pctechguide.com

  • Home
  • Guides
  • Tutorials
  • Articles
  • Reviews
  • Glossary
  • Contact

Network Switches

LAN switches are an expansion of the concept in LAN bridging. They operate at Layer 2 (link layer) of the OSI reference model, which controls data flow, handles transmission errors, provides physical (as opposed to logical) addressing, and manages access to the physical medium. Switches provide these functions by using various link-layer protocols – such as Ethernet, Token Ring and FDDI – that dictate specific flow control, error handling, addressing, and media-access algorithms.

LAN switches can link four, six, ten or more networks together, and have two basic architectures: cut-through and store-and-forward. In the past, cut-through switches were faster because they examined the packet destination address only before forwarding it on to its destination segment. A store-and-forward switch, on the other hand, accepts and analyses the entire packet before forwarding it to its destination.

It takes more time to examine the entire packet, but it allows the switch to catch certain packet errors and keep them from propagating through the network. By the late 1990s, the speed of store-and-forward switches had caught up with cut-through switches so the difference between the two was minimal. By then, a large number of hybrid switches had become available that mixed both cut-through and store-and-forward architectures.

One way to think of the relative functions of routers and switches is in terms of a residential neighbourhood. The switches are analogous to the streets in the neighbourhood and the routers as the intersections with the street signs. Each house on the street has an address within a range on the block. In the same way, a switch connects various devices each with their own IP address(es) on a LAN. However, the switch knows nothing about IP addresses except its own management address. Routers connect networks together the way that major intersections connect streets to both highways and freeways, etc. The street signs at the intersection (routing table) show which way the packets need to flow.

Routers

Filed Under: Networking

Latest Articles

2005 Site Updates

Date Details of Updates 14Oct '05 Communications: New sections added on ADSL and ADSL2+, outlining the latest revisions of the ADSL family of standards, which increase downstream data rates to up to 12 Mbit/s and 25 Mbit/s respectively. 4Sep '05 Graphics: Sections on DirectX, … [Read More...]

CPU interfaces – motherboard slots and sockets for AMD and Intel processors

The PC's ability to evolve many different interfaces allowing the connection of many different classes of add-on component and peripheral device has been one of the principal reasons for its success. The key to this has been standardisation, which has promoted competition and, in turn, … [Read More...]

Top Computer Video Games in 2020

The PC gaming market is maturing, but it is also very robust. The market will be worth $30.71 billion by 2022. It is growing at a pace of 2.2% a year, but the sluggish growth reflects the fact that it is already so large. New gamers are often looking for new games to try. Some people like the … [Read More...]

Gaming Laptop Security Guide: Protecting Your High-End Hardware Investment in 2025

Since Jacob took over PC Tech Guide, we’ve looked at how tech intersects with personal well-being and digital safety. Gaming laptops are now … [Read More...]

20 Cool Creative Commons Photographs About the Future of AI

AI technology is starting to have a huge impact on our lives. The market value for AI is estimated to have been worth $279.22 billion in 2024 and it … [Read More...]

13 Impressive Stats on the Future of AI

AI technology is starting to become much more important in our everyday lives. Many businesses are using it as well. While he has created a lot of … [Read More...]

Graphic Designers on Reddit Share their Views of AI

There are clearly a lot of positive things about AI. However, it is not a good thing for everyone. One of the things that many people are worried … [Read More...]

Redditors Talk About the Impact of AI on Freelance Writers

AI technology has had a huge impact on our lives. A 2023 survey by Pew Research found that 56% of people use AI at least once a day or once a week. … [Read More...]

11 Most Popular Books on Perl Programming

Perl is not the most popular programming language. It has only one million users, compared to 12 million that use Python. However, it has a lot of … [Read More...]

Guides

  • Computer Communications
  • Mobile Computing
  • PC Components
  • PC Data Storage
  • PC Input-Output
  • PC Multimedia
  • Processors (CPUs)

Recent Posts

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Review

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard I usually like EaseUS products. They have awesome partition programs and overall have some great products. Their Data … [Read More...]

AR/VR in Construction: 10 Ways Augmented and Virtual Reality is Transforming the Industry

The construction industry is undergoing a technological revolution, with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) emerging as transformative … [Read More...]

Pentium Dual Core

Pentium is the flagship series of Intel processors. With the launch of Celeron (low priced microprocessor brand) in 1998 the company had planned to … [Read More...]

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2025 About | Privacy | Contact Information | Wrtie For Us | Disclaimer | Copyright License | Authors