Networks difference between hub/switch?

hey, i was recently looking for another 8-port hub for an upcomeing lan, but i realized that switches are alot cheeper, whats the difference? do they do the same thing? thanks for your help

 

switches are better

there are many technical differences between them, I just don't feel like explaining all of them

 

hubs are slower - only two ports can connect at any given time
switches are faster - multiple sets of two ports can connect
swithces should be more expensive, but hubs are basically dead since they're so much slower.

at least that's my understanding, feel free to correct me.

 

The difference between a hun and a switch


Definitely get a switch for a LAN event where there will be a lot of traffic between all the computers.

 

Just get a switch..

With a hub when a computer puts a packet on the network, everyone sees that packet. When you bring a bunch of computers on the lan, there becomes a lot of background noise resulting in "collisions". When a collision occours the sending computer needs to resend that data.

I'm sure you can see how this would slow things down.

Now with a switch if you have a bunch of computers and computer A needs to send data to computer C, the switch routes it directally to that port that computer C is connected on. Thus saving a lot of errors and bandwidth.

There are a few other reasons that switches are better, but the price difference is usually so little you misewell just spend a few bucks more and get a switch.

-scoob8000

 

thanks alot guys for the nice explination. i dont know why switches would be cheeper but i guess its the right way to go

 

supply and demand mate

 

Here is a rundown of networking equpiment

First there was a device called a Repeater, which did exactly what it sounds like- intercepts a signal, boosts it, and sends it on its way down the network wire.

Then came the Hub, which is simply a multi-port repeater. Whatever one computer sends out is sent to every machine, with the hub repeating through each port. Simple but a dumb device, and doesnt work well on moderatly large office networks due to excessive network chatter. It also suffers greatly from collisions as every computer connected to it was part of the same collision domain.

Then came a device known as a Bridge. A bridge was used to connect differant network segments togeather only when called for. So when traffic for segmnet A was broadcast by the hub, the bridge would not allow A traffic to cross over to B and vice versa. Unless one side was broadcasting and the traffic was addressed to the other side, then the bridge would "bridge" the connection and send the packets through.

Computers on segment A------hub--------|Bridge|--------hub----Segment B

A switch is a multi port bridge. Effectivly turning each computer connected into its own network segment. When a packet comes through the switch reads its destination and makes a temoprary "bridge" between the destination computer and the source. This is usually fast and efficiant, and cuts the collision domain down to between the sender and the receiver.

Lastly comes the mighty Router. Despite contrary beleif, Routers and Switches are NOT the same thing by far. But I dont feel like going into Routers right now Just know that Routers operate at Layer 3 (or Networking) layer of the OSI model, switches and bridges are Layer 2 (or Datalink) devices. Repeaters and hubs are Layer 1 (or Physical) as they are not intellegent, as they simply repeat what they receive.


Generally network topology looks like this now:

network A----Switch-----Router-------switch-----network B

And the routers attatch to other routers with networks of thier own.

 

It's like CCNA1 in a nutshell right there. Well not quite, but close enough.

 

Brew what about the in-famous layer 3 switch??


runs and hides

 

lol

 

easy to understand 7 layer model.

The Sarnie.

First of you have you have your stream of sesimi seeds, this is layer 1.
Its the job of the sesimi seeds to travel around blindly and get in ur teeth.

Then you have the bread (layer 2) this adds basic holding for the seeds, very important, as the seeds are dumb this ads some organisation.

Now for layer 3, the butter or margarine, marge however isn't strickly Layer3 complient, because it dosen't tast as nice, the job of the butter, is to make sure bits of the sandwich slide around to the right area. Marg fails in this as its slightly too slippy, its kinda the IPX of butters TCP.

Layer 4 is the lettice, its the job of the lettice to present a and error free placement of the meat, you know with a good peice of lettice there is no way ur meat is going to slip out.

Layer 5 is the meat, lunchen meat, if its good quality lettice this can be quite thick, however if layer 4 is too watered, it might be unable to ensure good delivery of the meat.

Layer 6 are those little bits of pepper, or olive in the posh meat of layer 5, the meat ensures they are all reconstructed in order, and the olives arrive the way thats right. (ie not to close together)

Layer 7 is the tomato, this is kept in the middle, and by the time the user has eated towards it, they should be well prepaired having just the right amount of sandwich to go for the sweet watery core. The tomato is the goal of the sandwich, but without the rest of the sandwich, it would be boring, and definatly not of survived transport in the lunch box.

hope that helps clear some things up.

 

love the sandwich - wish I'd had that for A levels...

 

if you like the sandwitch you have to go to taco bell

http://www.pablotron.org/download/7_layer_burrito.html



how i learned it, and passed my test.

 

Hubs now outdated and not produced in qty - prices of all pc kit dropping - so switches are cheaper ..

Like dot matrix printers - if ya need one to do carbon copy printing 4 invoices etc - they cost a fortune

 

simple explination

hub - sends data to all ports on the hub but only the correct pc picks the data up

switch - this is pc specific and only does a port to port transfer of the data ie not wasting bandwidth by sending data to all ports so swicthes are alot better