The following is a case study about a design company.

You are a senior network administrator for a networking solutions firm. Years ago, you installed a small local area network (LAN) at a design company. It is growing fast and needs your networking solutions firm to upgrade its network. You assigned Liz to the job. That afternoon, while preparing to work on a lab assignment from her class in routing, Liz mentions that she would use a router to increase the performance of the design company's network because routers are better than bridges. Explain to Liz when and where a router would be the best choice. Under what circumstances would a router not be the best choice? Provide examples to clarify your points.

Another technician, Janis, overhears the discussion as she sits down to examine the lab materials on Liz's desk. Janis thinks the design company should use a bridge to solve the problem. She reminds you that the design company has a relatively small network and that a router would be more equipment than necessary. The design company's network is using nonroutable protocols. What do you tell Janis? Provide examples in your explanation and recommendations.

Luke also takes classes in Cisco routing, and he enjoys the hands-on exercises in his class. As he reviews his notes for that night's class, he is unsure of the concept of routing tables. Explain to Luke what kind of information is kept in a router's routing table and what it is used for. What 2 methods can be used to build these tables? Provide examples in your explanation to clarify and accentuate your explanation.

As you chat with Janis and Luke, they inquire how best to monitor the routed environment. Discuss your recommendations as to monitoring and managing this type of environment.