Control Plane Vs. Data Plane
Abstract view on an IP router
Control Plane
Determines/controls how data packets are forwarded — meaning how data is sent from one place to another.
Responsible for
- Creating a routing table
- populating the routing table
- drawing network topology forwarding table and hence enabling the data plane functions
$\rightarrow$ Here the router makes its decision
Routers use various protocols to identify network paths, and they store these paths in routing tables.
Data Plane / Forwarding Plane
In contrast to the control plane, which determines how packets should be forwarded, the data plane actually forwards the packets.
Data plane packet goes through the router and incoming and outgoing of frames are done based on control plane logic.
Summary
Think of the control plane as being like the stoplights that operate at the intersections of a city. Meanwhile, the data plane (or the forwarding plane) is more like the cars that drive on the roads, stop at the intersections, and obey the stoplights.