10.9. Understanding Switches and Hubs
Hubs are dummy devices that connect multiple computers, making them act as a single segment on a network. With hubs, only one device can successfully transmit data at a time. When two computers submit data at the same time, a collision occurs, and a jam signal is sent to all the ports when collisions are detected. This makes one computer able to cause collisions and force an entire network to slow down while packets that were jammed are re-sent by all the computers that attempted to communicate during the jam. Hubs will also allow any computer to see the packets sent by all other computers on the hub.
Switches are more advanced than hubs and provide expandability, allowing more switches, ports, and computers ...
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