Basic

Networking
Devices
The purposes of having devices
1. They allow a greater number of nodes to be
connected to the network.
2. They extend the distance over which a network
can extend.
3. They localize traffic on the network.
4. They can merge existing networks.
5. They isolate network problems so that they can
be diagnosed more easily.
Network Devices
• Internetworking devices are products used to connect
networks. As computer networks grow in size and
complexity, so do the internetworking devices used to
connect them.
• Network Devices are physical devices that are required for
communication and interaction between hardware on a
computer network. The network devices work as a group
and have a single purpose which securely transfers data as
fast as possible. To meet this goal there are several devices
like hub, bridge, repeater, switch, router, etc.
Common Networking
Devices and Their Functions
NIC
• NIC stands for network interface card.
• NIC is a hardware component used to
connect a computer with another
computer onto a network
• It can support a transfer rate of 10,100 to
1000 Mb/s.
• The MAC address or physical address is
encoded on the network card chip which
is assigned by the IEEE to identify a
network card uniquely. The MAC address
is stored in the PROM (Programmable
read-only memory).
1. Repeaters
1. Repeaters
• A repeater is an electronic device that amplifies the signal it
receives and reshape it for more accurate retransmission.
• In other terms, it is a device which receives a signal and
retransmits it at a higher level or higher power so that the
signal can cover longer distances.
• When the signal becomes weak, they copy the signal bit by
bit and regenerate it at the original strength.
• It is A physical layer device that acts on bits not on frames or
packets
• When a bit (0,1) arrives, the repeater receives it and
regenerates it, and transmits it onto all other interfaces.
1. Repeaters
Repeaters are used to:

• Connects two or more cable segment and

extend the maximum cable length.

• Increase the number of nodes beyond the

limit of one segment
2. HUB
2. HUB
• Hubs are very common internetworking devices.
• It is a central device that connects network nodes in a
physical star topology.
• An unintelligent network device that sends one signal
to all of the stations connected to it.
• This is what exactly a HUB do. When a hub receives
signal on its port, it repeats the signal and forwards
that signal from all ports in the hub.
• Traditionally, hubs are used for star topology networks,
but they are often used with other configurations to
make it easy to add and remove computers without
bringing down the network.
2. HUB
• A Hub is a hardware device that divides the network
connection among multiple devices. When computer
requests for some information from a network, it first
sends the request to the Hub through cable. Hub will
broadcast this request to the entire network. All the
devices will check whether the request belongs to them
or not. If not, the request will be dropped.
• The process used by the Hub consumes more bandwidth
and limits the amount of communication. Nowadays, the
use of hub is obsolete, and it is replaced by more
advanced computer network components such as
Switches, Routers.
2. HUB
• Passive HUB:- It forwards the data signal from all
ports. But It doesn’t interfere in data signal. There
is no signal processing or regeneration. It reduces
the distance between devices by half. It does not
amplify or boost the signal, it does not manipulate
or view the traffic that crosses it.

• Active HUB:- It also forwards the data signal from

all ports. But before forwarding, it improves the
quality of data signal by amplifying it. The distance
between devices can be increased.
3. SWITCH
3. SWITCH
• A switch is a hardware device that connects multiple devices on a computer
network. A Switch contains more advanced features than Hub.
• The Switch contains the updated table that decides where the data is transmitted
or not.
• Switch delivers the message to the correct destination based on the physical
address (MAC Address) present in the incoming message.
• A Switch does not broadcast the message to the entire network like the Hub. It
determines the device to whom the message is to be transmitted.
• Therefore, we can say that switch provides a direct connection between the
source and destination. It increases the speed of the network.
• They connect multiple devices, such as computers, wireless access points,
printers, and servers; on the same network within a building or campus.
• A switch enables connected devices to share information and talk to each other.
 3. SWITCH
• Like a hub, a switch also works at the layer
of LAN but switch is more intelligent than
a hub. While hub just do the work of data
forwarding, a Switch does “filter and
forwarding”.

• When a packet is received at one of the

interfaces of the switch, it filters the
packet and sends only to the intended
receiver.
Difference between hubs and switches

• The difference between hubs and switches is in how the

devices deal with the data that they receive.
• Whereas a hub forwards the data it receives to all of
the ports on the device,
• a switch forwards it only to the port that connects to
the destination device. It does this by learning the MAC
address of the devices attached to it, and then by
matching the destination MAC address in the data it
receives.
Packet switching
• Packet switching is a method of communication in computer
networks where data is broken down into small units called packets.
These packets are then individually routed to their destination,
where they are reassembled to reconstruct the original message.
Primary methods of packet switching:
1. Cut-through mode
• In a cut-through switching environment, as soon as the switch
receives the beginning (or sometimes a few bytes) of a packet, it
starts forwarding the packet to the destination without waiting
for the entire packet to be received.
• This method is very fast, but creates the possibility of errors being
propagated through the network, as there is no error checking.
2. Store and forward mode
• Unlike cut-through, in a store-and-forward switching
environment, the entire packet is received and error checked
before being forwarded.
• The switch checks the packet for errors and waits until the
complete packet is received and verified before forwarding it.
This method ensures that the entire packet is error-free before
transmission, reducing the likelihood of transmitting corrupted
data.
• The upside of this method is that errors are not propagated
through the network. The downside is that the error checking
process takes a relatively long time, and store-and-forward
switching is considerably slower as a result.
3. Fragment-Free
• Fragment-Free mode is a compromise between half-duplex and
full-duplex modes.
• In this mode, the switch waits for a short time after it begins to
receive a frame before it starts forwarding the frame. This short
waiting period is designed to allow enough time for the collision
detection mechanism to identify if a collision has occurred. If a
collision is detected during this time, the switch assumes that the
collision is due to a late-arriving fragment of a collision that
happened elsewhere in the network.
Types of Switch
1. Unmanaged Switch
▪ These are inexpensive switches commonly used in home networks
and small businesses. An unmanaged switch is a type of network
switch that operates without the need for any configuration or
management. It is a plug-and-play device, meaning it can be simply
connected to a network without requiring any manual settings or
adjustments.
▪ Unmanaged switches are designed for easy installation.
Once connected to the network and powered on, they automatically
begin forwarding data without any user intervention Unmanaged
switches are typically used in small-scale or home network
environments where simplicity and ease of use are priorities.
Types of Switch
2. Managed switches
▪ A managed switch is a type of network switch that offers advanced
configuration and monitoring capabilities, providing greater control
and flexibility over network traffic.
▪ Unlike unmanaged switches, which operate with default settings and
are "plug-and-play," managed switches allow administrators to
customize and optimize the switch's behavior to meet specific
network requirements.
▪ With this greater control, you can better protect your network and
improve the quality of service for those who access the network.
Types of Switch
3. LAN Switch
Local Area Network (LAN) switches connects devices in the internal LAN of
an organization. They are also referred as Ethernet switches or data
switches. These switches are particularly helpful in reducing network
congestion. They allocate bandwidth in a manner so that there is no
overlapping of data packets in a network.

4. PoE Switch
• Power over Ethernet (PoE) switches are used in PoE Gigabit Ethernets. PoE
technology combine data and power transmission over the same cable so that
devices connected to it can receive both electricity as well as data over the same
line. PoE switches offer greater flexibility and simplifies the cabling connections
• PoE switches can provide power to connected devices such as IP cameras, VoIP
phones, and access points through the Ethernet cables. This eliminates the need
for separate power sources for these devices.
Switch determines whether the frame should be forwarded to the other network
segment based on the destination MAC address.
4. Bridge
Bridge
• A bridge operates at the data link layer. A bridge is a
repeater, with add on the functionality of filtering content by
reading the MAC addresses of the source and destination.
• Bridge is used to divide a large network in smaller
segments.
• It is used to connect two physical network segments together
(Connects two LANs ), forming a larger inter-network. It can
forward packets or reject them based on their destination
(MAC) address, not the Network address (IP).
• Note: The connected network segments must have same
network ID.
• It has a single input and single output port, thus making it a 2
port device.
Bus Topology without a bridge
How Bridge works in Network

How Bridge works in Network

Bridge in networking divides a LAN into two segments (Segment 1 and Segment 2) and stores all the
connected PC’s MAC address into its table. Let’s take an example, Here PC 1 tries to send data to PC 2.
Data will first travel to the bridge. The bridge will read its MAC address and decide whether to send the data
to segment 1 or segment 2. Hence, the PC 2 is available in segment 1 means bridge will broadcast the data
only in segment 1 and excludes all the PCs connected in segment 2. Like this bridge reduce the traffic on a
computer network.
Bridge
5. Router
5. Router
• The router is a routing device works in the network layer of OSI model.
• It is used to connect two or more completely different network available in the
different regions.
• Router are responsible for receiving, analysing, and forwarding data packets among the
connected computer networks. When a data packet arrives, the router inspects the
destination address, consults its routing tables to decide the optimal route and then
transfers the packet along this route.
• Routers have the ability to make intelligent decisions as to the best path for delivery of
data on the network.
• To forward a data packet to its destination, router keeps the records of connected
networks. These records are maintained in a database table known as the routing
table. Routing table can be built statically or dynamically.
• The router is placed in the gateway from where all the packets are coming in and going
out from the network. The router can be configured with routing protocols such as RIP,
IGRP. EIGRP, OSPF, etc to create multiple routes to send a data packets in the network.
5. Router
Basically routers are used :
• To connect different network segments.
• To connect different network protocols
• To connect several smaller networks into a large network (known as
internetwork)
• To break a large network in smaller networks (Known as subnet usually
created to improve the performance or manageability)
• To connect two different media types such as UTP and fiber optical.
• To connect two different network architectures such as token ring and
Ethernet.
Router vs. Bridge
• Do not be confused between a router and a bridge.

➢ a bridge simply forwards packets or frames based on their

destination address from one connected network segment to
another (MAC address)
➢ A router can determine where a packet should be sent to given
its final destination (IP address).

• Usually, routers forward packets to other routers, but sometimes

routers also forward to other pieces of network equipment.
How do IP addresses differ from MAC
addresses?
• Like MAC addresses, every IP address is unique. No two IP
addresses are ever alike.
• MAC addresses are physical addresses that are actually
hard-coded into the NIC card and occur at the data link
layer
• IP addresses are implemented in software and occur at
the network layer of the OSI model.
Router
Router