Chapter 5. Networking Hardware

After reading this chapter and completing the exercises, you will be able to:

• Identify the functions of LAN connectivity hardware

• Install and configure a network interface card (NIC, or network adapter)

• Identify problems associated with connectivity hardware

• Describe the factors involved in choosing a NIC, hub, switch, or router

• Discuss the functions of repeaters, hubs, bridges, switches, routers, and gateways, and the OSI Model layers at which they operate

• Describe the uses and types of routing protocols

In Chapter 3, you learned how data is transmitted over cable or through the atmosphere. Now you need to know how data arrives at its destination. To understand this process, it’s helpful to compare data transmission to the means by which the U.S. Postal Service delivers mail: Mail trucks, airplanes, and delivery staff serve as the transmission system that moves information from place to place. Machines and personnel at the post office interpret addresses on the envelopes and either deliver the mail to a transfer point or to your home. Inefficiencies in mail delivery, such as letters being misdirected to the wrong transfer point, frustrate both the sender and the receiver of the mail and increase the overall cost of delivery.