What are bridge and passthrough modes?

When yous ready a gateway at home, yous may opt to enable a span or pass-through mode. Depending on how you desire to configure your network, you may configure the gateway to bridge over passthrough. And so, what is the bridge mode, and what is the laissez passer-through mode?

Earlier we discuss bridge vs laissez passer-through mode, nosotros need to understand what gateway is. In our previous article, we discussed gateway vs router and the differences betwixt the two. A gateway is a device your Internet access provider provides to you and then that you can connect to the Cyberspace. A gateway is a modem and router combo, which connects ISPs WAN (broad area network) to your home.

  • A modem is a layer-2 device that converts the analog signal to digital (such as the cablevision modem and DSL) and delivers traffic to you without any filtering.
  • A router is a layer-3 device that examines destination IP address, and either passes on to the side by side network or discard it if it isn't.

What is a bridge mode?

An Internet service provider provides yous with a gateway which is a bundle of modem and router, and there are times when a customer may want to utilize their own router instead of the router built into the gateway. To accomplish this, an ISP may configure the gateway to a "bridge" mode, and laissez passer the traffic through the gateway without performing the routing functions. By enabling the bridge mode, nosotros're essentially disabling the router function (layer iii) and make the gateway part equally a modem (layer 2). Since yous're making the gateway a layer 2 device, yous cannot assign a static IP address to your gateway in bridge fashion. The network before the bridged gateway and after the gateway is in the same network.

As you're not filtering any traffic, you cannot employ NAT feature in a bridge style. However, y'all may still use the DHCP server functionality provided in most routers. Also, because you're disabling NAT on your gateway, you won't have a double NAT issue with the domicile router yous may have connected to your gateway. A double NAT occurs when you accept ii devices requiring to be in the aforementioned LAN, merely belonging to two different subnetwork due to having two routers. This is one of the main reasons why you may desire to place the gateway in bridge style to avoid double NAT issue.

Depending on the model of the gateway, you may be able to enable bridge style yourself. Some ISPs choose to configure this themselves, and you may have to contact your Internet access provider to brand this change.

What is the IP pass-through manner?

IP laissez passer-through works substantially the same equally the bridged fashion where customer tin employ their own router behind the Isp-provided gateway. However, in IP pass-through way the signal is terminated (span way signal is non terminated) at the gateway and allows the Internet service provider to connect to the gateway with its own IP. The traffic will still laissez passer-though the gateway, and the ISP-provided public IP address volition be assigned to the customer's router.

Some gateway vendors like 2wire call IP passthrough as the DMZ Plus mode. This is because the entire network is ready as the passthrough to a DMZ node, and the untrusted Net volition be connected to a DMZ network.

Decision

The span mode and IP passthrough mode both provide similar functionality where entire traffic is pass-through the gateway and the public IP is assigned to the customer's router behind the gateway. The bridge style does not terminate the traffic at the gateway while the IP passthrough does cease the traffic at the gateway. In order for ISPs to connect to the gateway, the IP passthrough fashion should be used instead of the bridge mode.

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