NETWORK DEVICES

Introduction:
A network device possesses special communications hardware to make the necessary physical
connections to other devices. Most modern network devices have communication electronics
integrated onto their circuit boards.
Devices on computer networks function in different roles. The two most common roles are
clients and servers. Examples of network clients include PCs, phones and tablets, and network
printers. Clients generally make request and consume data stored in network servers , devices
generally designed with large amounts of memory and/or disk storage and high performance
processors to better support clients. Examples of network servers include Web servers and game
servers. Networks naturally tend to support many more clients than servers. Both clients and
servers are sometimes called network nodes .
Network devices may also be capable of functioning as both clients and servers. In a peer to peer
networking, for example, pairs of devices share files or other data with each other, one acting as
a server hosting some data while simultaneously working as a client to request different data
from other peer devices.
Repeater:
A repeater connects two segments of your network cable. It regenerates the signals to proper
amplitudes and sends them to the other segments.In the ethernet topology, we are probably
using a hub as a repeater. Repeaters require a small amount of time to regenerate the signal. This
can cause a propagation delay which can affect network communication when there are several
repeaters in a row. Many network architectures limit the number of repeaters that can be used in
a row. Repeaters work only at the physical layer of the OSI network model.
Network repeaters regenerate incoming electrical, wireless or optical signals. With physical
media like Ethernet or Wi-Fi, data transmissions can only span a limited distance before the
quality of the signal degrades. Repeaters attempt to preserve signal integrity and extend the
distance over which data can safely travel. Actual network devices that serve as repeaters usually
have some other name as Active hubs which are also called "multiport repeaters.

Bridge:
A bridge is a device that filters data traffic at a network boundary. Bridges reduce the amount
of traffic on a local area network (LAN) by dividing it into two segments.
Bridges operate at the data link layer (Layer 2) of the OSI model. Bridges inspect incoming
traffic and decide whether to forward or discard it. An Ethernet bridge, for example, inspects
each incoming Ethernet frame - including the source and destination MAC addresses, and
sometimes the frame size - in making individual forwarding decisions.
Bridges are used to divide larger networks into smaller sections. They do this by sitting between
two physical network segments and managing the flow of data between the two. By looking at
the MAC address of the devices con-nected to each segment, bridges can elect to forward the
data (if they believe that the destination address is on another interface), or block it from crossing (if they can verify that it is on the interface from which it came).Bridges can also be used to
connect two physical LANs into a larger logical LAN.

Types of Bridges
Three types of bridges are used in networks:
Transparent bridgeDerives its name from the fact that the devices on the network
are unaware of its existence. A transparent bridge does nothing except block or forward
data based on the MAC address.
Source route bridgeUsed in Token Ring networks. The source route bridge derives
its name from the fact that the entire path that the packet is to take through the network is
embedded within the packet.
Translational bridgeUsed to convert one networking data format to another; for
example, from Token Ring to Ethernet and vice versa.
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Router:
Routers are small physical devices that join multiple networks together. Technically, a router is
a Layer 3 gateway device, meaning that it connects two or more networks and that the router
operates at the network layer of the OSI model.Home networks typically use a wireless or wired
Internet Protocol (IP) router, IP being the most common OSI network layer protocol. An IP
router such as a DSL or cable modem broadband router joins the home's local area network
(LAN) to the wide-area network (WAN) of the Internet.
By maintaining configuration information in a piece of storage called the routing table, wired or
wireless routers also have the ability to filter traffic, either incoming or outgoing, based on the IP
addresses of senders and receivers. Some routers allow a network administrator to update the
routing table from a Web browser interface. Broadband routers combine the functions of a router
with those of a network switch and a firewall in a single unit.
In a common configuration, routers are used to create larger networks by joining two network
segments. A router can be a dedicated hardware device or a com-puter system with more than
one network interface and the appropriate routing software. All modern network operating
systems include the func-tionality to act as a router.Routers will normally create, add, or divide
on the Network Layer as they are normal-ly IP-based devices.
When a router receives a packet of data, it reads the header of the packet to determine the
destination address. Once it has determined the address, it looks in its routing table to determine
whether it knows how to reach the destination and, if it does, it forwards the packet to the next
hop on the route. The next hop might be the final destination, or it might be another router.

Multiprotocol Routers:
Static Routing
In environments that use static routing, routes and route information are entered into the routing
tables manually. Not only can this be a time-con-suming task, but also errors are more common.
Additionally, when there is a change in the layout, or topology, of the network, statically
configured routers must be manually updated with the changes. Again, this is a time-consuming
and potentially error-laden task. For these reasons, static routing is suited to only the smallest
environments with perhaps just one or two routers.
Dynamic Routing
In a dynamic routing environment, routers use special routing protocols to communicate. The
purpose of these protocols is simple; they enable routers to pass on information about themselves
to other routers so that other routers can build routing tables. There are two types of routing
protocols usedthe older distance vector protocols and the newer link state protocols.
Distance-Vector Protocols
With distance-vector routing protocols, each router communicates all the routes it knows about
to all other routers to which it is directly attached (that is, its neighbors). Because each router in
the network knows only about the routers to which it is attached, it doesnt know how to
complete the entire journey; instead, it only knows how to make the next hop. Hops are the
means by which distance-vector routing protocols determine the shortest way to reach a given
destination. Each router constitutes one hop; so if a router is four hops away from anoth-er
router, there are three routers, or hops, between itself and the destination.
Link-State Protocols
A router that uses a link-state protocol differs from a router that uses a distance-vector pro-tocol
because it builds a map of the entire network and then holds that map in memory. On a network
that uses a link-state protocol, routers send out link-state advertisements (LSAs) that contain
information about what networks they are connected to. The LSAs are sent to every router on the
network, thus enabling the routers to build their network maps.

Gateways:
Any device that translates one data format to another is called a gateway. Some examples of
gateways include a router that translates data from one network protocol to another, a bridge that
converts between two networking systems, and a software application that converts between two
dissimilar for-mats. The key point about a gateway is that only the data format is translat-ed, not
the data itself. In many cases, the gateway functionality is incorpo-rated into another device.

Gateways provide full protocol conversion from one proprietary LAN technology to another, i.e.
Ethernet to token ring or FDDI or any other standard or protocol rather than encapsulation.It uses
higher layers of the OSI model, perhaps through layer 7, the application layer. IBM SNA,
DECnet, Internet TCP/IP and other protocols can be converted from network-to-network.Unlike
bridges and routers, gateways operate slowly because of protocol conversion. Consequently, they
may create bottlenecks of congestion during periods of peak usage.
Default Gateway
Default gateway consists of manually registering router IP addresses in the host. This method is
simple; and is the most frequently used. Note however, that if two or more routers are connected
to the same subnet, the network administrator must determine which of these routers the message
should be sent to. To solve this problem, a message called ICMP redirect is available. Default
gateway checks the destination host address in the received message. If it determines that the
message should be sent via other router, it will send back a redirect message that includes the IP
address of the selected router, to the source host. When the source host receives this message, it
stores the destination host address as well as the second router address so that it can send
messages addressed to this host via the second router.

Brouter

There is a device called a brouter which will function similar to a bridge for network transport
protocols that are not routable, and will function as a router for routable protocols. It functions at
the network and data link layers of the OSI network model.
Hubs
Hubs are used in networks that use twisted-pair cabling to connect devices. Hubs can also be
joined together to create larger networks. Hubs are simple devices that direct data packets to all
devices connected to the hub, regardless of whether the data package is destined for the device.
This makes them ineffi-cient devices and can create a performance bottleneck on busy networks.
In its most basic form, a hub does nothing except provide a pathway for the electrical signals to
travel along. Such a device is called a passive hub. An active hub, which, as well as providing a
path for the data signals, regenerates the signal before it forwards it to all of the connected
devices. A hub does not perform any processing on the data that it forwards, nor does it perform
any error checking.

Hubs come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Small hubs with five or eight con-nection ports are
commonly referred to as workgroup hubs. Others can accommodate larger numbers of devices
(normally up to 32). These are referred to as high-density devices. Hubs dont perform any
processing, except enable communication between connected devices.

Switches
Like hubs, switches are the connectivity points of an Ethernet network. Devices connect to
switches via twisted-pair cabling, one cable for each device. The difference between hubs and
switches is in how the devices deal with the data that they receive. Whereas a hub forwards the
data it receives to all of the ports on the device, a switch forwards it only to the port that connects
to the destination device. It does this by learning the MAC address of the devices attached to it,
and then by matching the destination MAC address in the data it receives.
By forwarding data only to the connection that should receive it, the switch can improve network
performance in two ways. First, by creating a direct path between two devices and controlling
their communication, it can great-ly reduce the number of collisions on the network. collisions
occur on Ethernet networks when two devices attempt to transmit at exactly the same time. In
addition, the lack of collisions enables switches to communicate with devices in full-duplex
mode.
In a full-duplex configura-tion, devices can send and receive data from the switch at the same
time. Contrast this with half-duplex communication, in which communication can occur in only
one direction at a time. Full-duplex transmission speeds are double that of a standard, halfduplex, connection. So, a 10Mbps connection becomes 20Mbps, and a 100Mbps connection
becomes 200Mbps.

Modem:
Modem is a contraction of the terms modulator and demodulator. Modems perform a simple function:
They translate digital signals from a computer into analog signals that can travel across conventional
phone lines. The modem modulates the signal at the sending end and demodulates at the receiving end.

Modems provide a relatively slow method of communication. In fact, the fastest modem available on the market today has a maximum speed of 56Kbps.
Modems are available as internal devices that plug into expansion slots in a system; external
devices that plug into serial or USB ports; PCMCIA cards designed for use in laptops; and specialized devices designed for use in systems such as handheld computers.

Modem speeds can be expressed in either baud rate or bits per second (bps). The baud rate refers
to the number of times a signal changes in each second, and the bps rate is the number of bits of
data that can be sent or received in a second.

CSUs/DSUs(CHANNEL SERVICE/DATA SERVICE UNIT)

A Channel Service Unit/Data Service Unit (CSU/DSU) acts as a translator between the LAN
data format and the WAN data format. Such a conversion is necessary because the technologies
used on WAN links are different from those used on LANs. Some consider a CSU/DSU as a
type of digital modem; but unlike a normal modem, which changes the signal from digital to
analog, a CSU/DSU changes the signal from one digital format to another.

A CSU/DSU has physical connections for the LAN equipment, normally via a serial interface,
and another connection for a WAN. Traditionally, the CSU/DSU has been in a separate box from
other networking equipment; however, the increasing use of WAN links means that some router
Manufacturers are now including the CSU/DSU functionality in routers or are providing the
expansion capability to do so.

CSU/DSUs essentially function as the digital counterpart to analog modems. They are typically
external units that look similar to an external modem, but they can also come in sizes that can be
mounted in a rack. Unlike analog modems, CSU/DSUs do not perform signal conversion
because the signal at both ends is already digital. CSU/DSUs package digital data into a format
suitable for the particular digital transmission line they are servicing, and buffer and rate-adapt
digital signals going to and from the telephone company network. CSU/DSUs ensure that data
frames are properly formed and timed for the telephone company network and provide a
protective barrier to electrical disturbances that can harm customer premises equipment (CPE).

Network Interface Cards (NICs)

In computer networking, a NIC provides the hardware interface between a computer and a
network. A NIC technically is network adapter hardware in the form factor of an add-in card
such as a PCIor PCMCIA card.Some NIC cards work with wired connections while others are
wireless. Most NICs support either wired Ethernet or WiFi wireless standards.
Ethernet NICs plug into the system bus of the PC and include jacks for network cables, while
Wi-Fi NICs contain built-in transmitters / receivers (transceivers).
NICssometimes called network cardsare the mechanisms by which computers connect to a
network. NICs come in all shapes and sizes, and they come in prices to suit all budgets. Many
different terms are used to refer to NICs, such as network card, network adapter, and LAN
adapter. Newly purchased NICs will almost certainly use the Peripheral Component Interconnect
(PCI) bus Generally a NIC has only one port, for twisted-pair cabling.
Before installing a network card into a system, we must verify compatibility between the
network card and the operating system on the PC in which we are installing the NIC.

In new computers, many NICs are now pre-installed by the manufacturer. All NICs feature a
speed rating such as 11 Mbps, 54 Mbps or 100 Mbps that suggest the general performance of the
unit.

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Wireless Access Point (WAP)

Wireless access points, referred to as either WAPs or wireless APs, are a transmitter and receiver
(transceiver) device used for wireless LAN (WLAN) radio signals. A WAP is typically a
separate network device with a built-in antenna, transmitter, and adapter. WAPs use the wireless
infrastructure network mode to provide a connection point between WLANs and a wired
Ethernet LAN. WAPs also typically have several ports allowing a way to expand the network to
support additional clients.
Depending on the size of the network, one or more WAPs may be required. Additional WAPs
are used to allow access to more wireless clients and to expand the range of the wireless network. Each WAP is limited by a transmissions range, the distance a client can be from a WAP
and still get a useable signal. The actual distance depends on the wireless standard being used
and the obstructions and environmental conditions between the client and the WAP.

Wireless Access PointsA WAP can operate as a bridge connecting a standard wired network
to wireless devices or as a router passing data transmissions from one access point to another.

A WAP is used in an infrastructure wireless network design. Used in the infra-structure mode,
the WAP receives transmissions from wireless devices within a specific range and transmits
those signals to the network beyond. This network may be a private Ethernet network or the
Internet. The transmission range a WAP can support and number of wireless devices that can
connect to it depends on the wireless standard being used and the signal inter-ference between
the two devices. In infrastructure wireless networking, there may be multiple access points to
cover a large area or only a single access point for a small area such as a single home or small
building.
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Transceivers
The term transceiver does not necessarily describe a separate network device but rather an
integrated technology embedded in devices such as network cards. In a network environment, a
transceiver gets its name from being both a transmitter and a receiver of signals, such as analog
or digital. Technically, on a LAN the transceiver is responsible to place signals onto the network
media and also detecting incoming signals traveling through the same cable. Transceivers are
found in network cards, they can be external devices as well. As far as networking is concerned,
transceivers can ship as a module or chip type. Chip transceivers are small and are inserted into a
system board or wired directly on a circuit board. Module transceivers are external to the
network and are installed and function similarly to other computer peripherals, or they may
function as standalone devices.

There are many types of transceivers: RF transceivers, fiber-optic transceivers, Ethernet

transceivers, wireless (WAP) transceivers, and more. Though each of these media types is
different, the function of the transceiver remains the same. Each type of the transceiver used has
different characteristics such as the number of ports available to connect to the network and
whether full-duplex communication is supported.
Media converters are a technology that allows administrators to interconnect different media
typesfor example, twisted pair, fiber, and thin or thick coaxwithin an existing network.
Using a media converter, it is possible to connect newer 100Mbps, Gigabit Ethernet, or ATM
equipment to existing networks such as 10Base-T or 100Base-T. They can also be used in pairs
to insert a fiber segment into copper networks to increase cabling distances and enhance
immunity to electro-magnetic interference (EMI).

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FIREWALL:
In computing, a firewall is a network security system that controls the incoming and outgoing
network traffic based on applied rule set. A firewall establishes a barrier between a trusted,
secure internal network and another network (e.g., the Internet) that is assumed not to be secure
and trusted.

This controlled access is designed to protect data and resources from outside threat. To do this,
fire-walls are typically placed at entry/exit points of a network. For example, a firewall might be
placed between an internal network and the Internet. After the firewall is in place, it can con-trol
access in and out of that point.
Although firewalls typically protect internal networks from public networks, they are also used
to control access between specific network segments within a network. firewalls can be
implemented through software or through a dedicated hard-ware device. Organizations
implement software firewalls through network operating systems (NOS) such as Linux/Unix,
Windows servers, and Mac OS servers. The firewall is configured on the server to allow or
permit certain types of network traffic. In small offices and for regu-lar home use, a firewall is
commonly installed on the local system and configured to control traffic. Many third-party
firewalls are available.
Hardware firewalls are used in networks of all sizes today. Hardware firewalls are often dedicated network devices and can be implemented with very little configuration and protect all
system behind it from outside sources. Hardware firewalls are readily available and often combined with other devices today. For example, many broadband routers and wireless access points
have firewall functionality built in. In such a case, the router or WAP may have a number of
ports available to plug systems into.
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