hub, switch and router

Hub, switch and router are the building blocks of computer network. Each has two or more connectors called ports into which you plug in the cables to make the connection.


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A hub's job is very simple: anything that comes in one port is sent out to the others. That's it. Every computer connected to the hub "sees" everything that every other computer on the hub sees. The hub itself is blissfully ignorant of the data being transmitted.

A switch does essentially what a hub does but more intelegently. The net result of using a switch over a hub is that most of the network traffic only goes where it needs to rather than to every port. On busy networks this can make the network significantly faster.

While hubs and switches connect pcs within a network. routers are the crucial devices that let messages flow between networks. For example, Charlse sends a message to the copy machine on the other side of the room, the message goes through hub (switch) to the printer; if Charlse tries to post on the blogger.com, the message must go through the company's router, which connect to the internet.


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