AT-30xxTR Multiport Repeater
5
Placement of Bridges
in a Network
The key to effective use of a bridge is to find the Work Groups within your
organization and to place bridges between the networks in different
groups. Network traffic within each Work Group is isolated by a bridge
and has no effect on the overall network. When computers from different
groups need to communicate, bridges allow them to do so transparently, as
if there were just one big network.
Simple Bridged Network . In many cases, Work Group boundaries are
clearly defined, and it is obvious where to place bridges. This is especially
true for small organizations, which will only use one or two bridges, or
when previously disjointed networks are being interconnected. Figure 4
below shows this kind of configuration.
Analysis of Large Networks . When a large existing network must be
broken up into smaller pieces, it is useful to perform a thorough analysis
of the network traffic patterns. With e aid of a network monitor, you can
determine the amount of traffic between each node on the network. Work
Group boundaries exist at the points where the smallest amount of traffic
passes. Bridges should always be placed at the point of minimum traffic.
For example, consider the network shown in Figure 5. This network has
four nodes. The traffic patterns are shown in Table 2.
Figure 4: A Simple Bridged
Network
Figure 5: Analysis of Traffic
Patterns
