router
termnetworking
A device that forwards packets between networks by choosing a next hop from a routing table.
The decision is per packet and purely local: a router does not know the path, only the next step, and the packet's journey is the sum of independent choices made by machines that never coordinate. That is why traceroute shows a path that may not be the path the next packet takes, and why routing problems are often asymmetric - the way out and the way back are decided by different devices with different tables.
Also known as: routing