Question about Routers (ports like switch or hub?)

[RedString]

I've got a couple loud f*cks in my class who feel the need to yell out every time my instructor pauses so I'm never able to get a single question in, very annoying - I want to kick someone in the face.

Anyways,

The 4 ports on the back of most home routers - Are these more like a hub or a switch? What I mean is if something is requested from web, does that hit the router and get sent to all 4 computers connected to ports - where they raise it up to proper layer - then drops if it isn't directed to them. OR is it more like a switch, and is routed only to the computer who requested the information? If it's like a switch, do routers have a MAC table?

Not even sure why I bother coming to this class..

 

[jlazzaro]

any modern SOHO device will have a router (for traffic traversing the WAN port) and a switch (for locally connected computers). Technically the router has an ARP table (maps IP to MAC address) and the switch has a MAC table (maps MAC address to physical port).

if the switch does not have a MAC entry for a specific host, it will act like a hub and send the frame out all ports except the one it came in one. most times, the traffic will be routed from the WAN interface and switched to the particular host connected to the switch.