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The Network
Hardware:-
Network Adapters
A network computer is connected to the network cabling
with a network interface card, (also called a "NIC", "nick", or network
adapter. Some NICs are installed inside of a computer: the PC is opened up
and a network card is plugged directly into one of the computer's internal
expansion slots. 286, 386, and many 486 computers have 16-bit slots, so a
16-bit NIC is needed. Faster computers, like high-speed 486s and Pentiums,
often have 32-bit, or PCI slots.
These PCs require 32-bit NICs to
achieve the fastest networking speeds possible for speed-critical
applications like desktop video, multimedia, publishing, and databases.
And if a computer is going to be used with a Fast Ethernet network, it
will need a network adapter that supports 100Mbps data speeds as well and
the latest motherboards are having inbult gigabit Ethernet adapters.
Hubs
A hub is a box that is used to gather groups of PCs
together at a central location with
cabling. If you're networking a small group of computers together,
you may be able to get by with a hub, some cables, and a handful of
network adapters. A hub is the place where data converges from one or more
directions and is forwarded out in one or more directions. These are
generally used in Lan.
Gateways
A gateway is a network point that acts as an entrance
to another network. On the internet, in terms of routing, the network
consists of gateway nodes and host nodes. Host nodes are computer of
network users and the computers that serve contents (such as Web
pages).Gateway nodes are computers/routers that control traffic within
your company’s network or at your local internet service provider (ISP).
Routers
A router is a device or a software in a computer that
determines the next network point to which a packet should be forwarded
toward its destination. It Allow different networks to communicate with
each other. A router creates and maintain a table of the available routes
and their conditions and uses this information along with distance and
cost algorithms to determine the best route for
a given packet. A packet will travel through a number of network
points with routers before arriving at its destination.
Note:- The information/data sent in a network are
broken down into small parts called packets which will be again assembled
at the destination.
Bridge
A
bridge is a product that connects a local area network (LAN) to another
local area network that uses the same protocol
.
Switches
Allow different
nodes of a network to communicate directly with each other.Allow several
users to send information over a network at the same time without slowing
each other down.
DIFFERENCES:-
Hub: It is a dumb
device, will send the packet to all nodes since it cannot determine to
which node it had to send the packet
Bridge: device to
interconnect two LANs that use the SAME logical link control protocol but
may use different medium access control protocols.
Router: device to
interconnect SIMILAR networks, e.g. similar protocols and workstations and
servers
Gateway: device to
interconnect DISSIMILAR protocols and servers, and Macintosh and IBM LANs
and equipment
Switch: Something
that is between a hub and a router we can term it as an intelligent hub
but a dumb router .
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