Understand the differences between a hub, a bridge, a switch, and a router.
- Hubs create one collision domain and one broadcast domain.
- Bridges break up collision domains but create one large broadcast domain.
They use hardware addresses to filter the network. Switches are really just multi-port bridges with more intelligence. They break up collision domains but create one large broadcast domain by default. Switches use hardware addresses to filter the network. Routers break up broadcast domains (and collision domains) and use logical addressing to filter the network.
Identify the functions and advantages of routers.
Routers perform packet switching, filtering, and path selection; and they facilitate internetwork communication. One advantage of routers is that they reduce broadcast traffic.
Remember the possible causes of LAN traffic congestion.
Too many hosts in a broadcast domain, broadcast storms, multicasting, and low bandwidth are all possible causes of LAN traffic congestion.
Understand the differences between a collision domain and a broadcast domain.
Collision domain is an Ethernet term used to describe a network collection of devices in which one particular device sends a packet on a network segment, forcing every other device on that same segment to pay attention to it. On a broadcast domain, a set of all devices on a network segment hears all broadcasts sent on that segment.