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, and NIC,
etc.

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 do not amplify the signal. When the signal
becomes weak, they copy it bit by bit and regenerate it at its star topology
connectors connecting if original strength. It is a 2-port device.

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.
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.

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.
Switches are networking devices operating at layer 2 or a data link layer of the OSI model.
They connect devices in a network and use packet switching to send, receive or forward data
packets or data frames over the network.
A switch has many ports, to which computers are plugged in. When a data frame arrives at
any port of a network switch, it examines the destination address, performs necessary checks
and sends the frame to the corresponding device(s).It supports unicast, multicast as well as
broadcast communications.

Features of Switches
 A switch operates in the layer 2, i.e. data link layer of the OSI model.
 It is an intelligent network device that can be conceived as a multiport network bridge.
 It uses MAC addresses (addresses of medium access control sublayer) to send data
packets to selected destination ports.
 It uses packet switching technique to receive and forward data packets from the source
to the destination device.
 It is supports unicast (one-to-one), multicast (one-to-many) and broadcast (one-to-all)
communications.
 Transmission mode is full duplex, i.e. communication in the channel occurs in both
the directions at the same time. Due to this, collisions do not occur.
 Switches are active devices, equipped with network software and network
management capabilities.
 Switches can perform some error checking before forwarding data to the destined port.
 The number of ports is higher – 24/48.

Types of Switches
There are varieties of switches that can be broadly categorised into 4 types −

 Unmanaged Switch − these are inexpensive switches commonly used in home

networks and small businesses. They can be set up by simply plugging in to the
network, after which they instantly start operating. When more devices needs to be
 added, more switches are simply added by this plug and play method. They are
referred to as u managed since they do not require to be configured or monitored.
 Managed Switch − these are costly switches that are used in organisations with large
and complex networks, since they can be customized to augment the functionalities of
a standard switch. The augmented features may be QoS (Quality of Service) like
higher security levels, better precision control and complete network management.
Despite their cost, they are preferred in growing organizations due to their scalability
and flexibility. Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is used for
configuring managed switches.
 LAN Switch − Local Area Network (LAN) switches connects devices in the internal
LAN of an organization. They are also referred as Ethernet switches or data switches.
These switches are particularly helpful in reducing network congestion or bottlenecks.
They allocate bandwidth in a manner so that there is no overlapping of data packets in
a network.

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.

Routers are small physical devices that operate at the network layer to join multiple
networks together.

 A router is a device like a switch that routes data packets based on their IP addresses.
 Routers normally connect LANs and WANs and have a dynamically updating routing
table based on which they make decisions on routing the data packets.
 A Router divides the broadcast domains of hosts connected through it.
 Routers perform the traffic directing functions on the Internet. A data packet is
typically forwarded from one router to another through the networks that constitute the
internetwork until it reaches its destination code.
 Routers may also be used to connect two or more logical groups of computer devices
known as subnets, each with a different subnetwork address. The subnet addresses
recorded in a router do not necessarily map directly to the physical interface
connections.
Two types of routers −
  Static routers – Static routers are configured manually and route data packets based
on the information in a router table.
 Dynamic routers – Dynamic routers use adaptive routing which is a process where a
router can forward data by a different route

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.
A gateway is a network node that forms a passage between two networks operating with
different transmission protocols. The most common type of gateways, the network gateway
operates at layer 3, i.e. network layer of the OSI (open systems interconnection) model.
However, depending upon the functionality, a gateway can operate at any of the seven layers
of OSI model. It acts as the entry – exit point for a network since all traffic that flows across
the networks should pass through the gateway. Only the internal traffic between the nodes of
a LAN does not pass through the gateway.

Features of Gateways
 Gateway is located at the boundary of a network and manages all data that inflows or
outflows from that network.
 It forms a passage between two different networks operating with different
transmission protocols.
 A gateway operates as a protocol converter, providing compatibility between the
different protocols used in the two different networks.
 The feature that differentiates a gateway from other network devices is that it can
operate at any layer of the OSI model.
 It also stores information about the routing paths of the communicating networks.
 When used in enterprise scenario, a gateway node may be supplemented as proxy
server or firewall.
  A gateway is generally implemented as a node with multiple NICs (network interface
cards) connected to different networks. However, it can also be configured using
software.
 It uses packet switching technique to transmit data across the networks.

Types of Gateways
On basis of direction of data flow, gateways are broadly divided into two categories −
 Unidirectional Gateways − They allow data to flow in only one direction. Changes
made in the source node are replicated in the destination node, but not vice versa.
They can be used as archiving tools.
 Bidirectional Gateways − They allow data to flow in both directions. They can be
used as synchronization tools.

Access Point
A Wireless Access Point (WAP) is a networking device that allows connecting the devices
with the wired network. A Wireless Access Point (WAP) is used to create the WLAN
(Wireless Local Area Network), it is commonly used in large offices and buildings which
have expanded businesses.

It is easier and simpler to understand and implant the device. It can be fixed, mobile or hybrid
proliferated in the 21st century. The availability, confidentiality, and integrity of the
communication and network are a responsibility and to be ensured about that.

A wireless AP connects the wired networks to the wireless client. It eases access to the
network for mobile users which increases productivity and reduces the infrastructure cost.

Advantages of Wireless Access Point (WAP):

1. More User Access:

 Normally the wireless router allows 10 – 20 users or devices to access the network.
While the WAP allows 50 – 100 or more users or devices to access the network.
 The WAP has a stronger ability to send and receive signals which enable high usage.

2. Broader Transmission Range:

 A wireless router signals cover up to a dozen or 10 -12 meters. However, a wireless

access point covers more than 100 – 300 meters.
 The broad range is supremacy for the large cover offices or buildings for the bigger
businesses. With this wireless access point, a user can easily roam that network.

3. Flexible Networking:

 It is known that wireless networking except in homes, often involves many wireless
devices and different networking patterns implanted based on the environment and
requirements of the commercial locations.
 Modem
Modem is a device that enables a computer to send or receive data over telephone or cable
lines. The data stored on the computer is digital whereas a telephone line or cable wire can
transmit only analog data.

The main function of the modem is to convert digital signal into analog and vice versa.
Modem is a combination of two devices − modulator and demodulator. The modulator
converts digital data into analog data when the data is being sent by the computer. The
demodulator converts analog data signals into digital data when it is being received by the
computer.

Types of Modem
Modem can be categorized in several ways like direction in which it can transmit data, type
of connection to the transmission line, transmission mode, etc.

Depending on direction of data transmission, modem can be of these types −

 Simplex − A simplex modem can transfer data in only one direction, from digital
device to network (modulator) or network to digital device (demodulator).
 Half duplex − A half-duplex modem has the capacity to transfer data in both the
directions but only one at a time.
 Full duplex − A full duplex modem can transmit data in both the directions
simultaneously.