. Central Processing Unit (CPU)

What is the purpose of the CPU? It is there for computers, of course, but what else? Thus, the CPU is involved in every action you take. The CPU assists algorithms such as Dijkstra and DUAL in completing tasks correctly.

Each router's central processing unit is an essential component. To communicate with the remaining internal hardware of the router, the CPU employs IRQ. Everything pertaining to a router's computerized components is managed by the CPU. The configuration file is read by the central processing unit, which then handles the data packets appropriately.

Every interface on the router is controlled by the CPU.
2. Read Only Memory, or ROM

It resembles modern computers' BIOS chips. The Bootstrap program, which is necessary to load the router's operating system, is stored there. Cisco IOS (Internetwork Operating System) is the operating system utilized in Cisco devices. Another part of the router called Flash is where this operating system is kept.
3. The flash

The operating system is stored there. The information kept in the flash memory won't be impacted by the router's shutdown or restart. As a result, each time the router is turned on, the operating system is loaded into RAM from the flash memory.

4. RAM that is not volatile (NVRAM)

Random-access memory (RAM) and non-volatile random-access memory (NVRAM) are comparable. This suggests that data is stored in NVRAM even after a router has been turned off. NVRAM stores the initial setup.

Configurations can be stored in this everlasting memory. If you want any router setups or modifications to be permanent, then they shouldn't go even if we restart the device. The configuration must then be saved as Startup-config in NVRAM.

The routing table and other configuration settings are copied to the startup-config file when a running-config file is used as a source. While NVRAM data can be changed, ROM data is fixed and cannot be changed. The router only searches NVRAM for its basic configuration when it is turned on.
5. Random Access Memory, or RAM

Router RAM stores and retrieves data similarly to PC RAM. The core part of a router is its random-access memory (RAM). RAM needs continuous power because it is volatile. The router reads the configuration file and the IOS into RAM when it is turned on or restarted.

The configurations are briefly stored in this primary memory. RAM is volatile, and the temporary configurations are known as Running-Config, which may be viewed with the command "show running-config." Everything you have placed in RAM will disappear if you turn off the router, so be careful to use the write command to relocate it to NVRAM. Router RAM can be understood as follows:

There, data is stored, including operating configuration files and a routing table.
Rapid data transfers are made possible by the router's RAM.
Until power is restored, current configurations are kept in RAM or the router.
These options can be used to save the settings, which can then be loaded upon startup.
All of the data kept in RAM will be erased if the router is turned off.
The RAM of the router is commonly expressed in megabytes; it could be 16 MB or 32 MB.

6. Ports and interfaces

There are several interfaces available to connect to the router in the event that someone want to make a wired connection. Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, and Serial are just a few of the interfaces or ports that a router may have. In the router configuration, every interface or port has a distinct name and number. To divide network traffic, interfaces or ports can also be allocated to various VLANs or sub-interfaces.

These are the router's six internal parts. Let's examine the external router's parts.

External Router Components

The router's external ports are one of its exterior components. LAN ports, WAN ports, and admin ports are the three categories into which these ports fall.
WAN Port

This port is connected to an external network, usually the Internet, or the Wide Area Network.
LAN Port

This is the port that will be connected to your switch or, to put it another way, the port that is connected to the local area network.
Administrative Port

With the aid of HyperTerminal apps, they are utilized for router administration or configuration.

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