What's the difference between a router, switch, hub, and bridge?

[GoldenBear]

In plain english please

And if possible, an example as to when which is used.

 

[Wolfie]

Routers- An Intelligent internet work connectivity device that routes using logical and physical addressing to connect two or more logically separate networks. Routers use algorithms to determine the best path by which to send a packet. It basically chooses where it should send the packet to make the network more efficient.

Switch- Switches are used to transfer info to different computers on a network using a "dedicated" connection. So each signal has the entire bandwidth. So only one connection is allowed at one time. This helps to keep the colissions down.

Hub- Hubs use a "broadcasting" effect to send Packets. When a computer sends a packet to the hub it is relayed to all the other ports at the same time. This is so each computer will receive the packet. Weather it was intentionally sent to those other computers of not. Then it is up to the computer to decide weather or not to accept those packets.

Bridge- Bridges are a device that selectively determines the appropriate segment to which it should pass a signal. Through address filtering, Bridges can divide busy networks into segments and reduce network traffic. So if you have two separate networks. This will keep the appropriate info on the right side of the bridge to keep the info where it belongs instead of "broadcasting" to all computers on both sides of the network.

I hope this all makes sense. It was a little confusing for me at first. But once you learn what is what. It's easy to choose what you should use on your network.

Wolfie

[edit]Spelling is a hobby.[/edit]

 

[HaVoC]

If you really want to understand all this stuff I would suggest reading about the OSI networking model. Basically it has 7-layers of stuff that describes how a network operates.

 

[Argo]

Little correction. Switch allows more than one connection at a time. The max number is determined by the internal fabric. That's why switches can be faster than hubs, if properly used.

 

[Hard_Boiled]

A router is the only device you listed that forwards packets based on logical IP addresses. A switch and bridge forward packets based on MAC addresses, the physical addresses on NIC's and other network devices. A hub does little more than regenerate the signal and provide a center for connections.