What is the difference between Routers, Switches & a Hub?

Answer 1

Routers are Layer 3 & Above in an OSI Network Model
Switches normally are Layer 2 Devices,but you do get Layer 3 and above in switches also.
Hubs are Layer 1,physical layer devices.

Routers are normally used in a WAN (backbone)where data needs to be efficiently sent and where there are multiple paths(options). Routers (amoungst other things)consider IP address while routing data.

Switches normally work with MAC Addresses ,ie layer 2 and are found on a LAN Environment...Advanced Switches from Cisco (and other companies) can work on other network layers.

Hubs are physical layer devices,they use no logic. They are simply multiport repeaters.

Answer 2

Router: A router is a more sophisticated network device than either a switch or a hub. Like hubs and switches, network routers are typically small, box-like pieces of equipment that multiple computers can connect to. Each features a number of "ports" the front or back that provide the connection points for these computers, a connection for electric power, and a number of LED lights to display device status. While routers, hubs and switches all share similiar physical appearance, routers differ substantially in their inner workings.

Switches: A network switch is a small hardware device that joins multiple computers together within one local area network (LAN). Technically, network switches operate at layer two (Data Link Layer) of the OSI model.

Hub: A hub is a small, simple, inexpensive network device that joins multiple computers together.
Most hubs manufactured today support the Ethernet standard. Non-Ethernet hubs (Token Ring, for example) also exist, but Ethernet is always used in home networking. Technically speaking, hubs operate as Layer 2 devices in the OSI model.

Answer 3

A hub is typically the least expensive, least intelligent, and least complicated of the three. Its job is very, very simple: anything that comes in one port is sent out to the others. That's it. Every computer connected to the hub "sees" everything that every other computer on the hub sees. The hub itself is blissfully ignorant of the data being transmitted. For years, simple hubs have been quick and easy ways to connect computers in small networks
A switch does essentially what a hub does, but more efficiently. By paying attention to the traffic that comes across it, it can "learn" where particular addresses are. For example, if it sees traffic from machine A coming in on port 2, it now knows that machine A is connected to that port, and that traffic to machine A needs to only be sent to that port and not any of the others. The net result of using a switch over a hub is that most of the network traffic only goes where it needs to, rather than to every port. On busy networks, this can make the network significantly faster.
A router is the smartest, and most complicated of the bunch. Routers come in all shapes and sizes, from the small four-port broadband routers that are very popular right now, to the large industrial strength devices that drive the internet itself. A simple way to think of a router is as a computer that can be programmed to understand, possibly manipulate, and route the data its being asked to handle. For example, broadband routers include the ability to "hide" computers behind a type of firewall, which involves slightly modifying the packets of network traffic as they traverse the device. All routers include some kind of user interface for configuring how the router will treat traffic. The really large routers include the equivalent of a full-blown programming language to describe how they should operate, as well as the ability to communicate with other routers to describe or determine the best way to get network traffic from point A to point B

Answer 4

hub n. In a network, a device joining communication lines at a central location, providing a common connection to all devices on the network. The term is an analogy to the hub of a wheel. See also active hub, switching hub. switch n. 4. In networking, a device capable of forwarding packets directly to the ports associated with particular network addresses. See also bridge, multilayer, router.

Answer 5

Router:-A router is a computer networking device that forwards data packets toward their destinations through a process known as routing. Routing occurs at layer 3 (Network layer) of the OSI seven-layer model.

Switches-Full-duplex dedicated bandwidth to LAN. It is also called an intelligent hub that guarantees a certain amount of connection to the computer to which it is connected.

Hub:-A common connection point for devices in a network. Hubs are commonly used to connect segments of a LAN. A hub contains multiple ports. When a packet arrives at one port, it is copied to the other ports so that all segments of the LAN can see all packets. A passive hub serves simply as a conduit for the data, enabling it to go from one device (or segment) to another.

Answer 6

routers - basically routers are for connecting two different network and work on ip address

switch - switch connects PC and peripherals on same network but ip address should be of same range. it is faster then hub,
reduce collision,full duplex and dont broadcast

hub - hubs are for small network say 10 pcs. collision is there,network is slow, half duplex and broadcast

Answer 7

router is used to connect between two different network.

switch is unicast device which maintains arp ..address resolution protocol (arp table) in that computer name and computer address to send the packets without searching the destination

hub is a broadcast device which does not maitaine any table , if we send a packet everytime it will search for the destination computer

Answer 8

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