Monique Baudrit Herzog

May 31,2022

Network Devices

Jose Carlos Salas Irias

GSD International School Costa Rica

Router: a device that connects two or more packet-switched networks or subnetworks. It serves two
primary functions: managing traffic between these networks by forwarding data packets to their intended
IP addresses, and allowing multiple devices to use the same Internet connection. Some types of routers
are wired routers, wireless routers, core routers, edge routers and VPN routers. Some examples of routers
are mail carriers, woodworking tools and hardwares.

Switch: small piece of hardware that manages the communications of multiple connected devices in a
single, wired local area network (LAN). Some types of switches are KVM Switch, Managed Switch,
Unmanaged Switch, Smart Switch, PoE Switch.
An example of these is Cisco 350X.

Wireless router: Wireless routers are commonly found in homes -- they're the hardware devices that
Internet service providers use to connect you to their cable or xDSL Internet network. A wireless router,
also called a Wi-Fi router, combines the networking functions of a wireless access point and a router.

A router connects local networks to other local networks or to the Internet. A wireless access point
connects devices to the network wirelessly, using radio frequencies in the 900 MHz and 2.4, 3.6, 5, and
60 GHz frequency bands. The latest wireless routers are based on the IEEE 802.11ac Wave 2 standard,
often shortened to Wave 2.
Hub: function as the central connection point for LANs. Hubs are designed to work with Twisted pair
cabling and normally use RJ45 jack to connect the devices. Network devices (Servers, Workstations,
Printers, Scanners, etc.) are attached to the hub by individual network cables. Some types are: Active hub,
Passive hub, Intelligence hub. An example is the USB Hub.

Bridge:  device that divides a network into segments. Each segment represent a separate collision domain,
so the number of collisions on the network is reduced. Each collision domain has its own separate
bandwidth, so a bridge also improves the network performance.

A bridge works at the Data link layer (Layer 2) of the OSI model. It inspects incoming traffic and decide
whether to forward it or filter it. Each incoming Ethernet frame is inspected for destination MAC address.
If the bridge determines that the destination host is on another segment of the network, it forwards the
frame to that segment.

An example of this is an Ethernet. Some types of bridges are transparent bridge, translational bridge, and
source-route bridge.

Gateway: 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.
Modem:  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. Some types
are telephone modem, digital modem, cable modem. Some examples are a DSL modem.

Repeater:  network hardware device that is worked at the physical layer of OSI model, and it helps to
amplify or regenerate the signals before retransmitting it. Repeater is also known as “Signal Boosters”.
the types are wired and wireless repeaters. For example, a range extender.

Access Point: a network device that transmits and receives data over a wireless local area network
(WLAN). The wireless access point serves as the interconnection point between the WLAN and a fixed
wire network. There are three types: standalone, multifunction, and client. The examples can be: Linksys.
Fire wall: a network security device that monitors and filters incoming and outgoing network traffic based
on an organization's previously established security policies. At its most basic, a firewall is essentially the
barrier that sits between a private internal network and the public Internet. Some types are: Packet
filtering firewall, circuit-level gateway, application-level gateway (aka proxy firewall), stateful inspection
firewall, and next-generation firewall (NGFW). Some of the examples include: CyberCoyote.

https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/network-layer/what-is-a-router/
https://www.comms-express.com/blog/what-does-a-network-switch-do/
https://www.cdw.com/content/cdw/en/articles/networking/types-of-network-switches.html
https://www.techwalla.com/articles/examples-of-hardware-firewalls