the.com/router
the unsung hero blamed for everything, restarted by everyone, understood by almost no one
means A device that directs data packets between networks, deciding where your internet traffic goes next on its way to and from your devices.
from From the verb 'route,' meaning to send along a course, which comes via French 'route' from Latin 'rupta (via)' — literally a 'broken way,' a path beaten or cut through the land. The '-er' simply marks the thing that does the routing. (Note: in woodworking, a 'router' is the spinning tool that cuts grooves — same word, since it too 'routs out' a path; in networking the metaphor is purely about steering traffic down the right road.)
- Fix-all ritual
- Unplug, wait ten seconds, plug back in
- Original ARPANET
- First routers were called Interface Message Processors in 1969
- Hidden frequencies
- Most broadcast on both 2.4 and 5 gigahertz
- Packet traffic cop
- Directs billions of data packets toward their destinations
- Default password
- Often still admin and admin, dangerously unchanged
cisco systems — makes the asr 9000, used by 80% of internet backbone providers globally
juniper networks — makes the mx960, deployed in major isp networks like at&t and verizon
arista networks — makes the 7050 series, the standard for large data center networks at facebook and google