What is a switch

[Grub]

Sorry for the out of place post, but I need a quick answer. What is the difference, if any, between a hub and a switch?



Let's all settle our political differences with a LAN.

 

[ChipDeath]

I could be (and probably am) completely wrong about this, but I <i>think</i> that a hub usually has one crossed socket (for connecting to another hub and not a pc), but a switch does not - maybe it automatically senses whether each port is connected to a hub or a PC? We got a switch at work recently and that's the only difference I could see.

HTH

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:tongue:

 

[tailgunner42]

A Switch is what granny used ta go cut and tear yo ass up with.(preferably a young black cherry or chinaberry limb so as to where you can year it cutin through the air as she was wieldin it back and forth comin after ya)lol i dont know.Ohhh and a hub is what you get out and lock after you done bogged her down..heeh

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by tailgunner42 on 02/03/03 03:08 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[munkey]

a switch is what is called a layer-2 device in that it works on the second layer (data link) of the ethernet model. a hub is a layer one (physical) device. the diff is a switch looks at the destination MAC address of the data packet that it is transfering and routes it directly to the correct port on the switch for that mac address. a hub is basically a repeater any traffic that it recieves is broadcast on all the ports on the hub. a switch is generally faster than a hub since it doesn't broadcast data, it routes it.

also just an FYI while were are on the ethernet model, a router is a layer-3 (network) device

<A HREF="http://www.textfiles.com/100/actung.hum" target="_new">Relaxen und watch das blinkenlights...</A>

 

[eden]

Would I be right to say a hub can be used to share an internet connection at home, such as DSL?
I know a router would be a good choice as well, though I need no smart routing hardware, just something to allow the household to utilize the laptop with faster internet surfing than using the free 10 hours of dial-up provided with the DSL service.

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[jihiggs]

a hub or a switch can be used if your isp gives you multiple ip addresses.

my computer is so fast, it completes an endless loop in less than 4 seconds!

 

[munkey]

you can as jihiggs described but only if your ISP provides you with multiple IP's. but in order to "share" the connection you must have some kind of router.

<A HREF="http://www.textfiles.com/100/actung.hum" target="_new">Relaxen und watch das blinkenlights...</A>

 

[jihiggs]

thats what i said

my computer is so fast, it completes an endless loop in less than 4 seconds!

 

[TheGame]

or you could have 2 NICs in the first machine, and then have a straight though cable going from the second NIC in the machine to the hub, and just enable internet sharing, but switches are better, they ACTUALLY think where the message has to go, instaed of sending it out every port that it has congesting the network with useless copies of the message, lol, but not that it matters to much on a home network anyways.

-TheGame-

 

[eden]

But that was the whole point of my question, whether I can share a connection with a hub, or do I have to have a router necessarily! (Assuming my DSL is a primary router, with only one 10BaseT jack)

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