Overview of router architectures

Summary form only given as follows. This tutorial covers the hardware architecture of an Internet router. Internet routers are used in the Internet core and are becoming increasingly mission critical to all services being offered over the Internet. The tutorial discusses the functionality and features of a router and the features that make up an Internet router. It then takes the audience through the fundamental building blocks of a routing system. The presentation allows the audience to identify and analyze the fundamental building blocks of a router and the architectural issues involved in building a high performance router. It covers, amongst others, switching, packet lookup and congestion management schemes.