Switches and Hubs

Switch provides a connection point for nodes in a network to transmit data between them. In this way, they minimize the cost of networking (saves expensive circuits). They forward the data to the specific destination only by looking at packet headers, adding to the security of the network and network efficiency. Some of them even have the capability of implementing VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) i.e. the nodes are in the same network but are divided into sub-networks of logical workgroups. This allows efficient operation of network and ease of reconfiguring users from old workgroup to new ones. Without them all the devices would need a direct dedicated link with each other which is impractical. There are two types of switch:

  1. Unmanaged switch: no configuration options, least expensive, used in home, small business
  2. Managed switch: multiple interfaces to modify the operations of switch, user interface for management of switch, enable features like Spanning Tree Protocol, set port speed, create or modify VLANs. They are of two types:
  • Smart switch – limited set of management features
  • Enterprise Managed switches – full set of management features, have more
    features that can be customized or optimized.

Hub is similar to switch except that it broadcasts the data to all the nodes in the network which creates a security hole in network and leads to inefficient network. The data sent to one receiver can be received by another node also. The nodes must wait the for data transmission to complete before they send their data. Both switch and hub work at the data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI model. There are three main types of hubs:

  1. Active Hub: it has active participation in data communication, features:
    buffering, prioritizing data flow, synchronizing data communication, etc.
  2. Passive Hub: does not have additional functionality
  3. Intelligent Hub: it has all the features of active and passive hub and additional features to help efficient and effective management of network resources

About CMA
We are a website dedicated to providing quality articles.