Tech Lesson: Collision & Broadcast Domains

Collision domains and broadcast domains are very different from each other even though these
two concepts are often mentioned together. Let’s begin with a simple understanding of collision
domains and then we will move on to broadcast domains. A collision domain is basical l y a
reference to a “shared piece of wire” where the connected devices need to use that same ”shared
piece of wire” or shared media. In terms of Ethernet, CSMA/CD (carrier sense multiple access with
collision detection) is used to check if there are any devices currently transmitting on the wire, and
if there are the data would not be sent in order to avoid a “collision”. The concept is similar to
stopping your car to check to see if another car is coming before using the road. We may find it
amusing that collisions can occur in data networking and indeed they can. This is one reason it is
important to understand what a collision domain is. It is further important to understand how to
configure a network so that collision domains do not become a problem.

Thinking in terms of network hardware most of us are familiar with a hub, switch and router, and
we need to understand how collision domains are separated by the ports of these devices. Let’s
take a hub for starters. A hub strengthens the signal it receives and then puts that signal back onto
the wire. Regarding the ports of a hub it is really like extending the same piece of wire into multiple
connection points. In this way, everything that attaches to a hub is in the same collision domain.
This means every connected host must access a shared piece of wire and check if there is already
traffic on that wire before sending. You may see how adding more and more hosts to a hub would
continuously make the network slower and slower as more hosts need to access that same piece
of shared wire. This is a large reason why it is best to just leave hubs out of your network
completely. In terms of a switch or a router all the ports are on their own collision domain.
Switches resolve the problems introduced with having multiple hosts on a single collision domain.

Use the diagram below to better understand how collision domains apply to hubs, switches,
routers, and computers.

The Collision Domain

All ports on a hub are in the same collision domain, however each port on a switch or
router is in it’s own collision domain. An Ethernet hub can only send traffic for a single
host at a time since all of its ports are physically on the same piece of wire.

collision
domain
Switch Router
collision
domain

Hub

collision domain

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 Tech Lesson: Collision & Broadcast Domains
Broadcast domains deal with more of the logical world than the physical, but are still not too
difficult a concept to comprehend. A broadcast domain is a division of a network in which all nodes
can reach each other by broadcasting at the Data Link Layer (OSI l ayer 2). A l ayer 2 broadcast can
also be triggered by a broadcast at the Network Layer (OSI layer 3). Many are probably already
familiar with the term “IP broadcast” and if so you can continue to think in those terms as the
function is the same whether talking about layer 2 or layer 3 broadcasts. The most important thing
to understand is that by default a Router will not pass broadcasts on to other networks. If routers
did pass broadcasts then the entire internet would be in a giant broadcast storm and would not
function.

By default broadcast traffic is not passed form one broadcast domain to another

Switch Router Switch

broadcast domain broadcast domain

Another good item to discuss is broadcasting in relation to VLANs. Virtual Local Area Networks
(VLANs) are a way to logically separate a switch into multiple broadcast domains. This is important
because different VLANs act the same as different networks or interfaces on a router. So, we can
say that a switch will not forward broadcast traffic to other VLANs just as a router will not forward
broadcast traffic to other networks. VLANs and networks are both broadcast domains. To get a
better understanding of this please review the diagram below:

Layer 3 or Layer 2 broadcast | IP Broadcast 255.255.255.255 | MAC Broadcast FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF

VLAN 2

Switch Router
VLAN 1

Broadcast source
Broadcast traffic is kept within the same network or VLAN.
It is not forwarded by the router, between VLANs, or back through the originating port

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 Tech Lesson: Collision & Broadcast Domains
Now, we can have a look at how both collision domains and broadcast domains are viewed within
the same diagram. By looking at the diagram below we can see that for every broadcast domain
there is at least one collision domain. In this diagram we are looking at different broadcast domains
that are implemented between each router and switch. As well as one switch with two of it’s ports
configured in the same Broadcast Domain (VLAN2). In this particul ar case there wil l never be more
than one broadcast domain per collision domain, but there can be multiple collision domains
within a single broadcast domain. VLAN 1
Router Broadcast Router Broadcast Switch
Collision Domain Collision Domain

Domain Domain
Collision
Collision

Domain
Domain

Collision
Domain
Collision
Domain
Switch Switch
Collision
Collision
Domain

Domain

Hub
Collision

Domain

Broadcast
Domain
VLAN 2

Broadcast *On this switch the router is connected to

Domain a switch port assigned to VLAN 1 while
the two hosts are connected to switch
ports assigned to VLAN 2. VLAN 1 and
Broadcast VLAN 2 are different broadcast domains
Domain

There is also scenario when we may have multiple broadcast domains that traverse a single physical
connection and collision domain. Take the following diagram of a VLAN Trunk for example. Here we have
multiple VLANs trunked across a single physical link between a router and a switch. In this case there are
multiple VLANs/Broadcast Domains (VLAN 1 and VLAN 100) per the single collision domain.
VLAN 1
Collision Domain

VLAN 100
Using what you’ve learned about both topics thus far
review this document again to confirm your understanding.

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