Networking Basics: The Difference Between Hubs, Switches and Routers

The Difference Between Hubs, Switches and Routers : -

Hubs : 

• Legacy , rarely seen , useful for comparison 
• Single broadcast domain 
• Single collision domain 

A hub is typically the least expensive, least intelligent, and least complicated of the three. Its job is very simple – anything that comes in one port is sent out to the others.

Switches : - 

• It also Single broadcast domain but has collision domains but still can see the broadcast domain 
• Layer 2 device 

In networks, a device that filters and forwards packets between LAN segments. Switches operate at the data link layer (layer 2) and sometimes the network layer (layer 3) of the OSI Reference Model and therefore support any packet protocol. LANs that use switches to join segments are called switched LANs or, in the case of Ethernet networks, switched Ethernet LANs

Routers/Layer 3 Switches :- 

• Interchangeable term 
• Many broadcast domains 
• Many collision domains (collision are limited to one particular host) 
• Layer 3 device (router), Layer 2/3 (L3 switches) because many Cisco Switches are Layer 3 capable  

Router forwards data packets along networks. A router is connected to at least two networks, commonly two LANs or WANs or a LAN and its ISP.s network. Routers are located at gateways, the places where two or more networks connect. Routers use headers and forwarding tables to determine the best path for forwarding the packets, and they use protocols such as ICMP to communicate with each other and configure the best route between any two hosts.