Hub or switch?
- Thread starter Calibos
- Start date
A hub is typically the least expensive, least intelligent, and least complicated of the three. Its job is very, very simple: anything that comes in one port is sent out to the others. That's it. Every computer connected to the hub "sees" everything that every other computer on the hub sees. The hub itself is blissfully ignorant of the data being transmitted. For years, simple hubs have been quick and easy ways to connect computers in small networks.
A switch does essentially what a hub does, but more efficiently. By paying attention to the traffic that comes across it, it can "learn" where particular addresses are. For example, if it sees traffic from machine A coming in on port 2, it now knows that machine A is connected to that port, and that traffic to machine A needs to only be sent to that port and not any of the others. The net result of using a switch over a hub is that most of the network traffic only goes where it needs to, rather than to every port. On busy networks, this can make the network significantly faster.
So i would recommend a switch. I picked up my netgear 5 port gigabit switch for as little as £30.
A switch does essentially what a hub does, but more efficiently. By paying attention to the traffic that comes across it, it can "learn" where particular addresses are. For example, if it sees traffic from machine A coming in on port 2, it now knows that machine A is connected to that port, and that traffic to machine A needs to only be sent to that port and not any of the others. The net result of using a switch over a hub is that most of the network traffic only goes where it needs to, rather than to every port. On busy networks, this can make the network significantly faster.
So i would recommend a switch. I picked up my netgear 5 port gigabit switch for as little as £30.
a swicth and a hub do basically the same thing except the switch does it more efficiently. so if your gonna be transfering a lot accross the network. switches are pretty cheap so theres no real point getting a hub
MW
MW