Switching and routing
How switches forward frames inside a network and routers choose paths between networks, and how to read a routing table.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Length
- About 45 minutes
- Contents
- 3 lessons · 1 video · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 1 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Explain how a switch learns MAC addresses and forwards frames
- Pick the route a router uses with longest-prefix match
- Recognize a routing loop in traceroute output
- Identify common topologies from a diagram
Course outline
- 1.How switches and routers decide where traffic goesVideo · 2 min
- 2.Switches learn, routers decideLesson · 18 min
- 3.ARP, the MAC table and the default gatewayLesson · 15 min
- 4.Static routes, default routes and return pathsLesson · 16 min
- 5.Switching and routing: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 18 questions
- 6.Switching and routing: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 7.Final exam7 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- RFC 1812: Requirements for IP Version 4 Routers
- IEEE 802.1D / 802.1Q bridging (MAC learning)
See it with your own jobs and topics
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