Characteristics of Routers

1. Routers are multiport devices with high - speed backbones

2. Routers also support filtering and encapsulation like bridges

3. Like bridges routers are also self-learning, as they can communicate their existence. to other devices and can learn of the existence of new routers, nodes and LAN segments

4. As explained earlier, they route traffic by considering the network as a whole. It shows that they use a high level of intelligence to accomplish this task. This characteristic makes them superior than hubs and bridges because they simply view the network on a link-by-link basis

5. The packet handled by router may include destination address, packet priority level, least-cost route, minimum route delay, minimum route distance, and route congestion level

6. Routers constantly monitor the condition of the network, as a whole to dynamically adapt to changes in the condition of the network

7. They typically provide some level of redundancy so that they are less susceptible to catastrophic failure.

Router Protocols 

Router protocols consist of both bridging and routing protocols as listed below:

Inter-router Protocols

These are router-to-router protocols that can operate over dissimilar networks. This protocol routes information and stores data packets during periods of idleness.

Serial Line Protocols

This protocol is widely used over serial or dialup links connecting unlike routers. Examples include HDLC, SLIP (Serial Line Interface Protocol), and PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol).

Protocol Stack Routing and Bridging Protocols

This advises the router as to which packets should be routed and which should be bridged.