For networking builders, network switch is an essential component in their networking building plan. In a network deployment, switch channels incoming data from any of multiple input ports to the specific output port that will take the data toward its intended destination. Besides, to achieve high performance level, there are different types of switches in networking. This article will introduce different types of switches in networking to help you choose a suitable one for your networking.

LAN Switch

Local area network switches or LAN switches are usually used to connect points on a company's internal LAN. It is also known as a data switch or an Ethernet switch. It blocks the overlap of data packets running through a network by the economical allocation of bandwidth. The LAN switch delivers the transmitted data packet before directing it to its planned receiver. These types of switches reduce network congestion or bottlenecks by distributing a package of data only to its intended recipient.

Unmanaged Switch

Unmanaged network switches are frequently used in home networks, small companies and businesses. It permits devices on the network to connect with each other, such as computer to computer or printer to computer in one location. An unmanaged switch does not necessarily need to be configured or watched. It is simple and easy to set up. If you want to add more Ethernet ports, you can use these plug and play types of switches in networking.

Managed Switch

Compared to unmanaged switches, the advantage of managed switches is that they can be customized to enhance the functionality of a certain network. They offer some features like QoS (Quality of Service), Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and so on. These types of switches in networking can support a range of advanced features designed to be controlled by a professional administrator. In addition, there is smart switch, a type of managed switch. It has some features that managed switch has, but are more limited. Smart network switch is usually used for the networking devices such as VLANs.

PoE Switch

PoE Gigabit Ethernet switch is a network switch that utilizes Power over Ethernet technology. When connected with multiple other network devices, PoE switches can support power and data transmission over one network cable at the same time. This greatly simplifies the cabling process. These types of switches in networking provide greater flexibility and you will never have to worry about power outlet when deploying network devices.

Stackable Switch

Stackable switches provide a way to simplify and increase the availability of the network. For example, instead of configuring, managing, and troubleshooting eight 48-port switches individually, you can manage all eight like a single unit using a stackable Switches. With a true stackable switch, those eight switches (total 384 ports) function as a single switch—there is a single SNMP/RMON agent, single Spanning Tree domain, single CLI or Web interface. There are valuable operational advantages to use these types of switches in networking, such as you can create link aggregation groups spanning across multiple units in the stack, port mirror traffic from one unit in the stack to another, or setup ACLs/QoS spanning all the units.

Conclusion

This article briefly introduces five types of switches in networking: LAN switch, unmanaged switch, managed switch, PoE switch and stackable switch. All of them have their own characteristics and are used in different network deployment. I hope you can have a better understanding on them after reading the article.

Oznake: managed switch, network cable, poe gigabit ethernet switch

When it comes to network switch, we usually ask about the port type on the switch and the number of port, such as twenty-four 10/100/1000 Mbps ports and four SFP+ ports. If you have used managed switch in your network deployment, you must have heard about uplink port or normal port. How much do you know about them? Is there any difference between them? This article will guide you to learn about uplink port vs. normal port on switch.

Uplink Port Vs. Normal Port: Connect to Different Devices

The uplink port on switch is used to connect a device or smaller local network to a larger network, or connect to the next "higher" device in the topology. For example, edge switch connects "up" to distribution layer managed switch. Also in computer network, hub, unmanaged switch and router typically designate one Ethernet port as the uplink port. And it may be labeled WAN or Internet instead of uplink. This type of port simplify connects different types of Ethernet devices to each other, such as when linking a local home network to a modem and the Internet. While normal port on switch is used to connect end user PC or server and all. In most cases, uplink ports have more bandwidth as compared to normal ports as they aggregate traffic between different layers.

Uplink Port Vs. Normal Port: Connect to Different Cables

Each Ethernet interface has two transmit pins and two receive pins. To achieve the link connection, the transmit pins at one end of network cable have to be connected to the receive pins at the other end. An uplink port does not crossover the transmit and receive pins, but a regular port does. Therefore, when two network switches are connected together with a straight-through cable, then one end must be uplink port and one end must be normal port. If a crossover cable is used to connect them, then the ports at both ends must be the same kind of port. Here is a figure for you to have a better understanding of this.

Uplink Port Vs. Normal Port: Additional Information about Shared Port and Dual-purposed Port

Some older network equipment specially configured a normal port next to the uplink port and linked the two together as a pair. Specifically, the hardware logic of these products supported connections to either the uplink port, or the normal shared port, but not both. Connecting devices to both ports of a shared port device stops the unit from functioning properly. Nowadays, many network equipment offer a dual-purpose port which can function either as an uplink or a normal port depending on the type of device connected to it.

Conclusion

In fact, uplink port can serve as normal port. Therefore, there are no big differences between them. The only difference is that uplink port is connected to higher layer network device to aggregate the bandwidth and must be connected to the normal port on another network device. I hope after reading this article, you can be clear on uplink port vs. normal port on switch.

Oznake: network cable, network switch, managed switch

With the development of communication technology, different communication products are available on the market. Among them, there are some products popular with home network deployment, such as IP phone, wireless access point and IP camera. Recently, PoE technology is highly recommend for home network application. It is an IEEE standard for simultaneously transmitting data and low-voltage power throughout a network using a single Ethernet cable. This article will introduce the application of PoE.

Before we come to the application of PoE, let’s have a look at PoE devices at first.

A PoE switch is a network switch that has Power over Ethernet injection built-in. It is straightforward to add PoE to your network. Simply connect other network devices to the PoE switch as normal, and the switch will detect whether they are POE-compatible and enable power automatically. PoE switches are available to suit all applications, from low-cost unmanaged edge switches with a few ports, up to complex multi-port rack-mounted units with sophisticated management.

A PoE injector is used to add PoE capability to regular non-POE network links. It can be used to upgrade existing LAN installations to PoE, and provide a versatile solution where fewer PoE ports are required. A PoE splitter also supplies power to a device and it is useful for deploying devices such as access points that are not POE ready and where there are no nearby AC outlets. The main difference between PoE injector and PoE splitter is that PoE splitter splits the power from the data to a separate input that the device can use, and there will be two cables for output: one for data and one for power. Here is a figure that show typical PoE Injector and PoE Splitter applications.

From the figure we can see that, upgrading each network connection to PoE is as simple as patching it through the PoE injector, and as with PoE switch, power injection is controlled and automatic. It is also possible to upgrade powered devices to PoE by using a PoE splitter.

Without PoE, you have to make a choice between running a power cable to the area where you want to deploy a network device or deploying network devices based on where existing power outlets are available. PoE provides greater flexibility and ensures that you will never have to compromise when deploying network devices. It dramatically simplifies the process of installing APs, IP cameras, IP phones, and other PoE enabled devices in hard-to-reach, outdoor, and remote areas.

With PoE technology, PoE switch is specifically designed to supply power to network devices. Managed and unmanaged PoE switch are available on the market, allowing you to transmit electrical power and data via a single network cable. This makes it easier than ever to expand your network into areas where power sockets are not accessible.

Oznake: Ethernet cable, 8 port poe switch, poe switch, network cable

In Ethernet network deployment, there are three components which are similar in shape—hub, switch and router. All of them are small plastic or metal box-shaped electronic devices. However, they play different roles in the network. This article will guide you to have a closer look at hub, switch and router.

A hub, also called a network hub, is a common connection point for devices in a network. Containing multiple ports, the hub is commonly used to connect segments of a LAN. When a packet arrives at one port, it is copied to the other ports so that all segments of the LAN can see all packets.

In a network, a switch filters and forwards packets between LAN segments. It usually operates at the data link layer (layer 2) and sometimes the network layer (layer 3) of the OSI Reference Model and therefore supports any packet protocol. LANs that use switches to join segments are called switched LANs or, in the case of Ethernet networks, switched Ethernet LANs.

A router is designed to join together multiple LANs with a WAN. Serving as intermediate destination for network traffic, the router receives incoming network packets, looks inside each packet to identify the source and target network addresses, then forwards these packets where needed to ensure the data reaches its final destination.

From the outside, hub, switch and router are identical:

• They are small plastic or metal box-shaped electronic devices.


• They make computers connect to them through network cable for getting access to the Internet.


• They have a number of physical ports on the front or back of the unit that provide the connection points for computers, a connection for electric power and LED lights to display device status.

But when applied in a network, there are some differences among them:

• We know that router is designed specifically to join the home network to the Internet for the purpose of Internet connection sharing. However, switch and hub are not capable of joining multiple networks or sharing an Internet connection. A network with only switch and hub must instead designate one computer as the gateway to the Internet, and that device must possess two network adapters for sharing, one for the home facing connection and one for the Internet facing connection.


• Router is smarter in other ways. For example, router is featured with integrated DHCP server and network firewall support. Some wireless routers even incorporate a built-in Ethernet switch for supporting wired computer connections (and enabling network expansion via connecting additional switches if needed).


• Router is the only one of these three devices that will allow you to share a single IP (Internet Protocol) address among multiple network clients.


• Switch is higher-performance alternative to hub. For example, both pass data between devices connected to them, hub broadcasts the data to all other connected devices, while switch first determines which device is the intended recipient of the data and then sends it to that one device directly via a so-called "virtual circuit". On busy networks, this behavior allows switch to generate less overall network traffic compared to hubs.

For home network deployment, switch and router are used more commonly, especially PoE switch and wireless router. I hope after reading this article, you can have a better understanding of hub, switch and router. FS.COM provides network cable with multiple lengths and colors for network cabling. Also, they have quality PoE switch for PoE devices.

Oznake: network cable, poe switch