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Historically, the main reason for purchasing hubs rather than switches was their price. By the early 2000s, there was little price difference between a hub and a low-end switch. [11] Hubs can still be useful in special circumstances: For inserting a protocol analyzer into a network connection, a hub is an alternative to a network tap or port ...
Switch monitoring (SMON) is described by RFC 2613 and is a provision for controlling facilities such as port mirroring. [30] RMON [31] sFlow; These monitoring features are rarely present on consumer-grade switches. Other monitoring methods include connecting a layer-1 hub or network tap between the monitored device and its switch port. [32]
A switch allows for many conversations to occur simultaneously. Before switches, networks based on hubs data could only allow transmission in one direction at a time, this was called half-duplex. By using a switch this restriction is removed; full-duplex communication is maintained and the network is collision free. [2]
A daisy chain is a group of connectivity devices linked together in a serial fashion. Hubs are often connected in this way to extend a network. However, hubs are not the only device that can be connected in a serial backbone. Gateways, routers, switches and bridges more commonly form part of the backbone. [14]
Exchanging cheap repeater hubs for more advanced switching hubs provided a viable upgrade path; Mixing different speeds in a single network became possible with the arrival of Fast Ethernet; Depending on cable grades, subsequent upgrading to Gigabit Ethernet or faster could be accomplished by replacing the network switches
Hub with three MDI-X ports and one switchable port, circa 1998 Switch showing one logical port, 16, with two physical ports, one in each conductor arrangement: MDI-X (the norm for a hub or switch), labelled 16x, and MDI, labelled Uplink, for connecting to another hub or switch with a normal straight-through cable
Switches can be designed to respond to any type of mechanical stimulus: for example, vibration (the trembler switch), tilt, air pressure, fluid level (a float switch), the turning of a key , linear or rotary movement (a limit switch or microswitch), or presence of a magnetic field (the reed switch). Many switches are operated automatically by ...
By connecting each device directly to a port on the switch, either each port on a switch becomes its own collision domain (in the case of half-duplex links), or the possibility of collisions is eliminated in the case of full-duplex links. For Gigabit Ethernet and faster, no hubs or repeaters exist and all devices require full-duplex links.