Networking Hardware
Networking
hardware may also be known as network equipment or computer networking devices.
Units which are the last receiver or generate data are called hosts or data
terminal equipment. All these terms refer to devices facilitating the use of a
computer network. Specifically, they mediate data in a computer network.
Gateway
A gateway is
a network point that acts as an entrance to another network. On the internet, a
node or stopping point can be either a gateway node or a host (end-point) node.
Both the computer of Internet users and the computers that serve page to users
are host nodes.
Router
A router is
a device that forwards data packets along networks. A router is a connected to
at least two networks, commonly two LANs or WANs or a LAN and its ISP’s
network. Routers are located at gateways, the places where two or more networks
connect.
Switch
A network
switch (also called switching hub, bridging hub, officially MAC bridge) is a
computer networking device that connects devices together on a computer
network, by using packet switching to receive, process and forward data to the
destination device.
Bridge
A network
bridge is software or hardware that connects two or more networks so that they
can communicate. People with home or small office networks generally use a
bridge when they have different types of networks but they want to exchange
information or chare files among all of the computers on those networks.
Hub
An Ethernet
hub, active hub, network hub, repeater hub, multiport repeater, or simply hub
is a network hardware device for connecting multiple Ethernet devices together
and making them act as a single network segment.
Repeater
A network
device used to regenerate or replicate a signal. Repeaters are used in
transmission systems to regenerate analog or digital signals distorted by
transmission loss. Analog repeaters frequently can only amplify the signal
while digital repeaters can reconstruct a signal to near its original quality.
Hybrid Network Devices
Multilayer Switch
A switch
which, in addition to switching on OSI layer 2, provides functionality at
higher protocol layers.
Protocol Converter
A hardware
device that converts between two different types of transmission, for
interoperation.
Bridge Router (Brouter)
A device
that works as a bridge and as a router. The brouter routes packets for known
protocols and simply forwards all other packets as a bridge would.
Kevin Crawford