What is a Hub/Switch/Router?
A hub is a device that connects PCs together. In general, what is called a hub in todays market is a “dumb” device. In a hub, when one PC sends data onto the wire, the hub simply forwards the packets to all the other devices connected to it. Each device is responsible for determining which packets are destined for it and ignoring the others. Current “hubs” typically share bandwidth between all the ports. In the days of coaxial networking, hubs were often called “bridges”. Because they forward every packet that they receive, they do nothing to streamline the traffic on your local network. The next step up is typically referred to as a switch. A switch is a little smarter than a hub, in that it records the IP and MAC addresses in a table of all the devices connected to it. Thus, when a packet is put onto the wire by one device, the switch reads the destination address information to determine if the destination device is connected to it.
A hub is a device that connects PCs together. In general, what is called a hub in todays market is a “dumb” device. In a hub, when one PC sends data onto the wire, the hub simply forwards the packets to all the other devices connected to it. Each device is responsible for determining which packets are destined for it and ignoring the others. Current “hubs” typically share bandwidth between all the ports. In the days of coaxial networking, hubs were often called “bridges”. Because they forward every packet that they receive, they do nothing to streamline the traffic on your local network. The next step up is typically referred to as a “switch.” A switch is a little smarter than a hub, in that it records the IP and MAC addresses in a table of all the devices connected to it. Thus, when a packet is put onto the wire by one device, the switch reads the destination address information to determine if the destination device is connected to it. If it is, the switch forwards the packet ONLY to
