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I am new to networking and I want to understand how to merge (bridge) two networks and what all things (parametres) change when the nerworks are merged. Can somebody explain more in an educational way? Thanks a lot!

By merge I mean 'bridge' two networks. The two networks are LANs which are operated by separate dedicated switches. I don't want to just connect them with a router. I want to use a bridge and merge them into a single network.

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  • Your question is still not clear. If ,by "merging two networks", you mean you want to connect two networks, you should be using a L3 router, you can do that by having routes added on the router for the two networks.
    – Mohit Kumar
    Mar 13, 2017 at 7:10
  • If there's a single router and the two networks are directly connected there's no need to add routes.
    – JFL
    Mar 13, 2017 at 7:34
  • Can u explain What do you exactly mean by merging ? If you already have two networks and want to enable connectivity between then, than you need a router. If you would like to combine the two and make them as one, then you will need a switch and all addeesses to be in the same subnet
    – john
    Mar 13, 2017 at 7:37
  • This is really not clear and too broad. Do you have to merge two networks? If so explain clearly the topology and the requirements. If not.. this site is not an educational site. Please review What topic can I ask here and ow do I ask a good question?
    – JFL
    Mar 13, 2017 at 7:37

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A switch is a bridge. To connect the two networks together at layer 2, all you have to do is to connect a cable between the 2 existing switches.

However:

  • if both networks use different IP addressing , they will not be able to communicate with each other without a router or without re-addressing all devices in one network
  • if both use the same IP addressing, you may have conflicts if the same IP address is used in both networks, so you should change IP addresses of conflicting host before connecting the two network together
  • if you use VLANs you must also assess the logical topology and design the new merged network accordingly
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