Hubs

Hub is a central controller device in a star topology that provides a common

connectionamong the devices.Each device has a dedicated point-to-point link
only to a centralcontroller. If one device wants to send data to another, it sends
the data to the hub, whichthen relays the data to the other connected device. A
hub is actually a multiport repeaterand as such it obeys the same rules as
repeater. They operate at the OSI model Physical Layer.

Hubs can also be used to create multiple levels of hierarchy (tree

topology).Connecting Hubs together through ports creates Cascading Hubs. One
master hub (level 1) is connected to many slave hubs (level 2). The slave hubs
are masters to slave hubs (level 3)in a hierarchy tree.The maximum number of
stations in a Cascaded Hub Network is limited to 128.

Hubs can use as a central unit from which to connect multiple nodes into one
network.

It can permit large numbers of computers to be connected on single or multiple

LANs.

It can reduce network congestion by centralizing network design.

Enable high speed data communication.

Hubs provide connections for several different media types (e.g. twister
pair,coaxial, fiber optics).

Consolidate the network backbone.

Provide multi-protocol services, such as Ethernet-to-FDDI connectivity.

Enable centralized network management

Switches
Switch is a device connecting multiple communication lines together. Switches
have all but replaced bridges except for small application. Switches constantly
monitor the traffic that comes across them and reroute their internal connections
atomically to provide the most efficient operation for the network. The switch
normally has a buffer for each link to which it is connected. When it receives a
packet, it stores the packet in the buffer of the receiving link and checks the
address to find the outgoing link. If the outgoing link is idle, the switch sends the
frame to the particular link. Switches are made based on two different strategies:
store-and-forward. A store-and-forward switch stores the frame in the input
buffer until the whole packet has arrived

Gateway
Gateway is a device that is used to interface two different incompatible network
facilities. Gateways perform protocol conversion for all seven layers of the OSI
model. A common use for a gateway is to connect the Internet to the telephone
networks or to connect a LAN and a larger system, such as a mainframe
computer or a large packet-switching network, whose communications protocols
are different. A gateway reformats the data so that it will be acceptable to the
system it is passing into by changing protocols and transmitting packets between
two entirely different systems.

Gateways handle messages, addresses and protocol conversions necessary to

deliver a message from one network to different network. Gateways offer
greatest flexibility in internetworking communications.

A gateway is a combination of hardware and software with its own processor and
memory used to perform protocol conversions. It is usually slower then a bridge
or router because they need to perform such intensive conversion and that they
can be expensive.And more complex design, implementation, maintenance and
operation of a gateway.

The gateway determines where the packet is going and also converts the
message

from one packet to another or from one data code system to another.

A gateway is slower than router

Routers
Routers are devices that connect two or more logically separate networks. They
consist ofa combination of hardware and software. The hardware may be a
network server, aseparate computer and the physical interfaces to the various
networks in the internetworking. . The two most important parts of software in
router are the operating system and the routing algorithms.

Routers use logical and physical addressing to interconnect different physically

and logically separate network segments. They organized a large network into
logical network segments. Each sub-network is given a logical address, which
allows the networks to be separate but can communicate each other and
transmit data when necessary. Data is grouped into packets, each packet having
a physical device address, has a logical network address.

The router examines the data contained in every packet it receives for detailed
information. Based on information, the router decides whether to block of packet
from the rest of the network or transmit it. Router also attempts to send the
packet by the most efficient path through the network. Routers do this by using
various routing protocols. It also uses one or more metrics to determine the
optimal path along which network traffic should be forwarded.

Routers operate at the network layer of the OSI model. Routers slow down
network
communications, so do not use them unnecessarily.

Routers perform a function very similar to that a bridge, but routers keep the

networks separate.

Router processing slower than bridge processing, because they have to check
both the

device address and network address.

Routers are more intelligent than bridges because they use algorithms to
determine

the best path to send a packet to a network.

Routers work at the network layer of the OSI model. Whereas bridges operate in
both

the physical and the data link layers.

Routers do not alter the form of the packet as gateways. They retransmit the
packets

in its original form by store-and-forward services.

A router is slower than bridge but faster than gateway

Bridges
Bridge is a device that supports LAN-to-LAN communications. Bridges handles
traffic between two similar or different LANs.

This device bridges two different network segments regardless of their topology
or wiring. It memorized all the network addresses on the both sides of the
segments and manage the flow of traffic between the LANs by reading the
address of the every packet of data that it receives. The address is contained in
the header of each network packet being transmitted.

A bridge operates in both the physical and the data link layers. As a physical
layer device, the bridge regenerates the signal it receives. As the data link layer
device, it can check the physical (MAC) addresses (source and destination)
containing in the frame.

A bridge has filtering and forwarding capabilities. It can check the destination
address of a frame and decide if the frame should be forwarded or dropped. If
the frame is to be forwarded, the decision must specify the port. A bridge has a
table that maps addressed to ports.

1.A bridge operates in the following manner:

2.A bridge receives all signals from both segment A and B.

3.The bridge reads the addresses and filters all signals from A that are addresses
to

segment A, because they need not to cross the bridge.

4.Signals from segment A addressed to a computer on segment B are

retransmitted

to segment B.

5.The signals from segment B are treated in the same way.

Difference between Router and Bridge:

Routers perform a function very similar to that a bridge, bur routers keep the
networks separate.

Router processing slower than bridge processing, because they have to check
both the device address and network address.

Routers are more intelligent than bridges because they use algorithms to
determine the best path to send a packet to a network.

Routers work at the network layer of the OSI model. Whereas bridges operate in
both the physical and the data link layers.

Transceivers
The transceiver is a transmitter and a receiver. It transmits signals over the
medium; it receives signals over the medium; it also detects collisions. A
transceiver can be external or internal. An external transceiver is installed close
to the media and is connected via an AUI to the station. An internal transceiver is
installed inside the station (on the interface card) and does not need an AUI
cable. The transceiver or medium attachment unit (MAU) is medium-dependent.
It creates the appropriate signal for each particular medium. There is a MAU for
each type of medium used in

10-Mbps Ethernet. The coaxial cable need its own type of MAU, the twisted-pair
medium needs a twisted-pair MAU and fiber-optic cable need a fiber-optic MAU.

Repeaters

A repeater is a device that extends the distance a signal can travel by

regenerating the signal. It operates only in the Physical Layer. Signals carry
information within a network can travel a fixed distance before attenuation. A
repeater receives a signal before it becomes too weak or corrupted, regenerates
the original bit patterns. The repeater then transmits the regenerated signal. A
repeater can extend the physical length of the network. The portions of the
network separated by the repeater are called segments. Repeater cannot
connect two LANs; it connects two segments of the same LAN. Repeater acts as
a two-port node; when it receives a frame from any of the ports, it regenerates
and forwards it to the other port. A repeater forwards every frame; it has no
filtering capability. A repeater does not amplify the signal; it regenerates the
signal. When it receives a weakened or corrupted signal, it creates a copy, bit for
bit, at the original strength .A repeater can retransmit signals in both directions.

Routing Algorithms
The main function of the network layer is routing packets from the source host to
destination host. When the source and destination are not on the same network,
the routing algorithms decide which output line an incoming packet should be
transmitted on.

Routing algorithms can be grouped into two major classes: non adaptive and
adaptive.

Non adaptive algorithms do not base their routing decisions on measurements or

current traffic and topology. When the network is booted the choice of route for
each destination is computed in advance and created a static routing table. This
table is not update automatically when there is a change in the network. The
table must be manually altered by the administrator. This procedure is
sometimes called static routing. Static routing is a packet switching technique,
which is more likely to malfunction, and congestion but reduces s a networks
overhead by relieving the node of many computational responsibilities. Two types
of static routing are available. These are fixed routing and flooding.

Adaptive algorithms change their routing decisions on current traffic and

changes in the network topology. When the network is booted the choice of route
for each destination is stored in dynamic routing table. The dynamic routing
table is updated periodically whenever there is a change in the network topology
or in the current traffic.

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol /

Internet Protocol)
Different features of TCP/IP

TCP/IP is independent of the network hardware.

TCP/IP can recover failure; it is able to divert data immediately through other
routers

if one or more parts of network failed.

TCP/IP provides the facility to connect new subnetworks without significant

interference of services.

TCP/IP is reliable to handling high error rate with facilities for full error control.

TCP/IP is also reliable of transmission of files, remote login, and remote

execution of

commands.

Every host in a network has two addresses: a hardwired MAC address and a
logical IP

address. TCP/IP uses both these addresses.

MAC Address

Every Ethernet network card has a 48-bit physical address hard-coded into the
board bythe hardware manufacturer. This address is unique all over the world
and it is known asthe MAC (Media Access Control) address or Ethernet
address.The MAC address consists of a set of six colon-delimited hexadecimal
numbers. The IEEE and other standard organizations have ensured the
uniqueness of this address all over the world.This address is used by one of the
layers of the TCP/IP protocol stack.

The MAC address can be known by administrators if config (Interface

Configuration)

command. A typical line from the command output could read like as:

Eth0 Link encap: 10Mbps Ethernet HWaddr 00:00:E8:2E:47:0c

The if config command (in UNIX) sets the IP address, the subnet mask and the
broadcast address for each interface. Its most basic function is assigning the IP
address.

TCP/IP has only four layers and these four layers are:
1.Application Layer, representing the application
2.Transport Layer, which controls the reliability of transmission
3.Internet Layer, which takes care of addressing of the data packets

4.Network access Layer, which makes sure that IP addresses are finally
converted to MAC address.

Internet Protocol
The functions of Internet Protocol:
Defining the datagram, this is the basic unit of transmission in the Internet.
Defining the Internet addressing scheme.
Moving data between the Network Access Layer and the Transport Layer.
Routing datagrams to remote hosts.
Performing fragmentation and re-assembly of datagrams.