NETWORKING DEVICES

Introducing Networking Device

Networking: Network is a collaboration or connection of two or more zones or devices through a common linking method. The network allows the nodes to shares resources between the linked systems. This is applicable in telecommunication, internet and even offline data sharing.

Computer Hardware: Computer hardware is a physical part of the laptop or computer used for storing data, connecting, viewing and listening. The use of computer hardware in networking is detailed.

LAN and WAN devices: LAN, local area network is a collection of devices or computers connected to a common server. WAN or wide area network devices cover a huge amount of area as the network spans longer. The devices can be connected through satellite and leased line.

Collision: To understand networking devices, knowledge of collision is important. A network collision occurs when two network devices tries to transmit the same data at the same point of time. If the network detects such a collision,

it discards both the packets received.

What is the use of network devices?

Network devices or internetworking devices are used to establish a network connection inside the corporate environment. Take a look at the concept of internetworking devices and how they work.

In this image, HUB, Bridge and Switches are used to implement a switched network of the devices, while router is used to interconnect multiple switched networks.

There are certain hardware devices used within the network to connect two or more computers or peripherals.

The networking devices are intelligently designed to connect two or more computers through a data path. Apart from sharing files, these devices enable printers and fax machines sharing. The communicating devices set up a path that connects all computers in the network.

NIC: NIC stands for network interface card. Sometimes it is also called by the name "network interface controller". It is indeed a circuit board or a card that is installed in a computer so that it can be connected to a network. Actually the network interface card provides the computer with a dedicated, full-time connection to a network.

Personal computers and workstations on a local area network (LAN) typically cont' a network interface card specifically designed for the LAN transmission  

                  

Also there is a WI-AN (Wireless LAN) card as shown in the image below

Repeater: Repeater is a network device, which used to regenerate or replicate a signal. It removes the unwanted noise in an incoming signal. Unlike an analog signal, the original digital signal, even if weak or distorted, can be clearly perceived and restored. With analog transmission, signals are re-strengthened with amplifiers which unfortunately also amplify noise as well as information. Repeater operates at Layer 1 of OSI.

HUB: Basically a hub is a common connection point for devices in a network. Hubs are commonly used to connect segments of a LAN. A hub contains multiple ports. When a packet arrives at one port, it is copied to the other ports so that all segments Of the LAN can see all packets. HUB operate at Layer 1 of OSI.

Bridge: Bridge devices inspect incoming network traffic and determine Whether t forward or discard it according to its intended destination. An Ethernet bridge, of example, inspects each incoming Ethernet frame - including the source and destination MAC addresses, and sometimes the frame size - in making individual forwarding decisions. Bridge devices operate at the data link layer (Layer 2) of the OSI model.

Switch: : A switch is a very common types of networking device that channels coming data from any of multiple input ports to the specific output port that will take the data toward, its intended destination in a telecommunications network. In the traditional circuit-switched telephone network, one or more switches are used to set up a dedicated communication though temporary connection or circuit for data exchange between two or more network devices. On an Ethernet LAN, the switch determines from the physical device like MAC address in each incoming message frame which output port to forward it to and out of. In an Internet, a switch determines from the IP address in each packet, and the output port of switch is connected to the next part of the intended destination.

Gateway: A gateway is a network node which connects two networks in different protocols. Gateways can take several forms, including routers or computers and can perform a variety of tasks.

Essentials These range from simply passing traffic on to the next hop on its path to offering complex traffic filtering, proxies or protocol translations at various network layers. The most common gateway is the internet gateway, which connects a home or enterprise network to the internet. An internet gateway also often acts as a security node, variously filling one or more security roles, such as proxy server, firewall or Network Address Translation (NAT) server. Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) and virtual WAN systems serve as gateways between an enterprise network and two or more Wide Area Networks (WANs).

Router: Router is one of the most used networking devices used to sharing internet connection between two devices. The operation of router is complicate as it can be both software and hardware and operate at layer 3 of OSI.

Modem: MODEM stands for modulator-demodulator. A modem is a device or program that enables a computer to transmit data over, for example, telephone or cable lines. Computer information is stored digitally, whereas information transmitted over telephone lines is transmitted in the form of analog waves. A modem converts between these two forms analog to digital and vice versa.