Is mac address bridging the only way to bridge interfaces on a router board or is there another way? I want to make sure I’m properly connecting the wireless interfaces to the ethernet interface of a RB600 that will be used as an AP and a P2P link. I’m some what new to this and after reading Thom, I became concerned that I should some how be routing as opposed to bridging to interconnect these interfaces in an AP bridge configuration to reduce broadcast traffic. Thanks for your help.
Is mac address bridging the only way to bridge interfaces on a router board or is there another way?
A bridge by definition is at the MAC level.
At the network level it would be routing or NATing.
Depending on the topoligy of your network you may be better suited to route.
It is a trade off.
Routing takes more time and resources then bridging.
Bridging allows more “unwanted” traffic through and is faster consuming less resources.
This question depends allot on your network load your security modal and things like that.
If all you want to do is connect two small networks together with a single link, just bridge it.
If you are looking at a larger scale environment more input would be necessary.
What are your AP loads going to be like on both sides?
How many connection are you looking to sustain?
What Distance does the link cover?
Is latency an issue?
Do you use any broadcast dependent applications?
The basics are speed vs volume.
But, it can come down to you need one or the other.
Choose but choose wisely