1. NETWORKING COMPONENTS lLTEC 4550 JGuadalupe

2. HUB -THIS IS A HARDWARE DEVICE THAT IS USED TO NETWORK MULTIPLE COMPUTERS TOGETHER. IT IS A CENTRAL CONNECTION FOR ALL THE COMPUTERS IN A NETWORK, WHICH IS USUALLY ETHERNET-BASED. INFORMATION SENT TO THE HUB CAN FLOW TO ANY OTHER COMPUTER ON THE NETWORK. IF YOU NEED TO CONNECT MORE THAN TWO COMPUTERS TOGETHER, A HUB WILL ALLOW YOU TO DO SO. IF YOU ONLY NEED TO NETWORK TWO COMPUTERS TOGETHER, A SIMPLE CROSSOVER ETHERNET CABLE WILL DO THE TRICK.

3. SWITCH- IS USED TO NETWORK MULTIPLE COMPUTERS TOGETHER. SWITCHES MADE FOR THE CONSUMER MARKET ARE TYPICALLY SMALL, FLAT BOXES WITH 4 TO 8 ETHERNET PORTS. THESE PORTS CAN CONNECT TO COMPUTERS, CABLE OR DSL MODEMS, AND OTHER SWITCHES. HIGH-END SWITCHES CAN HAVE MORE THAN 50 PORTS AND OFTEN ARE RACK MOUNTED.

4. ROUTER - IS A HARDWARE DEVICE THAT ROUTES DATA (HENCE THE NAME) FROM A LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN) TO ANOTHER NETWORK CONNECTION. A ROUTER ACTS LIKE A COIN SORTING MACHINE, ALLOWING ONLY AUTHORIZED MACHINES TO CONNECT TO OTHER COMPUTER SYSTEMS. MOST ROUTERS ALSO KEEP LOG FILES ABOUT THE LOCAL NETWORK ACTIVITY.

5. BRIDGE - CONNECTS TWO OR MORE LOCAL AREA NETWORKS (LANS) TOGETHER.

6. GATEWAY - IS EITHER HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE THAT ACTS AS A BRIDGE BETWEEN TWO NETWORKS SO THAT DATA CAN BE TRANSFERRED BETWEEN A NUMBER OF COMPUTERS.

7. FIREWALL - LIMITS THE DATA THAT CAN PASS THROUGH IT AND PROTECTS A NETWORKED SERVER OR CLIENT MACHINE FROM DAMAGE BY UNAUTHORIZED USERS.

8. WIRELESS AP – A DEVICE, THAT ALLOWS WIRELESS DEVICES TO CONNECT TO A NETWORK.

9. REFERENCES: http://www.techterms.com/