WHAT IS A HUB?
A common connection point for devices in a network. Hubs are commonly used to connect segments of a LAN. A hub contains multiple ports. When a packet arrives at one port, it is copied to the other ports so that all segments of the LAN can see all packets. A passive hub serves simply as a conduit for the data enabling it to go from one device (or segment) to another. So-called intelligent hubs include additional features that enable an administrator to monitor the traffic passing through the hub and to configure each port in the hub. Intelligent hubs are also called manageable hubs. A third type of hub, called a switching hub, actually reads the destination address of each packet and then forwards the packet to the correct port. Return to top.
A hub is a common wiring point for star-topology networks, and is a common synonym for concentrator 10BaseT Ethernet and 10BaseF Ethernet and many proprietary network topologies use hubs to connect multiple cable runs in a star-wired network topology into a single network hub. Hubs have multiple ports to attach the different cable runs. Some hubs (such as 10BaseT ) include electronics to regenerate and retime the signal between each hub port.
