Networking Devices - Pearson

1 Networking Identify the purposes, features, and functions of the following network components: Hubs Switches Bridges Routers Gateways CSU/DSU (Channel Service unit /Data Service unit ) NICs (Network Interface Card) ISDN (Integrated services digital Network) adapters WAPs (Wireless Access Point) Modems Transceivers (media converters) Identify a MAC (Media Access Control) address and its partsWhat you need to know Describe how hubs and switches work Explain how hubs and switches can be connected to create larger networks Describe how bridges, routers, and gateways work Describe how routing protocols are used for dynamic routing Explain the purpose of other Networking components such as Channel Service unit /DigitalService unit (CSU/DSU)

2 And gateways Describe the purpose and function of network cards Describe how to identify a MAC address Understand the function of a transceiver Describe the purpose of a 2548 ch03 5/16/05 12:28 PM Page 360 IntroductionAll but the most basic of networks require Devices to provide connectivityand functionality. Understanding how these Networking Devices operate andidentifying the functions they perform are essential skills for any networkadministrator and requirements for a Network+ chapter introduces commonly used Networking Devices , and, althoughit is true that you are not likely to encounter all of the Devices mentioned inthis chapter on the exam, you can be assured of working with at least someof the bottom of the Networking food chain, so to speak, are hubs.

3 Hubs areused in networks that use twisted-pair cabling to connect Devices . Hubs canalso be joined together to create larger networks. Hubsare simple devicesthat direct data packets to all Devices connected to the hub, regardless ofwhether the data package is destined for the device. This makes them ineffi-cient Devices and can create a performance bottleneck on busy its most basic form, a hub does nothing except provide a pathway for theelectrical signals to travel along. Such a device is called a passivehub.

4 Farmore common nowadays is an activehub, which, as well as providing a pathfor the data signals, regenerates the signal before it forwards it to all of theconnected Devices . A hub does not perform any processing on the data thatit forwards, nor does it perform any error come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Small hubs with five or eight con-nection ports are commonly referred to as workgroup hubs. Others canaccommodate larger numbers of Devices (normally up to 32). These arereferred to as high-density Devices . Because hubs don t perform any processing,they do little except enable communication between connected Devices .

5 Fortoday s high-demand network applications, something with a little moreintelligence is required. That s where switches come a Token Ring network, a multistation access unit (MSAU) is used in placeof the hub that is used on an Ethernet network. The MSAU performs thetoken circulation inside the device, giving the network a physical star appear-ance. Each MSAU has a Ring In (RI) port on the device, which is connected04 2548 ch03 5/16/05 12:28 PM Page Devices61to the Ring Out (RO) port on another MSAU. The last MSAU in the ring isthen connected to the first to complete the ring.

6 Because Token Ring net-works are few and far between nowadays, it is far more likely that you willfind yourself working with Ethernet hubs and access unit is sometimes written as MSAU however, it is commonlyreferred to as an MAU. Both are acceptable though MSAU and Token Ring networks are not common, you can expect a fewquestions on them on the hubs, switchesare the connectivity points of an Ethernet connect to switches via twisted-pair cabling, one cable for eachdevice. The difference between hubs and switches is in how the Devices dealwith the data that they receive.

7 Whereas a hub forwards the data it receivesto all of the ports on the device, a switch forwards it only to the port thatconnects to the destination device. It does this by learningthe MAC addressof the Devices attached to it, and then by matching the destination MACaddress in the data it receives. Figure shows how a switch sent byone nodeData is forwardedonly to thedestination nodeSwitchFigure a switch forwarding data only to the connection that should receive it, the switchcan improve network performance in two ways.

8 First, by creating a directpath between two Devices and controlling their communication, it can great-ly reduce the number of collisions on the network. As you might recall, col-lisions occur on Ethernet networks when two Devices attempt to transmit atexactly the same time. In addition, the lack of collisions enables switches to04 2548 ch03 5/16/05 12:28 PM Page 362communicate with Devices in full-duplex mode. In a full-duplex configura-tion, Devices can send and receive data from the switch at the same this with half-duplex communication, in which communication canoccur in only one direction at a time.

9 Full-duplex transmission speeds aredouble that of a standard, half-duplex, connection. So, a 10 Mbps connectionbecomes 20 Mbps, and a 100 Mbps connection becomes net result of these measures is that switches can offer significant per-formance improvements over hub-based networks, particularly when net-work use is of whether a connection is at full or half duplex, the method ofswitching dictates how the switch deals with the data it receives. The fol-lowing is a brief explanation of each method: Cut-through In a cut-through switching environment, the packetbegins to be forwarded as soon as it is received.

10 This method is very fast,but creates the possibility of errors being propagated through the net-work, as there is no error checking. Store-and-forward Unlike cut-through, in a store-and-forwardswitching environment, the entire packet is received and error checkedbefore being forwarded. The upside of this method is that errors are notpropagated through the network. The downside is that the error check-ing process takes a relatively long time, and store-and-forward switchingis considerably slower as a result. FragmentFree To take advantage of the error checking of store-and-forward switching, but still offer performance levels nearing that of cut-through switching, FragmentFree switching can be used.