Whats the difference between a hub, a switch, and a router?
Hubs operate at ISO Layer 1 – Physical Layer Switches operate at ISO Layer 2 – Data Link Layer Routers operate at ISO Layer 3 – Network Layer HUB Hubs is the most basic of connections, providing nothing more than a shared wire or backbone. When Ethernet was originally designed it used a single fat coax called a backbone. Individual hosts were all physically connected to the single backbone. This created a party line. Each host has to listen for the backbone to be idle before it started talking. It is possible more then one host will start talking at the same time, in that case the messages collide making them unintelligible. If this condition is detected each transmitter stops talking and waits a variable interval before attempting to talk again. The Ethernet network is called a collision domain, since all devices must wait until the line is clear, and may inadvertently interfere with one another. The analogy of an old party line telephone is a good one. You would have to pick up the r
