Hubs and Switches

HUBS ‘N SWITCHES

When shopping for network hardware you’ll find yourself in the world of hubs, switches and routers. I’ve seen some store salesmen give appalling and self-serving advice on this so it pays to be prepared.

A HUB is the standard way to link computers on a small network. All the computers are plugged into it in a ’star’ configuration with the hub in the middle. Hubs are quite simple and dumb. Each packet of information received is broadcast to all the computers on the network, it’s up to the network card in the computer to decide if the data is intended for it.

That’s OK on a small network but as the traffic gets greater it can become very wasteful to send data to places it doesn’t need to go. With big files being moved through the hub there can be congestion and slower transfer speeds.

Enter the SWITCH. Switches are much smarter, they know what computers are connected and act more like a traffic cop. Each packet of information received is analyzed to see where it’s supposed to go and then forwarded to that specific computer. Network capacity isn’t wasted sending data to places it isn’t wanted. A modern unmanaged switch does all the work without human intervention. Like a hub you just plug it in.

For most of us you won’t be able to tell any difference in speed between a hub and a router. Your computers can’t push data out fast enough to cause significant blockages at a hub. In addition your Internet connection is much slower than even a standard 10Mbps network.

These days switches can be the same price or even cheaper than a hub. Linksys has a 5 port 10/100 Mbps hub for a list price of US$59 while their equivalent switch is listed for $50. You can get both for less in stores. So with prices being what they are - get a switch, hubs are quickly becoming yesteryear technology. Actually, you should probably just get yourself a Router. What’s a Router and why should you get one? Check back tomorrow. [Comment on this Post]