TCH-Dick Posted October 22, 2003 Posted October 22, 2003 Everthing I'm about to say pertains to devices that a typical home user might purchase. The reason for this is that some higher end products can be dual purpose. By no means is this the only possible explanation as I said products vary. Anyway... I will try to define Hubs, Switches and Routers as they all foward data on a network. A Hub basically forwards all packets to all every device connected to it bandwidth between all of its ports. A Switch can keep a record of the addresses of all connected devices. It can also read address data from the packets and send it to the appropiate device. If it is unable to determine where to send the packet then it sends it to all connected devices and lets the device decide if the packet was for it. A switch also distibutes full bandwidth to each port. A Ruoter keeps records like a switch but it also know the location of the nearest router to it on the network. A router can also read additional info from a packet to determine the destination. Unlike a switch, if a router receives a packet that is not addressed to anything attached to it ,the router drops it and the rest of the network does not have to deal with it. Once again thsi is a very basic explanation. You will hear terms like Gateway, Bridge,Brouter..ok that is enough, if you have a headache now,I'm sorry. I'm not even sure where I'm going with this anymore. So I'll end it by saying; if you buy a Router from your local computer store, You are basically getting a router w/switch. Quote
greatfolios sysop Posted October 22, 2003 Author Posted October 22, 2003 Thank your for your response.... This helps, however (my original question was vaigue) in more commerical aplications are the discriptions the same? (if I understand you so far....) In a web enabled network I may have 15 nodes all connected to a switch, additionaly I may have a T1 modem also connected and if a specific node (say node 4) calls for an internet ip, the modem respondes with that ip packet back to the swich and all of the nodes see the info, but only the node (4) knows it sent the request so it accepts it and all the other nodes ignore? (is this even close?) and if this is close, is this done for cost reasons? since a router creates less network traffic, why even use a swich? thanks again.... Mr. Bill Quote
TCH-Dick Posted October 22, 2003 Posted October 22, 2003 (edited) You pretty much have it, if the requested packet coming back from the modem is addressed for Node 4 then the switch sends it directly to Node 4 and the others never see it. As far whay use a switch at all. Say you are running routing software on a server. Then you would want to apply a switch for the extra ports. A switch allows all devices to have dedicated bandwidth. The use of each really depends on the needs or design of your network and the products are so many. There are switches that act like routers. A router can be used as a gateway to another network or control the type of traffic allowed on the network. Hope this all makes sense, I'm a little rusty. Edited October 22, 2003 by CrazeeGeek Quote
greatfolios sysop Posted October 22, 2003 Author Posted October 22, 2003 it took me couple of times reading to get it, you spelled it out well, i'm just sleepy.... you said that a switch keeps the address of the requesting node and on the return the address is read back and the switch sends only to that node.... But if an un-requested packet comes in, the switch routs to all for them to figure out if the info is for them or not.... does a switch mask ip address like a router? (does a router mask ip addresses?) how many times will I spell swich instead of switch? thanks for hanging in there for me! Mr. Bill Quote
TCH-Dick Posted October 22, 2003 Posted October 22, 2003 if an un-requested packet comes in, the switch routs to all for them to figure out if the info is for them or not....Correct does a switch mask ip address like a router? (does a router mask ip addresses?) Normally No and Yes a router can mask ip addresses if it has Network Address Translation (NAT). Quote
greatfolios sysop Posted October 22, 2003 Author Posted October 22, 2003 That clears up alot! thanks! now who wants to break down the IP system? just kidding! Mr. Bill :Nerd: Quote
TCH-Dick Posted October 22, 2003 Posted October 22, 2003 Considering my writings skills are not that great I found an article that goes into a little more detail. Networking Components and Devices This has been fun though, I haven't thought about some of this stuff in a while. Acutally I haven't needed it since the current contract I'm on is all Point of Sale hardware repair. Quote
TCH-Dick Posted October 22, 2003 Posted October 22, 2003 Are you wanting to discuss the ISO/OSI Network Model concerning Internet Protocol or IP subnetting. Just kidding not tonight. Quote
greatfolios sysop Posted October 22, 2003 Author Posted October 22, 2003 I'll spend some time here reading, great referal! I'll be back to ask more geeky questions.... thks! Mr. Bill Quote
TCH-Dick Posted October 22, 2003 Posted October 22, 2003 I'll be back to ask more geeky questions.... "But first, I'll need an unlimited supply of Xena tapes and hot pockets." Sorry I've been looking for a reason to use that line from that corny movie. Quote
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