Saint Louis University

School of Engineering and

Architecture
Department of Electronics
Engineering

ECE 521FL
ACTIVITY NO. 7
NETWORK DEVICES

Submitted by:
MACARAEG, Sophia Marie B.

Submitted to:
Engr. Blanche Rosaida P. Mallare
Instructor

Date Submitted:
April 16, 2020
 Saint Louis University
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

LABORATORY MANUAL

ACTIVITY NO. 7
NETWORK DEVICES

ACTIVITY OBJECTIVE:
At the end of the activity, the students should be able to enumerate the different network devices
and discuss their functions and specifications.

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT NEEDED:

PC with internet connection

LABORATORY ACTIVITIES:
1. Research on the following network devices:
 Network interface card
 Modem
 Hub
 Bridge
 Switch
 Router
 Gateway

Submit a report that includes:

(a) Description and functions of the network device
(b) Technical specifications commonly cited on the device in relation to its function
(c) Network diagram symbol/s commonly used for the network device
(d) Network diagram showing the location of the device
DATA AND RESULTS:

1. NETWORK INTERFACE CARD

A network interface card (NIC) is a hardware component without which a computer cannot be
connected over a network. It is a circuit board installed in a computer that provides a dedicated
network connection to the computer. It is also called network interface controller, network adapter
or LAN adapter.

NIC allows both wired and wireless communications. NIC allows communications between
computers connected via local area network (LAN) as well as communications over large-scale

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network through Internet Protocol (IP). NIC is both a physical layer and a data link layer device,
i.e. it provides the necessary hardware circuitry so that the physical layer processes and some data
link layer processes can run on it.

All NICs have a speed rating in terms of Mbps that suggests the general performance of the
card when implemented in a computer network with ample bandwidth. If the bandwidth is lower
than the NIC or multiple computers are connected with the same controller, this will slow down
the labeled speed. The average Ethernet NICs are offered in 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 1000
Mbps and 1 Gbps varieties. A driver is the required software that passes data between the
computer's operating system (OS) and the NIC. When a NIC is installed on a computer, the
corresponding driver software is also downloaded. Drivers must stay updated and uncorrupted to
ensure optimal performance from the NIC. Unique, unchangeable MAC addresses, also known as
a physical network address, are assigned to NICs that is used to deliver Ethernet packets to the
computer.

Figure 1a. NIC Network Diagram Symbol

Figure 1b. Network diagram showing the location of NIC

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2. MODEM
The term “modem” is shorthand for modulator-demodulator. A modem is the tiny box or
device that sits between your computer and your wall or cable box, depending on the type of
internet connection you have. If you’re using dial-up or DSL then your modem will connect to the
wall and if you’re using cable then it’ll hook up to your cable box or available coaxial cable.

What your modem does is translate the data that is sent to it so that it can display on your
computer. Computer information is stored digitally, however information sent over phone and
cable lines are analog waves. So, your modem takes the analog waves, changes it to digital and
delivers it to your computer. In other words, your modem will connect you to the internet so that
you can watch videos, upload videos, check emails, play on Facebook and anything else that you’d
like to do online.

Modems are generally classified by the maximum amount of data they can send in a given unit
of time, usually expressed in bits per second (symbol bit/s, sometimes abbreviated "bps") or
rarely in bytes per second (symbol B/s). Modems can also be classified by their symbol rate,
measured in baud. The baud unit denotes symbols per second, or the number of times per second
the modem sends a new signal. Technical specifications of the modem include, but not limited to,
the Modem Type, Number of LAN Ports, Wireless Technology, Supported Frequency Bands,
Router Speeds, Wireless Data Rate, Security Protocol, Dimensions, and Type of Modulation Used.

Figure 2a. Modem Network Diagram Symbol

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Figure 2b. Network diagram showing the location of Modem

3. HUB
A hub is the most basic networking device that connects multiple computers or other network
devices together. Unlike a network switch or router, a network hub has no routing tables or
intelligence on where to send information and broadcasts all network data across each connection.
Most hubs can detect basic network errors such as collisions, but having all information broadcast
to multiple ports can be a security risk and cause bottlenecks. In addition, a network hub is a
device that allows multiple computers to communicate with each other over a network. It has
several Ethernet ports that are used to connect two or more network devices together. Each
computer or device connected to the hub can communicate with any other device connected to one
of the hub's Ethernet ports.

Hubs broadcast all incoming data to all active ports. For example, if five devices are connected
to an 8-port hub, all data received by the hub is relayed to the five active ports. While this ensures
the data gets to the right port, it also leads to inefficient use of the network bandwidth. 

Types of Hub
Active Hub: These are the hubs which have their own power supply and can clean, boost
and relay the signal along with the network. It serves both as a repeater as well as wiring
center. These are used to extend the maximum distance between nodes.
Passive Hub: These are the hubs which collect wiring from nodes and power supply from
active hub. These hubs relay signals onto the network without cleaning and boosting them
and can’t be used to extend the distance between nodes.

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Hub is used in many offices and homes to join two or more computers in order to form a single
network. Hub makes the communication between multiple computers direct and fast. Hub is
offered in multi-port system that makes easy connecting of computers cable with it. It also has
collision detections. A hub is basically a multiport repeater. A hub connects multiple wires coming
from different branches, for example, the connector in star topology which connects different
stations. Hubs cannot filter data, so data packets are sent to all connected devices.  In other words,
collision domain of all hosts connected through Hub remains one.  Also, they do not have
intelligence to find out best path for data packets which leads to inefficiencies and wastage.

Internet hubs have different speeds, i.e., the bandwidth and network data rate. The original
internet hub had a rate of 10Mbps, while a modern internet hub has the support of 100Mbps. The
contemporary internet hubs offer 10Mbs and 100Mbps speeds (10/100 hubs or dual speed). The
ports an internet hub can support vary. The most common internet hubs are the 4 to 5 port hubs,
which are mostly found in homes. The 8 to 16-port hubs are found in small offices, schools, and
houses too. If the hubs are interconnected, also referred to as daisy chaining, they increase the
number of devices the internet hub can connect to and support. The technical specifications of a
hub include, but not limited to, the Port type, Number of Ports, Switch type, Power Source,
Network speed, and Dimensions.

Figure 3a. Hub Network Diagram Symbol

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Figure 3b. Network diagram showing the location of Hub

4. BRIDGE
A bridge operates at data link layer. A bridge is a repeater, with add on the functionality of
filtering content by reading the MAC addresses of source and destination. It is also used for
interconnecting two LANs working on the same protocol. It has a single input and single output
port, thus making it a 2-port device.

Types of Bridges
Transparent Bridges: These are the bridge in which the stations are completely unaware
of the bridge’s existence i.e. whether or not a bridge is added or deleted from the network,
reconfiguration of the stations is unnecessary. These bridges make use of two processes i.e.
bridge forwarding and bridge learning.
Source Routing Bridges: In these bridges, routing operation is performed by source
station and the frame specifies which route to follow. The hot can discover frame by
sending a special frame called discovery frame, which spreads through the entire network
using all possible paths to destination.

A bridge works at the Data link layer (Layer 2) of the OSI model. It inspects incoming
traffic and decide whether to forward it or filter it. Each incoming Ethernet frame is inspected
for destination MAC address. If the bridge determines that the destination host is on another

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segment of the network, it forwards the frame to that segment. The technical specifications of
a bridge include, but not limited to, the Network Equipment Type, Number of Ports, Network
speed, Network features, and Dimensions.

Figure 4a. Bridge Network Diagram Symbol

Figure 4b. Network diagram showing the location of Bridge

5. SWITCH
A switch is a multiport bridge with a buffer and a design that can boost its efficiency (a large
number of ports imply less traffic) and performance. A switch is a data link layer device. The
switch can perform error checking before forwarding data, that makes it very efficient as it does
not forward packets that have errors and forward good packets selectively to correct port only.  In
other words, switch divides collision domain of hosts, but broadcast domain remains same.
Switches facilitate the sharing of resources by connecting together all the devices, including
computers, printers, and servers, in a small business network. Because of the switch, these
connected devices can share information and talk to each other, regardless of where they are in a
building or on a campus. Building a small business network is not possible without switches to tie
devices together.

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Network switches are capable of inspecting incoming messages as they are received and
directing them to a specific communications port — a technology called packet switching. A
switch determines the source and destination addresses of each packet and forwards data only to
the specific devices, while hubs transmit the packets to every port except the one that received the
traffic. It works this way to conserve network bandwidth and generally improve performance
compared to hubs. The technical specifications of a switch include, but not limited to, the Number
of Ports, Switch Type, Network Speed, Network Speed Class, and Dimensions.

Figure 5a. Switch Network Diagram Symbol

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Figure 5b. Network diagram showing the location of Switch

6. ROUTER
A router is a device like a switch that routes data packets based on their IP addresses. Router is
mainly a Network Layer device. Routers normally connect LANs and WANs together and have a
dynamically updating routing table based on which they make decisions on routing the data
packets. Router divide broadcast domains of hosts connected through it.

A router has a lot more capabilities than other network devices, such as a hub or a switch that
are only able to perform basic network functions. For example, a hub is often used to transfer data
between computers or network devices, but does not analyze or do anything with the data it is
transferring. By contrast, routers can analyze the data being sent over a network, change how it is
packaged, and send it to another network or over a different network. For example, routers are
commonly used in home networks to share a single Internet connection between multiple
computers.
Types of Router
Wireless (Wi-Fi) router: Wireless routers provide Wi-Fi access to smartphones, laptops,
and other devices with Wi-Fi network capabilities. Also, they may provide standard
Ethernet routing for a small number of wired network devices. Some Wi-Fi routers can act
as a combination router and modem, converting an incoming broadband signal from your
ISP.
Brouter: Short for bridge router, a brouter is a networking device that serves as both a
bridge and a router.

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Core router: A core router is a router in a computer network that routes data within a
network, but not between networks.
Edge router: It refers to an apparatus that acts as an entry point into the core of the
network. It acts as a checkpoint at the border between two countries. When data attempts
to enter the network, it is inspected according to certain security procedures, and either
allowed or denied entry.
Virtual router: A virtual router is a backup router used in a VRRP setup.
The typical range for a wireless router is about 150 feet when the connection is indoors and
up to 300 feet outdoors. That being said, obstructions such as walls and other objects can
reduce the indoor range to 75% of maximum distance or less. The technical specifications
of a router include, but not limited to, the Type of Connectivity, Network Rating, Network
Standard, Data Rate, Bands, Number of Ports, Security Protocols, and Dimensions.

Figure 6a. Router Network Diagram Symbol

Figure 6b. Network diagram showing the location of Router

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7. Gateway
A gateway, as the name suggests, is a passage to connect two networks together that may work
upon different networking models. They basically work 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. The gateway is the computer that routes traffic from a workstation to the outside
network that is serving up the Web pages. For basic Internet connections at home, the gateway is
the Internet Service Provider that gives you access to the entire Internet.

The gateway is implemented at the edge of a network and manages all data that is directed
internally or externally from that network. When one network wants to communicate with another,
the data packet is passed to the gateway and then routed to the destination through the most
efficient path. In addition to routing data, a gateway will also store information about the host
network’s internal paths and the paths of any additional networks that are encountered. Gateways
are basically protocol converters, facilitating compatibility between two protocols and operating
on any layer of the open systems interconnection (OSI) model.

Types of Gateway
Web application firewalls – This type filters traffic to and from a web server and looks at
application-layer data.
Cloud storage gateways – This type translates storage requests with various cloud storage
service API calls. It allows organizations to integrate storage from a private cloud into
applications without migrating into a public cloud.
API, SOA or XML gateways – This type manages traffic flowing into and out of a
service, microservices-oriented architecture or XML-based web service.
IoT gateways – This type aggregates sensor data from devices in an IoT environment,
translates between sensor protocols and processes sensor data before sending it onward.
Media gateways – This type converts data from the format required for one type of
network to the format required for another.
Email security gateways – This type prevents the transmission of emails that break
company policy or will transfer information with malicious intent.
VoIP trunk gateways – This type facilitates the use of plain old telephone service
equipment, such as landline phones and fax machines, with a voice over IP (VoIP)
network.

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The technical specifications of a gateway include, but not limited to, the Port type, Number
of Ports, User Capacity, and Maximum Data Rate.

Figure 7a. Gateway Network Diagram Symbol

Figure 7b. Network diagram showing the location of Gateway

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OBSERVATION:

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CONCLUSION:

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Fisher, T. (2020, February 26). What Is a Router (Residential Gateway) and How Does It Work?
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