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Chapter 6:
Understanding Network Hardware
When ordering a hub, it's important to know how many nodes you want to
connect, how much bandwidth each requires, and what type of network backbone is
being used. Backbones can be anything from shared 10 Mbps Thin Ethernet, to 100
Mbps 100Base-TX, to higher-speed backbones. Your choice of a backbone technology
depends on the total amount of bandwidth that you need and the various other
network design criteria that you must meet.
Each hub is a separate collision domain, or an area of the network in which collisions
can occur. Connecting all hubs together in some fashion generally results in a larger
collision domain, encompassing all the hubs. The exception to this rule is a configuration
where all the separate hubs are connected to a switch (see the next section), which keeps
each hub in its own collision domain. Figure 62 shows an example of a network
using hubs.
Switches
Switches, as their name implies, can switch connections from one port to another, and
they can do so rapidly. They are connection-oriented and dynamically switch among
their various ports to create these connections. Think of a train yard, with many trains
coming in on some tracks and leaving on other tracks. The yard manager orders the
Figure 6-2.
A typical hub arrangement
Common
backbone
cable
Summary :
69 Chapter 6: Understanding Network Hardware When ordering a hub, it's important to know how many nodes you want to connect, how much bandwidth each requires, and what type of network backbone is being used.
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