This document provides an overview of various network devices including Network Interface Cards (NIC), repeaters, hubs, switches, bridges, routers, gateways, and modems, detailing their functions, types, and characteristics. It explains how these devices operate at different layers of the OSI model and their roles in facilitating communication within and between networks. Each device is described with insights into its installation, data transmission capabilities, and specific use cases in networking.

1. Computer Networks
Basics of Network Devices
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Presented By:
C.P.Divate
Department of Computer Engineering

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Contents
• Network Devices
• NIC
• Repeater
• HUB
• Switches
• Bridge
• Gateway
• Routers
• CSU/ DSU
• Modem

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1. Network Interface Card NIC
• Network Interface Card.
• A hardware component that connects your computer to a
local data network or the Internet.
• A device that takes a signal from a network and converts it to a
signal that a computer can understand and
• Translates computer data into electrical signals it sends
through the network.
• Provides an interface onto a network (usually a LAN) for a
computer system.
• A NIC is also known as a network interface controller (NIC),
network interface controller card, expansion card, computer
circuit board, network card, LAN card, network adapter or
network adapter card (NAC).

4. NIC Looks like
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• It’s a plastic circuit board about the size of a playing card.
• It has several computer chips that process signals from the
network and the PC.
• The card slides into the PC’s framework with a
connector on the motherboard.
• A steel bracket holds the card in place.
• The bracket may have a network cable jack or an
antenna.
• The bracket also has light-emitting diodes that indicate
network status and activity.
• Need drivers (software code that helps to run NIC).
1. Network Interface Card NIC

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NIC Types
• Work with Wi-Fi wireless networks: these cards have an
antenna to send data signals via radio waves.
• Wired Ethernet connections: these cables have a rectangular
plug which mates with a jack on the network card's bracket.
How to install NIC
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EwhnXspJmI

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2. Repeater
• A repeater operates at the physical layer.
• Its job is to regenerate the signal over the same
weak or
network before the signal becomes too
corrupted.
• It extend the length to which the signal can be
transmitted over the same network.
• An important point to be noted about repeaters is that
they do not amplify the signal.
• When the signal becomes weak, they copy the signal
bit by bit and regenerate it at the original strength.

8. Functions of Repeater
Corrupted signal
Corrupted signal Regenerated signal
Left-to Right Transmission
Regenerated signal
Right- to- Left Transmission
Repeater
Repeater
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Functions of Repeater
• It has no filtering capability
• It is a regenerator, not an amplifier
• It does not perform any intelligent function
• It receives a signal before it becomes too weak or corrupted
• Regenerates the original bit pattern
• The repeater forwards the refreshed signal
• It works in the physical layer

10. Repeater
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3)HUB
 Hubs are networking devices operating at a physical layer of the OSI model that
are used to connect multiple devices in a network.
 They are generally used to connect computers in a LAN.
 A hub has many ports in it. A computer which intends to be connected to the
network is plugged in to one of these ports.
 When a data frame arrives at a port, it is broadcast to every other port, without
considering whether it is destined for a particular destination device or not.

12. HUB
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Features of Hubs
• A hub operates in the physical layer of the OSI model.
• A hub cannot filter data. It is a non-intelligent network device that sends message
to all ports.
• It primarily broadcasts messages. So, the collision domain of all nodes connected
through the hub stays one.
• Transmission mode is half duplex.
• Collisions may occurs during setup of transmission when more than one
computers place data simultaneously in the corresponding ports.
• Since they lack intelligence to compute best path for transmission of data packets,
inefficiencies and wastage occur.
• They are passive devices, they don’t have any software associated with it.
• They generally have fewer ports of 4/12.

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Working Layer of Hubs in OSI Model

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Types of Hubs

17. Types of HUB
LAN HUB USB HUB
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BNC HUB
Fiber optic SC HUB

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4. SWICTH
• It is Hardware device.
• A high-speed device that receives incoming data packets and
redirects them to their destination on a local area network (LAN).
• A LAN switch operates at the data link layer or the network layer of
the OSI Model.
• A switch has many ports, to which computers are plugged in.
• A switch, however, keeps a record of the MAC addresses of all the
devices connected to it.
• When a data frame arrives at any port of a network switch, it
examines the destination address, performs necessary checks and
sends the frame to the corresponding device(s).
• It is supports unicast (one-to-one), multicast (one-to-many) and
broadcast (one-to-all) communications.
• Switches also run in full duplex mode.

19. Working of Switch using MAC Address Table

20. Working of Switch using MAC Address Table

21. MAC Address Table at Switch

22. Operating Modes of Switch

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4. SWICTH
• Transmission mode is full duplex, i.e. communication in the channel
occurs in both the directions at the same time. Due to this, collisions
do not occur.
• Switches are active devices, equipped with network software and
network management capabilities.
• Switches can perform some error checking before forwarding data to
the destined port.
• The number of ports is higher – 24/48

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Types of Switches
Unmanaged Switch −
 These are inexpensive switches commonly used in home networks and
small businesses.
 They can be set up by simply plugging in to the network, after which they
instantly start operating.
 When more devices needs to be added, more switches are simply added by
this plug and play method.
 They are referred to as u managed since they do not require to be
configured or monitored.

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Types of Switches
Managed Switch −
 These are costly switches that are used in organisations with large and
complex networks, since they can be customized to augment the
functionalities of a standard switch.
 The augmented features may be QoS (Quality of Service) like higher security
levels, better precision control and complete network management.
 Despite their cost, they are preferred in growing organizations due to their
scalability and flexibility.
 Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is used for configuring
managed switches.

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Types of Switches
LAN Switch −
 Local Area Network (LAN) switches connects devices in the internal LAN of
an organization.
 They are also referred as Ethernet switches or data switches.
 These switches are particularly helpful in reducing network congestion or
bottlenecks.
 They allocate bandwidth in a manner so that there is no overlapping of data
packets in a network..

27. SWICTH
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Difference between Switches and HUBs

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5. BRIDGE
• Hardware device, works at data link layer.
• It provides interconnection with other bridge networks
that use the same protocol.
• Connecting two different networks together and
providing communication between them.
• Bridges are similar to repeaters and hubs in that they
broadcast data to every node.
• Bridges maintain the media access control (MAC)
address table as soon as they discover new segments,
so subsequent transmissions are sent to only to the
desired recipient.

30. BRIDGE
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How BRIDGEs Work
• A bridge uses a database to discover where to pass,
transmit or discard the data frame.
• If the frame received by the bridge is meant for a
segment that resides on the same host network, it will
pass the frame to that node and the receiving bridge will
then discard it.
• If the bridge receives a frame whose node MAC address
is of the connected network, it will forward the frame
toward it.

34. How BRIDGEs Work

35. How BRIDGEs Work

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6. Routers
• Routers are networking devices operating at layer 3 or a network
layer of the OSI model.
• They are responsible for receiving, analysing, and forwarding data
packets among the connected computer networks.
• When a data packet arrives, the router inspects the destination
address, consults its routing tables to decide the optimal route and
then transfers the packet along this route.
• A router is a device like a switch that routes data packets based on
their IP addresses.
• Routers normally connect LANs and WANs together or a LAN and
its ISP's network –for example, your PC and your service provider.
• Have a dynamically updating routing table based on which they
make decisions on routing the data packets.

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6. Routers

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6. Routers

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Features of Routers
• A router is a layer 3 or network layer device.
• It connects different networks together and sends data packets from one network
to another.
• A router can be used both in LANs (Local Area Networks) and WANs (Wide Area
Networks).
• It transfers data in the form of IP packets.
• In order to transmit data, it uses IP address mentioned in the destination field of
the IP packet.
• Routers have a routing table in it that is refreshed periodically according to the
changes in the network.
• In order to transmit data packets, it consults the table and uses a routing protocol.
• In order to prepare or refresh the routing table, routers share information among
each other.
• Routers provide protection against broadcast storms.
• Routers are more expensive than other networking devices like hubs, bridges and
switches.

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Features of Routers
• Routers are manufactured by some popular companies like −.
• Cisco
• D-Link
• HP
• 3Com
• Juniper
• Nortel

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Routers
• Routers are located at gateways, the places where two or more
networks connect.
• Routers use packet headers and forwarding tables to determine
the best path for forwarding the packets.
• And they use protocols to communicate with each other and
configure the best route between any two hosts.

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Routing Table
• The functioning of a router depends largely upon the routing table stored in it.
• The routing table stores the available routes for all destinations.
• The router consults the routing table to determine the optimal route through which
the data packets can be sent.
• A routing table typically contains the following entities −
• IP addresses and subnet mask of the nodes in the network
• IP addresses of the routers in the network
• Interface information among the network devices and channels
• Routing tables are of two types −
 Static Routing Table − Here, the routes are fed manually and are not
refreshed automatically. It is suitable for small networks containing 2-3
routers.
 Dynamic Routing Table − Here, the router communicates with other routers
using routing protocols to determine the available routes. It is suited for
larger networks having large number of routers.

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Types of Routers
• Wireless Router − They provide WiFi connection WiFi devices like laptops,
smartphones etc. They can also provide standard Ethernet routing. For indoor
connections, the range is 150 feet while its 300 feet for outdoor connections.
• Broadband Routers − They are used to connect to the Internet through telephone
and to use voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology for providing high-
speed Internet access. They are configured and provided by the Internet Service
Provider (ISP).

45. Router
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Wireless Router Wired Router

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7. Gateways
• A gateway is a network node that forms a passage between two
networks operating with different transmission protocols.
• A gateway, as the name suggests, is a passage to connect two
networks together that may work upon different networking
models.
• The most common type of gateways, the network gateway operates
at layer 3, i.e. network layer of the OSI (open systems
interconnection) model.
• However, depending upon the functionality, a gateway can operate
at any of the seven layers of OSI model.
• It acts as the entry – exit point for a network since all traffic that
flows across the networks should pass through the gateway.
• Only the internal traffic between the nodes of a LAN does not pass
through the gateway..

47. Working of Gateways

48. Gate Way

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7. Gateway
• They basically works as the messenger agents that take data from one
system, interpret it, and transfer it to another system.
• Gateways are also called protocol converters and can operate at any
network layer.
• Gateways are generally more complex than switch or router.

50. Gateway
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Features of Gateways
• Gateway is located at the boundary of a network and manages all data
that inflows or outflows from that network.
• It forms a passage between two different networks operating with
different transmission protocols.
• A gateway operates as a protocol converter, providing compatibility
between the different protocols used in the two different networks.
• The feature that differentiates a gateway from other network devices is
that it can operate at any layer of the OSI model.
• It also stores information about the routing paths of the communicating
networks.
• When used in enterprise scenario, a gateway node may be
supplemented as proxy server or firewall.
• A gateway is generally implemented as a node with multiple NICs
(network interface cards) connected to different networks. However, it
can also be configured using software.
• It uses packet switching technique to transmit data across the networks.

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Types of Gateways
• Unidirectional Gateways − They allow data to flow in only one
direction. Changes made in the source node are replicated in the
destination node, but not vice versa. They can be used as archiving
tools..
• Bidirectional Gateways − They allow data to flow in both
directions. They can be used as synchronization tools.
On basis of direction of data flow, gateways are broadly divided into two
categories −

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Types of Gateways
• Network Gateway − This is the most common type of gateway that provides as
interface between two dissimilar networks operating with different protocols.
Whenever the term gateway is mentioned without specifying the type, it indicates
a network gateway..
• Cloud Storage Gateway − It is a network node or server that translates storage
requests with different cloud storage service API calls, such as SOAP (Simple
Object Access Protocol) or REST (REpresentational State Transfer).It facilitates
integration of private cloud storage into applications without necessitating transfer
of the applications into any public cloud, thus simplifying data communication..
On basis of functionalities, there can be a variety of gateways, the prominent
among them are as follows −

54. Working Layers Of Networking Devices

55. Devices Symbols
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8. MODEM
• Modem is short for Modulator / Demodulator.
• It is a hardware component that allows
a computer or other device, such as
a router or switch, to connect to the Internet.
• It converts or modulates an analog signal from a
telephone or cable wire to a digital signal that a
computer can recognize.
• Similarly, it converts outgoing digital data from a
computer or other device to an analog signal.

57. MODEM
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MODEM
• The first modems were dial-up meaning they had to
dial a phone number to connect to an ISP.
• These modems operated over standard analog
phone lines and used the same frequencies as
telephone calls, which limited their maximum data
transfer rate to 56 Kbps.
• Dial-up modems also required full use of the local
telephone line, meaning voice calls would interrupt
the Internet connection.

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MODEM
• Modern modems are typically DSL or cable
modems, which are considered broadband devices.
• DSL modems operate over standard telephone
lines, but use a wider frequency range.
• This allows for higher data transfer rates than dial-
up modems and enables them to not interfere with
phone calls.

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Thank You!