Difference between Hub and Switch

Difference between Hub and Switch 

Network devices, or networking hardware, are physical devices that are required for communication and interaction between hardware on a TCP/IP network.

Here is the common network device list:

·        Hub

·        Switch

·        Router

·        Bridge

·        Gateway

·        Modem

·        Repeater

·        Access Point

In 2006 The Network Hub is invented at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. A hub is a device that connects multiple Ethernet devices on one network and makes them act together as a single network. A hub does not gather information and input in one port results as an output in all ports on the network. A switch is a networking device that performs the same job as the hub but are considered as a more intelligent hub as it gathers information about the data packets it receives and forwards it to only the network that it was intended for. A Hub is a layer-1 device and operates only in the physical network of the OSI Model.

Hubs and switches are devices that are used in data networking on the internet. These devices are used in order to connect two or more networking ports in order to transfer data along the connection. Though the primary job of hubs and switches are the same, to forward data to different networks, they work in different ways.

A hub, also known as Ethernet hub, active hub, network hub, repeater hub or multiport repeater, is a device that connects multiple Ethernet devices on one network and makes them act together as a single network. A hub has multiple input/output (I/O) ports, in which an input in one port results in it being an output in all the other ports, except the port where it was input. In layman’s terms, a hub connects many networks into one, where a data packet that is sent by one networks, is copied and pasted to all network ports, making it so that every port can see that data packet. A hub works on the physical layer or layer 1 of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. It also works as a data collision detector, sending a jamming signal to all ports if it detects collisions at one port.

It is a simple device that does not examine the data it receives or sends, while just duplicating the data and making it visible for all. The receiving port that has to decide if the data packet is actually intended for it by checking the address on the packet, before passing it on further. Since hubs only have one collision domain, constant collisions occur. Unnecessary traffic is sent to all devices on the network. Originally hubs were popular due to the high price of switches, but switches are not so expensive these days. Hubs are slowly becoming obsolete in many practices, but are still used in special circumstances.

A switch is a networking device that performs the same job as the hub; it connects network segments or devices making them act as a single network. Switches are commonly referred to as a multi-port network bridge that process and routes data on a data link layer or layer of the OSI model. Switches can also process data at the network layer (layer 3) or higher layers and are known as multilayer switches.

Switches are considered as a more intelligent hub as it gathers information about the data packets it receives and forwards it to only the network that it was intended for. When a switch receives a data packet, it examines the data address, the sender and the receiver and stores the memory, after which it then sends the data to the device that the data is meant for.

Most modern Ethernet Local Area Networks (LANs) operate on switches. Small offices and residential devices commonly use single layer switch, while bigger applications require multilayer switches. The switches use a bridge or a router in order to split a larger collision domain to smaller collision domains, resulting in lesser collisions.  Each port has an individual collision domain, allowing computers to maintain dedicated bandwidth.

	Hub	Switch
Definition	A hub is a connection point for different segments of a LAN. It contains multiple ports and when it receives a packet of information at one port, it copies this packet to all segments of the LAN so that it can be viewed by all ports.	A switch is multi-port networking device that connects network devices together. A switch operates at the data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI model. A switch filters and then forwards data packets between networks.
Layer	Physical Layer (Layer 1)	Data Link Layer (Layer 2)
Spanning-Tree	No Spanning-Tree	It allows many Spanning-Trees to take place.
Type of Transmission	Broadcast	Broadcast, Uni-cast & Multicast.
Table	No MAC table. Hubs cannot learn MAC address.	Stores MAC address and maintains address.
Used in	LAN (Local Area Networks)	LAN (Local Area Networks)
No of Ports	4	24-48 depending on type of switch.
Collision	Occurs	No collision occurs
Collision Domain	One collision domain	Every port has its own collision domain.
Transmission Mode	Half duplex	Full duplex

Types of Hub

There are three types of the hub that are given below:

1.  Passive Hub

2.  Active Hub

3.  Intelligent Hub

Passive Hub: The passive hubs are the connection point for wires that helps to make the physical network. It is capable of determining the bugs and faulty hardware. Simply, it accepts the packet over a port and circulates it to all ports. It includes connectors (10base-2 port and RJ-45) that can be applied as a standard in your network. This connector is connected to all local area network (LAN) devices. Additionally, the advanced passive hubs have AUI ports, which are connected as the transceiver according to the network design.

Active Hub: As compared to a passive hub, it includes some additional features. It is able to monitor the data sent to the connected devices. It plays an important role between the connected devices with the help of store technology, where it checks the data to be sent and decides which packet to send first.

It has the ability to fix the damaged packets when packets are sending, and also able to hold the direction of the rest of the packets and distribute them. If a port receives a weak signal, but still it is readable, then the active hub reconstructs the weak signal into a stronger signal before its sending to other ports. It can boost the signal if any connecting device is not working in the network. Therefore, it helps to make the continuity of services in LAN.

Intelligent Hub: It is a little smarter than passive and active hubs. These hubs have some kinds of management software that help to analyze the problem in the network and resolve them. It is beneficial to expend the business in networking; the management can assign users that help to work more quickly and share a common pool efficiently by using intelligent hubs. However, it offers better performance for the local area network. Furthermore, with any physical device, if any problem is detected, it is able to detect this problem easily.

The important applications of a hub are given below:

·        Hub is used to create small home networks.

·        It is used for network monitoring.

·        They are also used in organizations to provide connectivity.

·        It can be used to create a device that is available thought out of the network.

Advantages of Hub

1. It provides support for different types of Network Media.

2.  It can be used by anyone as it is very cheap.

3.  It can easily connect many different media types.

4.  The use of a hub does not impact on the network performance.

5.  Additionally, it can expand the total distance of the network.

Disadvantages of Hub

1. It has no ability to choose the best path of the network.

2.  It does not include mechanisms such as collision detection.

3.  It does not operate in full-duplex mode and cannot be divided into the Segment.

4.  It cannot reduce the network traffic as it has no mechanism.

5.  It is not able to filter the information as it transmits packets to all the connected segments.

6.  Furthermore, it is not capable of connecting various network architectures like a ring, token, and ethernet, and more.