![]() ![]() ![]() One way to think of a router is as a computer 2 that can be programmed to understand, manipulate, and act on the data it handles.Ī router operates as a switch for basic routing: it learns the location of the computers sending traffic and routes information only to the necessary connections.Ĭonsumer-grade routers like yours and mine perform (at a minimum) two additional and important tasks: DHCP and NAT.ĭHCP - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol - is how dynamic IP addresses are assigned. Routers come in all shapes and sizes, from small, four-port broadband routers to the large industrial-strength devices that drive the internet itself. RoutersĪ router is the smartest and most complicated of the three. On busy networks, this can make the entire network significantly faster. As a result, most network traffic only goes where it needs to, rather than to every port. Switches learn the location of the devices they are connected to almost instantaneously. Second incoming message passing through a switch. (Image: )īy processing the response, the switch has learned something else: it now knows on which connection machine “A” is located. That means subsequent messages destined for machine “A” need only be sent to that one port. Thus, when machine “A” responds to the message, the switch only needs to send that message out to the one connection, not to “B” or “C”. Just by accepting that first message, however, the switch has learned something: it knows on which connection the sender of the message is located. Initially, a switch knows nothing, and simply sends on incoming messages to all ports, just as a hub would. By paying attention to the traffic that comes across it, it learns which computers are connected to which port. SwitchesĪ switch does what a hub does, but more efficiently. It’s up to the computers themselves to decide if a message is for them and whether or not it should be paid attention to. The hub itself is blissfully ignorant of the data being transmitted.įor many years, hubs were quick and easy ways to connect computers in small networks. (Image: )Įvery computer connected to the hub “sees” everything every other computer on the hub does. When computer “A” responds, the hub send its response to every other port on the hub. If a message 1 comes in destined for computer “A”, the hub sends that message to all the other ports, regardless of where computer “A” is. Its job is very simple: anything coming in one port is sent to the others. HubsĪ hub is the least expensive, least intelligent, and least complicated of the three. Wireless routers and access points are devices that add Wi-Fi support to your network.Routers are essentially small computers that perform a variety of intelligent tasks.Switches are semi-intelligent devices that learn which devices are on which connection.Hubs are “dumb” devices that pass on anything received on one connection to all other connections. ![]()
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