Riphah International University, Islamabad

Faculty of Computing
Riphah International University, Islamabad
Faculty of Computing (WISH)
Fall-20
Computer Communications and Network Lab
LAB - 4
Course Computer Communications and Network Lab
Course Instructor Ms Warda Malik
Credit Hour 1
Lab No. 4
Lab Subject Learning about connecting devices
Lab Objective Network Devices
Tools Lab Manual

Study and learn about these network devices:

Routers, Hubs, Switches, and Bridges are all network connecting devices.  A network connecting device is a
device that connects two or more devices together that are present in the same or different networks. A network
connecting device can be a repeater, hub, bridge, switch, router, or gateway.

1. Repeater

A repeater is an electronic device in a communication channel that increases the power of a signal and
retransmits it, allowing it to travel further. Use of the term has continued in telephony and data
communications. 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 so as to extend the length to which the signal can
be transmitted over the same network. When the signal becomes weak, they copy the signal bit by bit and
regenerate it at the original strength. It is a 2 port device. It functions at physical layer.

 A repeater is an electron device that receives a signal and retransmits it at higher level and/or higher
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power, or onto the other side of the obstruction. So that signal can cover longer distances.
 Repeater has two ports. So cannot be used to connect for more than two devices.

A WiFi repeater or extender is used to extend the coverage area of your WiFi network. It works by receiving your
existing WiFi signal, amplifying it and then transmitting the boosted signal. With a WiFi repeater you can
effectively double the coverage area of your WiFi network - reaching far corners of your home or office, different
floors, or even extend coverage to your yard.

A WiFi Repeater effectively contains two wireless routers, similar to the wireless router you already have in your
home or office. One of these wireless routers picks up the existing WiFi network. It then transfers the signal to the
other wireless router, which transmits the boosted signal.

WiFi Repeaters are very easy to install. All you have to do is place the repeater in a location that can receive your
existing WiFi network, and then attach the power supply. You can then log into the WiFi repeater via your
computer, and input the login details and password of your existing WiFi network, to allow the WiFi repeater to
connect and extend.

WiFi repeaters offer the same levels of security as traditional WiFi routers (WEP, WPA, WPA2 etc).

Physical layer is the lowest layer of the OSI reference model. It is responsible for sending bits from one computer to
another. 

2. Hub

An Ethernet hub, active hub, repeater hub, hub concentrator are the different types of hubs.
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A hub is a common connection point, also known as a network hub, which is used for connection of devices in a
network. It works as a central connection for all the devices that are connected through a hub. The hub has
numerous ports. If a packet reaches at one port, it is able to see by all the segments of the network due to a packet is
copied to the other ports.
 
Hub is a network device that connects multiple ethernet devices with which they can share resources and transfer
data, it works as layer 1 of the OSI model of the physical layer.

The network hub is an interface connecting physical devices such as a printer, I/O devices, desktop, storage
devices and all servers in the data center. It is according to the requirement or plans to choose the configuration of
the hub. It plays the main role in a star topology.

When a Hub receives data from one of the connected devices, it passes data to all the other ports without checking
for the destination device except the port through which it receives the data. Below figure, shows the working of a
HUB.

Although most of the hubs can recognize network troubles or errors like collisions, broadcasting all information to
the several ports can be a security risk and cause bottlenecks. The network hubs were popular in the past time as
they were cheaper as compared to a switch or router. Nowadays, switches are much cheaper than a hub and provide
a better solution for any network. Furthermore, a hub is no IP address, as it is a dumb device.

Types of Hub

1. Active hub
These hubs regenerate our signals as well as amplify the signal. Active hubs need electricity to work.
2. Passive hub
Talking about passive hubs, it simply distributes the signal coming from the previous ports. Passive hub
neither regenerates any signal nor amplifies, therefore it does not require electricity to work.
3. Intelligence hub
This helps the administrator to monitor network traffic, and you can configure each port on it individually,
also known as a manageable hub.

3. Switch
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Switches are key building blocks for any network. They connect multiple devices, such as
computers, wireless access points, printers, and servers; on the same network within a building or
campus. A switch enables connected devices to share information and talk to each other.

A network switch or switching hub is a computer networking device that connects network
segments. The term commonly refer to a network bridge that processes and routes data at the data
link layer (layer 2) of OSI model.
Switches that additionally process data at the network layer (layer 3 and above) re often referred to
as a layer 3 switch or multilayer switch.

A switch is wired network hardware device that performs all tasks at the data link layer of OSI
model, and it also allows connecting multiple devices including computers, printers, and servers, in a
small business network with using of Ethernet cable.

These switches can facilitate the sharing all information and capable to talk by exchanging data to
each other.  It’s doesn’t matter that where they are setting on the campus or in a building.

A network switch is a device that operates at the Data Link layer of the OSI model—Layer 2. It
takes in packets being sent by devices that are connected to its physical ports and sends them out
again, but only through the ports that lead to the devices the packets are intended to reach. They can
also operate at the network layer--Layer 3 where routing occurs.

Ethernet Switches are also known as “LAN Switches”. With the use of these types of switches,
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companies can make internal connection with LAN network.   Ethernet switches help to deliver the
broadcasted data packets before getting direction it to its embedded receiver. These switches can
decrease the network congestion or bottlenecks by distributing a package of data only to its intended
recipient.

4. Bridge

A bridge in a computer network is one kind of network device, used to separate a network into
sections. Every section in the network represents a collision domain that has separate bandwidth. So
that network performance can be improved using a bridge. In the OSI model, a bridge works at
layer-2 namely the data link layer. The main function of this is to examine the incoming traffic and
examine whether to filter it or forward it.

A network bridge connects multiple network segments at the data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI
model. In Ethernet networks, the term bridge formally means a device that behaves according to
IEEE 802.1D standard.

A bridge and switch are very much alike ; a switch being a bridge with numerous ports.

Bridges are networking devices that connect networks. Sometimes it is necessary to divide networks into subnets to
reduce the amount of traffic on each larger subnet or for security reasons. Once divided, the bridge connects the two
subnets and manages the traffic flow between them. Today, network switches have largely replaced bridges.

A bridge functions by blocking or forwarding data, based on the destination MAC address written into each frame of
data. If the bridge believes the destination address is on a network other than that from which the data was received,
it can forward the data to the other networks to which it is connected. If the address is not on the other side of the
bridge, the data is blocked from passing.

The advantages of bridges are simple and significant. By preventing unnecessary traffic from crossing onto other
network segments, a bridge can dramatically reduce the amount of network traffic on a segment. Bridges also make
it possible to isolate a busy network from a not-so-busy one, thereby preventing pollution from busy nodes.

A bridge is a computer network hardware device that works at the data link layer of OSI model, and it also helps to
make interconnection in between multiple networks with using of same protocol.
The main purpose of data link layer is to check that whether messages are sent to the right devices. 
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5. Router
A router is an electronic device that interconnects two or more computer networks, and selectively
interchanges packets of data between them. Each data packet contains address information that a
router can use to determine if the source and destination are on the same network, or if the data
packet must be transferred from one network to another.
Router is a device where the data packets are transferred from one computer network to another.
Data is usually sent via internet which is a web page, email etc. 
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A router is a switching device for networks, which is able to route network packets, based on
their addresses, to other networks or devices. Among other things, they are used for Internet
access, for coupling networks or for connecting branch offices to a central office via VPN
(Virtual Private Network). Depending on the type they communicate using the various access
protocols, such as Ethernet, ATM or DSL. In the OSI layer model, the switching of data packets
through the router is based on the address on the network layer (layer 3). In addition to routers
that use Internet protocol (IP), there are multi-protocol routers, which also handle other network
protocols.

There are several types of routers, but most routers pass data between LANs (local area
networks) and WANs (wide area networks). A LAN is a group of connected devices restricted to
a specific geographic area. A LAN usually requires a single router.

6. Gateway

In a communications network, a network node equipped for interfacing with

another network that uses different protocols.
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A gateway is a network node used in telecommunications that connects two networks with

different transmission protocols together.

It is a state of a network that can get to different networks. Typically, in the intranet, a node or
router can go about as a router or the gateway node that interfaces the networks are called
gateways. In big companies, the PCs that deal with the traffic between enterprise networks are
named gateway nodes. For example, the PCs utilized by Internet service providers to connect
fluctuated users at the moment time to the web are gateway nodes.

A gateway, as the name suggests, is a passage to connect two networks together that may work
upon different networking models. They basically works as the 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
switch or router.

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.

The main role of the network layer is to move the packets from sending host to the receiving
host.

Lab Task 04

1. How Gateway is different from Routers? Explain with reasons in your own words. 05
2. Compare Hub, switch and router with the help of diagrams and examples. 03
3. Define the working of repeaters? 02
4. Explain the working of routers along with their types. Also define what is subnet? Why is
it used? 05

Total Marks: 15