Networking Components Mike Yardley LTEC 4550 Assignment 3 We are going to cover a hub, switch, router, bridge, gateway, firewall and wireless access point.

Hub A hub is an inexpensive networking device that connects multiple computers together. A hub operates at layer 2 of the OSI model. A hub makes communication between computers possible by repeating an incoming signal out each port except the port from which the signal originated. This technology handles collisions by using a jamming signal on each port when a collision is detected, forcing each device to stop traffic and count down using a timer before attempting to send another signal. A hub used to be used for building a network but now it is mainly used for tapping into network communication. A networking hub is a legacy technology that has been replaced by Ethernet switches in modern networks. A hub can cost as little as a few dollars up to over just one hundred dollars.

Switch A network switch is a device that operates at layer 2 of the OSI model and was first produced in the 1990’s. More modern switches operate at multi levels of the OSI model and are capable of routing which operate at layer 3 of the OSI model. A network switch at its basic level acts as a bridge and uses learned MAC addresses to determine where data exits which port. A layer 3 switch is capable routing traffic based on IP. They can cost as little as 10s of dollars or hundreds of thousands of dollars for modern enterprise based switches.

Router A router is a device that operates mainly within layer 3 of the OSI model. This means that it deals with the Internet Protocol (IP) and forwards traffic based on destination IP address. A router can cost as little as thirty dollars as part of a broadband modem to upwards of several thousand dollars.

Bridge A bridge connects two separate networks using layer 1 and 2 of the OSI model. It is a function of modern network switches and routers. Bridges form a network boundary by filtering traffic and deciding whether to forward or discard it by inspecting each Ethernet frame.

Gateway A gateway is device that can interconnect separate networks that use different protocols. They tend to be placed at the edge of a network and are usually in the form of a firewall currently. They also operate at any layer of the OSI model. They can range in price from your basic home router for under one hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars for an enterprise class device.

Firewall A firewall covers many different functions these days and come in a wide variety of features and functions. Current firewalls operate at all levels of the OSI model. They are usually implemented to cover several different roles, such as a gateway, intrusion prevention, VPN, site to site VPN, virus/malware protection, data loss, content filtering and they can be configured in a high availability mode as well. Firewalls can be used for different bandwidth needs and currently go up to and beyond 100GB connections. At my work we use 2 NSA 4500 appliances in failover mode. They can be very cheap when it comes with your home router or be very expensive depending on your needs.

Wireless Access Point Wireless access points are cable of broadcasting a signal in a certain frequency, usually 2.4GHZ or 5GHZ that a configured device can attach to giving them network access. They come from a multitude of different vendors and prices. Current APs are moving to a new standard called 802.11AC, sporting data rates just over 400mbp/s. They can be configured per each access point or can be used with a hardware based controller like come cisco access points or be connected to a cloud based controller. Access points are very cheap on the consumer side costing as little as twenty dollars to the enterprise class costing over one thousand dollars per access point.