What is a Switch??

[lennytiger]

this is a really bad question to ask but i need to know (i feel silly asking this)

Whats a switch and what is it used for???

I have had hubs and routers and so on but have never heard of a switch???

I know what a light switch is I just want to know what a switch is for in networking??

[klosters64a]

I'm far from knowledgeable about home networking, so I hope I have this right!

When you use a hub as the network "center," it simply assures that all the boxes can transfer data to each other. Because hubs are "dumb," it's possible for two data streams to collide. When this happens the effective data transfer rate drops.

I'm told that a network of only two boxes makes a Switch unnecessary because collisions are a bit rare, and are quickly compensated for.

Special circumstances can change the two box sitch. If one machine has a serious on-line gamer at its helm, said gamer may become upset when ANY collision slows his or her frame rate.

This is where a "smart" hub, which are known as "switches" comes in. Switches prevent collisions of data streams. This is done in a time frame of micro-seconds (I think)so nobody connected to this switch sees a visible slow down of their flow of data, or a decrease in their bandwidth.

Switches are a good deal more more costly than hubs, but if you have more than ~3 boxes on your network, or can simply afford one, go with a switch instead of a hub.

[lennytiger]

thanx for that info much appreciated ;)

[William]

Think of a post office. If a post office was a hub, it would send every single it got to every body in the district. If it is a switch, it would send only the letter you are supposed to get to your house. Best analogy I have ever seen(and a networking guru that I know said it was the best he had heard). So you can see why hubs are worse and worse as you put more and more computers on a hub.

[mrpcman]

Originally posted by William
Think of a post office. If a post office was a hub, it would send every single it got to every body in the district. If it is a switch, it would send only the letter you are supposed to get to your house. Best analogy I have ever seen(and a networking guru that I know said it was the best he had heard). So you can see why hubs are worse and worse as you put more and more computers on a hub.

good analogy.

[rugby]

If somebody wants the REALLY long definition I posted it a while ago in this forum. The post office analogy is a really good one, I'll have to remember it for work here when explaining what I do.