Routing Technologies, Bandwidth Management and Traffic Shaping
Bandwidth is the overshadowing issue for most network quality problems. The response to that problem is often to add more bandwidth. However, more bandwidth often comes at a relativel high cost. More ...
How to Set up a Private Network
A private network is one which does not connect directly to the internet, but does allow you to connect to other computers that are on the same physical network. More ...
Understanding the Basics of All-Optical Switching
All-optical switching is a process by which light in the form of digital communication signals is routed from one transmission channel to another without intermediate conversion to another format. More ...
Access Points and Wireless LAN Controller
An access point is a network device that creates a wireless LAN (WLAN) and might also connect to a wired router to allow wireless devices to connect to the wired LAN. More ...
Network Topologies
The physical arrangement of the cables, computers and components is referred to as the networks topology. There are five basic topologies, bus, star, ring, mesh, and wireless. More ...
Ethernet Bridges
Unlike a hub, which blindly forwards received bits, a bridge makes intelligent forwarding decisions based on the destination MAC address in a frame. More ...
Computer Network Routers, Hubs, and Switches
The most common components on a computer network, not counting cables, are "routers", "hubs", and "switches". Many of these modules can be appear similar and there can be significant overlap in roles. This article explains the difference between these important network components. More ...
Network Broadcast Storms
When a switch receives a broadcast frame the switch floods the frame out all switch ports other than the port on which the frame was received. Because a layer 2 frame does not have a TTL (Time to live) field, a broadcast frame endlessly circulates through the Layer 2 topology. More ...
Cable: Cat5, Cat5e, Cat6, Cat6A ; What's the Difference?
This article describes the different twisted pair cable types, Cat5, Cat5e, Cat6, Cat6A, their construction and application. More ...
LAN Network Protocols - Ethernet, STP, Fiber
Spanning Tree is an algorithm that runs on Layer 2 campus switches for preventing Layer 2 loops and broadcast storms on a network with at least 2 switches or bridges. The algorithm determines what ports at each switch or bridge must be blocked to create a loop free topology. More ...
Understanding Wireless LAN Networking
Wireless networking allows computers and peripherals to communicate using radio frequency (RF) transmissions rather than over conventional network cabling. Using wireless Ethernet adaptors, any device capable of being used on a regular computer network can be accessed over a wireless connection. More ...
The Difference Between a Hub and a Router
For someone who needs a quick clarification on the matter, a hub combines all linked computers or workstations into a network, while router links two separate and distinct networks to each other. More ...
System Area Network Interface Cards
Whereas the standard network may use twisted-pair cabling, the System Area Network may use separate fiber-optic cabling. System Area Network interface cards are special high speed circuits that provide communications between the servers over the System Area Network. More ...
