In this article we are going to discuss about the difference between a hub, a switch, and a router. These three devices are similar, but there is a difference the way they handle the data or in the way they handle data.
What is HUB?
The main purpose of a hub is to connect all your network devices together on an internal network. It’s a device that has multiple network ports that accepts Ethernet connections from network devices. A hub is considered not to be intelligent because they broadcast data on all ports. It does not filter any data or has any intelligence as to where the data is supposed to be sent. Hubs only knows one thing, that is when a device is connected to one of its ports.
When a data packet come to at one of the ports, it is copied to all the other ports or it broadcast that packet to all ports. All the devices connected on that hub sees that data packets. So again, a data packet comes into one port then the hub will just rebroadcast that data to every port that has a device connected to it.
So, if computer-A only wanted to communicate with computer-B over the network but other computers-X, Y & Z would still receive the data, even though that data was not projected for them. When this happens it not only creates security issues, but it also generates needless traffic on the network, which wastes bandwidth.
What is Switch?
Switch is very comparable to a hub. It’s also a network device that has several ports for Ethernet connections from network devices. But switch is intelligent device, unlike to a hub. A switch can learn the physical addresses (MAC Address) of the devices that are connected to it and it stores these physical addresses in table, called MAC addresses table.
As soon a data packet is sent to a switch from computer-A, it’s only directed to the intended destination port of computer-B, unlike a hub where a hub will just rebroadcast the data to every port.
That’s why switches are far more ideal then hubs because they reduce unnecessary traffic on the network.
So as a review, a hub only detects that a device is physically connected to it and a switch can detect and remember specific devices that are connected to it because it keeps a record of the MAC addresses of those devices.
What is Router?
As the hubs and switches are used to exchange data within the local area network (LAN). For example, your home network or in an Offices.
They can not exchange data outside their own network (LAN), such as out on the internet or any remote location in other city etc.
To send and receive or route data outdoor their own network to another network or remote location system, such as out on the internet, a device required to be able to read IP addresses. Because hubs and switches do not read IP addresses. So, that’s where the router comes in.
When a data packet is received from the router, the router examines the data’s IP address and determines if the packet was belonging to its own network or if it’s belonged to another network. If the router determines that the data packet is belong to its own network, it receives it and send to concern system.
But if it’s not belonged to its own network, it sends it off to another network on Wide Area Network (WAN). Basically, a router is essentially the gateway of a Wide Area Network (WAN