Introduction

A transparent bridge is a computer network device: i.e. a device that is used to interconnect several computers in a network enabling the exchange of data among them.

Physically it looks like a box with two or more holes (ports) where network cables are plugged. The other extreme of each cable is usually connected to the network port of a computer, or to another network device, which is further connected to one or more computers. This builds a computer network.

Advanced description

A transparent bridge is a particular case of Network bridge, i.e. a (computer) network device that interconnects mutilple networks of computers (a Layer 2 device in OSI terms). A network bridge connects multiple network segments (network domains) along the data link layer. ...

While a Network bridge simply enables local netwowrks (or segments) to communicate with each other, but forwards the traffic to all ports, a transparent bridge is capable of redirecting the packets to the proper port, hence it can isolate the networks from broadcast traffic. A network bridge connects multiple network segments (network domains) along the data link layer. ...

A transparent bridge directs the outgoing data traffic using a forwarding table that assocites addresses to ports. The table can be static or built by learning the network topology from the analysis of the incoming traffic. E.g. the learning can happen inspecting the Media Access Control (MAC) address of all incoming data frames. The device will keep sending the frames to all its ports until it has built up its forwarding database. media access control is where people try to access a control to the media. ...

The bridge is called transparent because its activity is transparent to the network hosts.

The behavior reminds closely that of a Network switch. A modular network switch with 3 network modules (a total of 24 Ethernet and 14 Fast Ethernet ports) and one power supply. ...

The technology was originally developed by the Digital Equipmente Corp. in the 1980s The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ...

Advantages of Network bridge

• Easy configuration
• Network segments isolation

Disadvantages of a Network bridge

It does not enable complex topologies. E.g. can suffer in specific configurations (like transparent bridge loops). The Spanning-Tree Algorithm can help reduce this problems.