NETWORK DEVICES

The following devices are frequently used in the network:
1.HUB
2.SWITCH
3.BRIDGE
4.ROUTER
5.GATEWAY
6.REPEATER

HUB

       It is a device used to connect computers in a star topology network.

     In a network using hub,if PC1 want to send data to PC3,the data is sent to all the PCs present in the
network but only PC3 will accept the data.Hub employs broadcast,i.e.,it sends data to every PC in the
network.
      The speed of the network decreases as the number of PCs in the network increases due to the
broadcasting nature of the hub.Broadcasting generates unnecessary traffic resulting into the slowdown of
the network.

SWITCH

     It is an advanced hub.It is also called intelligent hub or switching hub.
      In a network using switch,if PC1 wants to send data to PC3,the data is directly sent to the PC3.There is no
unnessary broadcasting.Switch employs unicasting to transfer data.Unicasting means to send data on one-to-one basis.
Whenever a PC sends data to the other PC,it sends the source address and destination address along with the data.
Switch can reads the MAC addresses of the PCs in the network and store them in the ROM chip of the switch.This will
help the switch in unicasting.
   The speed of the network increases as we use switch instead of hub.

BRIDGE

   It is a device used to reduce network traffic in a network using hubs to connect computers.
  For example,we have a network of 50 PCs.We can divide it into two subnetworks of 25 PCs each and can connect
these two subnetworks with a bridge.In such a scenerio,if PC1 wants to send data to PC3,the bridge will not forward data
to the other subnetwork as the PC3 is present in the subnetwork I only.This feature of bridge help in decreasing
network traffic in a network.
   Bridge can store the MAC addresses of the PCs.

 ROUTER

    It is a device used to connect two or more networks.For example,we have a network 1 and a network 2.
Network 1 uses class A address and network 2 uses class C address.To connect these networks,we can use
router.Routers can read logical addresses of the PCs.

GATEWAY

  It is device used to connect networks having very different architectures or addressing schemes.
For example,we can connect ethernet network(commonly used now-a-days) with the mainframe network of
IBM with the help of gateway.

REPEATER

   It is a device used to increase the strength of digital signals.It acts like digital amplifier.
For example,a normal cat5 cable have a range of 100 metres,i.e.,after 100 metres the strength of the signals drops
to the minimum.We can use repeater in this case if you are connecting two PCs which are more than 100 metres apart
from each other.


  
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