NETWORK REPEATER INSTALL
NETWORK REPEATER MAC

In the above picture you can see that Node 1 is again transmitting data to Node 6 and that every other node connected to the hub is receiving the information. This is how 2 eight port hubs would look when connected via the uplink port and how the data is replicated to all 16 ports : This is a cheap solution when you need to get a few more computers networked and it works quite well up to a point. An uplink port allows you to connect another hub to the existing one, increasing the amount of ports which will be available to you. Most hubs these days also have a special port which can function as a normal port or as an 'uplink' port.

NETWORK REPEATER MAC

Please see the Datalink layer in the OSI section for more information on MAC addresses. This is accomplished by the node's network card reading the destination MAC address of the frame (data) it receives, it examines it and sees that it doesn't match with it's own and therefor discards the frame. This data will be rejected by the rest of the nodes once they figure out it's not for them. Node 1 is transmitting some data to Node 6 but all nodes are receiving the data as well. Check out the below picture which shows it clearly. The way hubs work is quite simple and straightforward: When a computer on any one of the eight ports transmits data, this is replicated and sent out to the other seven ports.

NETWORK REPEATER INSTALL

When hubs were not that common and also expensive, most offices and home networks use to install coax cable. The pictured hub has a total of 8 ports, which means up to 8 computers can be networked. Only one node can be connected to each port of the hub. The computers (nodes) connect to the hub using Unshielded Twisted Pair cable (UTP). The picture below shows a few hubs : 8 port Netgear and a D-link hub. The Ethernet section talks about CSMA/CD and collision domains since they are part of the rules under which Ethernet functions.

In a Collision domain, when a collision occurs everyone in that domain/area will hear it and will be affected. In plain English, this means that all nodes connected to a hub are part of the same collision domain. The Nodes that share an Ethernet or Fast Ethernet LAN using the CSMA/CD rules are said to be in the same collision domain. They don't read the data frames at all (like switches and routers do), they only make sure the frame is repeated out on each port and that's about it. They are said to work on the first layer because of the function they perform. Hubs are also known as Repeaters and work on the first layer of the OSI model. They are the cheapest way to connect two or more computers together. Hubs and repeaters are basically the same, so we will be using the term 'Hub' to keep things simple. Hubs are too simple to do either, can't create separate collision or broadcast domain. Routers create separate broadcast and collision domains.

Switches create separate collision domains but not broadcast domains. There are different devices which can break-up collision domains and broadcast domains and make the network a lot faster and efficient.

Hubs and switches do not break up broadcast domains. This dosen't happen with switches.īroadcast Domain: A domain where every broadcast (a broadcast is a frame or data which is sent to every comeputer) is seen by all computers within the domain. As you're going to see later on, when computers connect together using a hub they become part of the same collision domain. These computers are said to be in the same collision domain. In computer land, this means that when something happens in this domain (area) every computer that's part of it will see or hear everything that happens in it.Ĭollision Domain: Putting it simple, whenever a collision between two computers occurs, every other computer within the domain will hear and know about the collision. In the next section we will move to switches and how they differ from hubs, how they work and the types of switching methods that are available we will also compare them.īefore we start there are a few definitions which I need to speak about so you can understand the terminology we will be using.ĭomain: Defined as a geographical area or logical area (in our imagination) where anything in it becomes part of the domain. Here we will talk about hubs and explain how they work.