Network Devices (Hub, Repeater, Bridge, Switch,

Router, Gateways and Brouter)

Network Devices: Network devices, also known as networking hardware, are

physical devices that allow hardware on a computer network to communicate and
interact with one another. For example Repeater, Hub, Bridge, Switch, Routers,
Gateway, Brouter, and NIC, etc.

1. Repeater – A repeater operates at the physical layer. Its job is to

regenerate the signal over the same network before the signal becomes too
weak or corrupted to extend the length to which the signal can be transmitted
over the same network. An important point to be noted about repeaters is
that they not only amplify the signal but also regenerate it. When the signal
becomes weak, they copy it bit by bit and regenerate it at its star topology
connectors connecting following the original strength. It is a 2-port device.

2. Hub – A hub is a basically multi-port repeater. A hub connects multiple

wires coming from different branches, for example, the connector in star
topology which connects different stations. Hubs cannot filter data, so data
packets are sent to all connected devices. In other words, the collision
domain of all hosts connected through Hub remains one. Also, they do not
have the intelligence to find out the best path for data packets which leads to
inefficiencies and wastage.

Types of Hub
 Active Hub:- These are the hubs that have their power supply and can clean,
boost, and relay the signal along with the network. It serves both as a repeater
as well as a wiring center. These are used to extend the maximum distance
between nodes.
 Passive Hub:- These are the hubs that collect wiring from nodes and power
supply from the active hub. These hubs relay signals onto the network without
cleaning and boosting them and can’t be used to extend the distance between
nodes.
 Intelligent Hub:- It works like an active hub and includes remote management
capabilities. They also provide flexible data rates to network devices. It also
 enables an administrator to monitor the traffic passing through the hub and to
configure each port in the hub.

3. Bridge – A bridge operates at the data link layer. A bridge is a repeater,

with add on the functionality of filtering content by reading the MAC
addresses of the source and destination. It is also used for interconnecting
two LANs working on the same protocol. It has a single input and single
output port, thus making it a 2 port device.

Types of Bridges

 Transparent Bridges:- These are the bridge in which the stations are
completely unaware of the bridge’s existence i.e. whether or not a bridge is
added or deleted from the network, reconfiguration of the stations is
unnecessary. These bridges make use of two processes i.e. bridge forwarding
and bridge learning.
 Source Routing Bridges:- In these bridges, routing operation is performed by
the source station and the frame specifies which route to follow. The host can
discover the frame by sending a special frame called the discovery frame, which
spreads through the entire network using all possible paths to the destination.

4. Switch – A switch is a multiport bridge with a buffer and a design that

can boost its efficiency(a large number of ports imply less traffic) and
performance. A switch is a data link layer device. The switch can perform
error checking before forwarding data, which makes it very efficient as it
does not forward packets that have errors and forward good packets
selectively to the correct port only. In other words, the switch divides the
collision domain of hosts, but the broadcast domain remains the same.

Types of Switch
1. Unmanaged switches: These switches have a simple plug-and-play design and
do not offer advanced configuration options. They are suitable for small
networks or for use as an expansion to a larger network.
2. Managed switches: These switches offer advanced configuration options such
as VLANs, QoS, and link aggregation. They are suitable for larger, more
complex networks and allow for centralized management.
3. Smart switches: These switches have features similar to managed switches but
are typically easier to set up and manage. They are suitable for small- to
medium-sized networks.
4. Layer 2 switches: These switches operate at the Data Link layer of the OSI
model and are responsible for forwarding data between devices on the same
network segment.
5. Layer 3 switches: These switches operate at the Network layer of the OSI
model and can route data between different network segments. They are more
advanced than Layer 2 switches and are often used in larger, more complex
networks.
6. PoE switches: These switches have Power over Ethernet capabilities, which
allows them to supply power to network devices over the same cable that
carries data.
7. Gigabit switches: These switches support Gigabit Ethernet speeds, which are
faster than traditional Ethernet speeds.
8. Rack-mounted switches: These switches are designed to be mounted in a server
rack and are suitable for use in data centers or other large networks.
9. Desktop switches: These switches are designed for use on a desktop or in a
small office environment and are typically smaller in size than rack-mounted
switches.
10.Modular switches: These switches have modular design, which allows for easy
expansion or customization. They are suitable for large networks and data
centers.

5. Routers – A router is a device like a switch that routes data packets based on
their IP addresses. The router is mainly a Network Layer device. Routers normally
connect LANs and WANs and have a dynamically updating routing table based on
which they make decisions on routing the data packets. The router divides the
broadcast domains of hosts connected through it.

6. Gateway – A gateway, as the name suggests, is a passage to connect two

networks that may work upon different networking models. They work as
messenger agents that take data from one system, interpret it, and transfer it to
another system. Gateways are also called protocol converters and can operate at
any network layer. Gateways are generally more complex than switches or routers.
A gateway is also called a protocol converter.
7. Brouter – It is also known as the bridging router is a device that combines
features of both bridge and router. It can work either at the data link layer or a
network layer. Working as a router, it is capable of routing packets across networks
and working as the bridge, it is capable of filtering local area network traffic.

8. NIC – NIC or network interface card is a network adapter that is used to

connect the computer to the network. It is installed in the computer to establish a
LAN. It has a unique id that is written on the chip, and it has a connector to
connect the cable to it. The cable acts as an interface between the computer and the
router or modem. NIC card is a layer 2 device which means that it works on both
the physical and data link layers of the network model.

Error Detection
Data (Implemented either at the Data link layer or Transport Layer of the OSI
Model) may get scrambled by noise or get corrupted whenever a message is
transmitted. To prevent such errors, error-detection codes are added as extra
data to digital messages. This helps in detecting any errors that may have
occurred during message transmission.
Types of Errors

Single-Bit Error

A single-bit error refers to a type of data transmission error that occurs when
one bit (i.e., a single binary digit) of a transmitted data unit is altered during
transmission, resulting in an incorrect or corrupted data unit.
 Single-Bit Error

Multiple-Bit Error

A multiple-bit error is an error type that arises when more than one bit in a data
transmission is affected. Although multiple-bit errors are relatively rare when
compared to single-bit errors, they can still occur, particularly in high-noise or
high-interference digital environments.

Multiple-Bit Error

Burst Error

When several consecutive bits are flipped mistakenly in digital transmission, it

creates a burst error. This error causes a sequence of consecutive incorrect
values.
 Burst Error

Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA)

This method was developed to decrease the chances of collisions when two or more
stations start sending their signals over the data link layer. Carrier Sense multiple access
requires that each station first check the state of the medium before sending.
Prerequisite - Multiple Access Protocols
Vulnerable Time:
Vulnerable time = Propagation time (Tp)

The persistence methods can be applied to help the station take action when the channel
is busy/idle.
1. Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD):

In this method, a station monitors the medium after it sends a frame to see if the
transmission was successful. If successful, the transmission is finished, if not, the frame
is sent again.

In the diagram, starts sending the first bit of its frame at t1 and since C sees the channel
idle at t2, starts sending its frame at t2. C detects A’s frame at t3 and aborts transmission.
A detects C’s frame at t4 and aborts its transmission. Transmission time for C’s frame is,
therefore, t3-t2 and for A’s frame is t4-t1
So, the frame transmission time (Tfr) should be at least twice the maximum
propagation time (Tp). This can be deduced when the two stations involved in a
collision are a maximum distance apart.

Byte-Stuffing

In variable-size framing at the data link layer, we need to define a way to

separate one frame from the next. Byte stuffing is employed to accomplish the
task. In byte stuffing an 8-bit flag (‘F’) is added at the beginning and at the end
of the frame, thereby distinguishing one frame from the next. Therefore, every
time a flag sequence (‘F’) is encountered, it signifies the beginning or end of a
frame. This, ingenious scheme, however would give rise to a discrepancy, if the
flag pattern (‘F’) would occur within the data carried by the frame itself. Byte
stuffing comes to the rescue here, by stuffing the original data with an extra 8-
bit escape sequence (‘E’) before the flag pattern, whenever it occurred within
the data carried by a frame. The receiver would then have to de-stuff the
escape sequence, in order to obtain the original data.
What is MAC Address?
To communicate or transfer data from one computer to another, we need an address. In
computer networks, various types of addresses are introduced; each works at a different
layer. A MAC address, which stands for Media Access Control Address, is a physical
address that works at the Data Link Layer. In this article, we will discuss addressing a
DLL, which is the MAC Address.

What is MAC (Media Access Control) Address?

MAC Addresses are unique 48-bit hardware numbers of a computer that are
embedded into a network card (known as a Network Interface Card ) during
manufacturing. The MAC Address is also known as the Physical Address of a
network device. In the IEEE 802 standard, the data link layer is divided into two
sublayers:

1. Logical Link Control (LLC) Sublayer

2. Media Access Control (MAC) Sublayer

The MAC address is used by the Media Access Control (MAC) sublayer of
the Data-Link Layer. MAC Address is worldwide unique since millions of
network devices exist and we need to uniquely identify each.
Format of MAC Address

To understand what is MAC address is, it is very important that first you
understand the format of the MAC Address. So a MAC Address is a 12-digit
hexadecimal number (6-bit binary number), which is mostly represented by
Colon-Hexadecimal notation.
The First 6 digits (say 00:40:96) of the MAC Address identify the manufacturer,
called the OUI (Organizational Unique Identifier). IEEE Registration Authority
Committee assigns these MAC prefixes to its registered vendors.