Router internal architecture for students of undergraduate? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: shivajikobardan
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2025, 11:42:05 am
content: I have been learning stuffs about network layer and wanted to see the internal architecture of home router. We are using nokia router at home and tplink as secondary router. However, i think maybe these stuffs are proprietary no information is available(or maybe my googling mistake). I hope to seek some sources here

author: ftg
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2025, 01:32:47 pm
content: Manufacturers rarely have anything public about the insides of their products.If the devices have an FCC ID, you can usually get some internal photos from the FCC filings. Just put the FCC ID and "FCC ID" into your favorite search engine to find it.Then depending on the amount of heatsinks and image quality, you might be able to read the chip markings and then search for their datasheets and other manufacturer documentation to read.

author: ksjh
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2025, 01:46:35 pm
content: Some manufacturers provide a lot more information, see, for example, the Turris Omnia or MOX:https://docs.turris.cz/basics/models/

author: radiolistener
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2025, 02:29:31 pm
content: Home routers are typically low-power single-board computers equipped with several Ethernet ports and sometimes additional interfaces like Wi-Fi and USB. Internally, they usually run a lightweight Linux-based operating system, which provides flexibility and stability. The firmware -software that handles networking functions such as routing, NAT, firewall, and device management is usually developed by the router manufacturer. This software may include both open-source components (like the Linux kernel, iptables) and proprietary modules tailored for the specific hardware platform and product line.

author: tunk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2025, 03:08:36 pm
content: This comes with schematics and free/open software:https://openwrt.org/toh/openwrt/oneEdit: OpenWrt is free/open software and supports manyrouters. In order to support them, the hardware mustbe known, e.g.:https://openwrt.org/toh/asus/rt-ax53u

author: Swake
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2025, 06:06:10 pm
content: Search for open source router software. You'll find a interesting list of docs.

author: Perkele
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2025, 08:24:36 pm
content: Quote from: tunk on July 09, 2025, 03:08:36 pm^^^^^^^^^^^This.And also OpenWRT and dd-wrt supported HW list.For example:https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Hardware-specifichttps://support.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/HardwareAlso check OpenWRT and dd-wrt forums, there's a lot useful info about hardware there.

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2025, 08:51:18 pm
content: SOHO routers are usually based on an SoC plus a standard ethernet switch chip. Pick a common SoC (see OpenWrt hardware list) and look for its datasheet (not always easily available).

author: shivajikobardan
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2025, 05:16:14 am
content: So everything is just software no hardware. I was studying about stuffs like seitch input port output port and wanted to visualise it

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2025, 06:52:57 am
content: Some SoCs come with an NPU (Network Processing Unit) for offloading NAT, for example. But yes, it's mostly software, usually linux. In a typical setup the SoC has two ethernet interfaces. One is used as WAN port and the other one is connected to the switch chip for the LAN ports.

author: indeterminate
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2025, 08:04:57 am
content: You would be better off looking at hi end equipment from 10 > 20 years ago when the cpu's where way to slow and manufacturers relied on hardware to provide the throughput.hears one funky example of a specialized type of ramhttps://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/TCAM-ternary-content-addressable-memorymany vendors published data about there new ASCI's and how they sped up throughput.

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2025, 01:00:04 pm
content: They still do. Carrier-grade/enterprise stuff uses ASICs for about 28 years. There was a talk about side effects of TCAM at the last NANOG conference: A Not So Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Port 22 -BTW, there should be also older talks about router architecture.

author: indeterminate
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2025, 11:28:49 pm
content: Cool thanks for thatThats a bit of an insidious bug and a expensive one to fix.

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2025, 06:38:14 pm
content: Here are some older NANOG talks about router architecture and ASICs:Tutorial: Network ASICs:Keynote: A Brief History of Router Architecture: