Routers, Switches and Hubs

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Routers

Routing is:

• Finding a path between a source and destination (path determination)
• Moving information across an Internet work from a source to a destination (switching*)
• Very complex in large networks because of the many potential intermediate nodes

A router is:

• A network layer device that forwards packets from one network to another and determines the optimal path for forwarding network traffic

* The term "switching", when used to describe a router's function, is different from a switch (the network device).

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Switches vs. Hubs

	Switch
Hub

Understanding the differences between switches and hubs is conceptually the difference between allowing only one vehicle on the road at a time vs. multiple vehicles.

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Today's LAN Design

Within an organizations today the sharing of information and resources is constantly increasing. Another trend is the increase in bandwidth requirements of the traditional data and applications used.

BANDWIDTH CONGESTION ISSUES

w Mostly switched resources; few shared w Routers provide scalability w Groups of users determined by physical location

BANDWIDTH CONGESTION

Today LAN congestion is caused by:
- Too many users on a 10-Mbps segment
- Most users accessing one or two servers
- High-performance PCs
- Network-intensive applications such as color publishing, CAD/CAM, imaging, and relational databases

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