A switch is something that is used to turn on or off several electronic devices. A switch in computer networking however is used to connect multiple cumputers with each other. The connection of these multiple computers is done within an existing Local Area Network in short LAN only and this is identical to an Ethernet hub in terms of appearance except with more intelligence. These switches are used to receive data packets and also have the ability to inspect them before passing them on to the next computer. This is because they can figure out the source, the data contents as well as identify the destination. The ethernet is a collection of computer networking tools that are brought together with a specific set of standards.
It is because of this uniqueness that it sends the data to the relevant connected system only and thereby using less bandwidth at high performance rates. The wires in a crosover cable are "crossed" so that output signals from the trnasmitting device will be properly sent as input signals to the receiving end. An Ethernet switch can be assumed as a device that makes temporary crossover cable connections between computers that wish to communicate. These switches do not suffer from the problem of collisions just like crossover cables. It is however important to know that the actual cables used are "straight through".
The crosover function is done inside the switch. Switches support operation in full duplex mode where devices are able to send and receive data at the same time since separate wires are used for sending and receiving. These switches also make sure that bandwidth is not wasted by intelligently directing traffic and this is because it stores the MAC addressof each host and its corresponding port in a table. However unlike hubs switches are modern, fast as well as allow full duplex operation. These switches must carry either 10/100 Megabits per second or 10/100/1000 Megabits per second ports in order to be considered an Ethernet network.
There are however other switches that are available in larger sizes which can be up to 10 Gigabites per second ports. These switches are the traffic controll centers for the LAN as they are required to manage the transmission of data packets between multiple devices. The basic switch that is commonly used is the 10/100 Megabits per second and this is best utilised in a small office or home network which may include four computers, a printer as well as an internal router. Each computer using these switches has a dedicated internet bandwidth as well as connection to the other devices on the network.
This structure is enables all the devices to be able to function to their full capacity and this is without impacting on the other devices that are connected. These switches manage these connections and this nis done through the use of a table that lists all the destination addresses and the connected ports. When a switch receives a data packet it reads the address from the header information and proceeds to create a temporary connection between the two addresses. The data packet will then be routed to the destination and the connection is closed.
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This article touched the basics of the topic. I have 2 more resources related to the above. They are ethernet switch and ethernet . They are worth a read.
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